When game-changing sites pop onto the scene, people take notice quickly and spread the word like wildfire. Since ShePosts.com officially launched on March 24 moms have been buzzing about it nonstop and marketers have been scouring its pages searching for the latest news in the mom space. From guides listing brand ambassadors and brand events to posts chronicling the latest blogging and social media news, ShePosts.com has unabashedly staked its claim as the official “Mashable for Moms” and has put mom bloggers on notice that they are being carefully watched.

Esther Brady Crawford, the founder and brains behind ShePosts.com, is best known for her groundbreaking work as one of the first video bloggers to work for a major brand. As ShePosts gains a significant following, however, Crawford may become better known as the person who turned a constant spotlight on mom bloggers and even made some uncomfortable with this newfound attention. “Mom bloggers aren’t used to being reported on,” said Crawford. “It’s totally new for them even though every other genre has sites that report on bloggers. It’s a paradigm shift.”

Since its launch some vocal moms have also decried the use of the word “gossip” in ShePosts’s tagline, but Crawford said she has reassured moms on an individual level that the site is not going to be a TMZ.

While some have found flaws in ShePosts’s reporting style, many are now actively clamoring to become a permanent part of it. In fact, Crawford intends to move into phase two of her launch quicker than originally planned by adding beat reporters and op-ed columnists to her roster of writers who will ultimately make posting more robust and can ramp up reporting on everything that transpires in the mom blogging community instead of only featuring the major events. Additionally, with more writers Crawford intends to include in-depth news and analysis, comparisons, and will soon dissect brand events with key factors such as their tone, how many tweets came out of an event and how many blog posts were written.

For some bloggers, becoming involved in ShePosts

Smart Series is a compilation of interviews with those movers and shakers we think are making a notable contribution to the mom blogging community.

is a clear path to writing notoriety. Marketers have also found the site useful. In the first three days of being live, 25% of ShePosts’s traffic came from Radian6, a social media monitoring company. And some brands have already contacted Crawford about securing coverage about upcoming events. “ShePosts challenges marketers to think outside of the box,” Crawford said. “For bloggers, it challenges them to think about the companies they really want to be involved with. Having a place that keeps track and monitors what is going on will inspire all of us to be on our game.”

Reporting the goings-on of the mom blogging community was the primary impetus for starting ShePosts for Crawford. She hopes readers come to see ShePosts as a place where her team is able to elevate new bloggers. At the same time, Crawford doesn’t want ShePosts to be afraid of controversy. If there is some interesting back-story to highlight what is happening in the community Crawford believes it should be talked about. “For me, there is so much that’s newsworthy within our community,” Crawford added. “It gives people a fuller picture of the community because a lot of people don’t see behind-the-scenes, especially marketers.”

When asked about the future of ShePosts, Crawford said she intends for it to be a news site for mom and women bloggers where other genres are also reported on such as foodies, fitness bloggers and the LGBT community. “In a year, I see ShePosts being a cross between the Huffington Post, Mashable and Gawker.”

Jennifer James

Jennifer James is the founder and editor of Mom Blog magazine and the Mom Bloggers Club Network, a global social network of over 19,000 mom/mum bloggers. Jennifer is also the founder of Mom Bloggers for Social Good, an international coalition of 1000+ mothers who care about the world's most pressing issues and use social media and blogging for good. Jennifer has been featured by Fast Company, NPR, Forbes, CNN, Parenting, and ABC News among many other news outlets and currently writes about global development for the Gates Foundation and Huffington Post and social good for Babble. When she gets a chance she still comes back to her roots writing about technology and chronicles the mom blogging community. You can contact her at jjames [at] mombloggersclub.com.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Share/Bookmark