Providence Journal Article – Blogging Moms Have Found a Lucrative Career

Hi all, I copied and pasted the article from the Providence Journal today, written by feature writer Jenna Pelletier.

With the snow piled high outside her Warwick home, Audrey McClelland sits on the couch in her pajamas enjoying a cozy family night with her four sons. The boys, ranging in age from 2 to 6 years old, are gathered around a coffee table on this February evening playing a Star Wars board game and munching on popcorn. They look nearly identical with their close-cropped blond hair and sporty hooded sweatshirts.

“We’re just hanging out. This is kind of like the best kind of night there is,” McClelland, 33, says to the video camera. “There is nothing to do, nowhere to be.”

The scene is as feel-good as an advertisement, but not nearly as picture-perfect. Remote controls drop on the floor. Her youngest son, Henry, yells with excitement. McClelland has to remind the boys to eat one piece of popcorn at a time.

Although the little guys are doing a good job of stealing the show, the focus is really the Nautica lounge wear and pajamas they are all wearing. In exchange for free clothing, McClelland reviewed the brand on a video blog on her website, Mom Generations (momgenerations.com).

She wraps up the three-minute segment by saying: “What we love about these clothes, too, is that they’re not only super cozy and super comfy, but they’re also just really classic clothes so they can obviously be used to hang out or go out.”

From her carefree tone, you’d never guess how important sharing information through blogs and other forms of social media has become to her family.

McClelland says she makes a six-figure salary from home through her digital business, and became the sole provider for the household after her husband, Matt, was laid off from his job last year. They have also received thousands of dollars worth of products and other perks — trips to Disney World, kitchen appliances, carpeting—in exchange for reviews and other coverage.

“I never intended for it to be that way, but it’s evolved into where my life is almost the brand that I’ve created,” McClelland said, likening her business to a reality show.

Over the last few years, corporations such as Walmart, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson have harnessed the authentic viewpoints of moms like McClelland to market their products. Working with bloggers allows brands to deliver highly personalized messages to a group of influential customers (in this case mothers), said Jessica Jurick, manager of strategy/social media at Providence marketing and communications firm (add)ventures.

“People are now seeing, oh, wait, this isn’t just some silly hobby,” said Jennifer Leal, of Westerly, who said she makes a part-time salary through her family and food-focused blog, Savoring the Thyme. “It’s turned into a business for many stay-at-home moms.”

Bloggers may now even have more sway than celebrities: A recent study by blog publishing network BlogHer found that female adult social media users were more likely to consider a product promoted by blogger than one hawked by a celeb.

Those who earn money for their work typically cobble together a full- or part-time income through a wide range of digital services that include but aren’t limited to blogging, including sponsored content (videos and blog posts), advertising, endorsements, social media consulting and spreading the word about products through Twitter and Facebook.

Many are even moving from the digital realm into traditional media. McClelland recently put together a kids’ fashion show for Fox Providence’s “The Rhode Show ”as part of her paid position as Back to School Spokesperson for T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. And in recent years, bloggers, with their built-in followings, have become sought after by book publishers.

McClelland’s new book “The Digital Mom Handbook,” co-written with Philadelphia-based blogger Colleen Padilla, lays out seven steps women can follow to launch web-based careers from home.

“There is no secret to this,” said McClelland who grew up in Barrington and graduated from Brown University. “We put it all out there. This is how you do it. There’s enough room for everybody. But if you want to turn it into a business, you have to be motivated.”

Some of the ground rules McClelland covers in the book and follows on her own site include limiting sponsored content to products she likes and would use in normal life and disclosing such partnerships in accordance with Federal Trade Commission guidelines. If she isn’t fond of a product (makeup, shoes, toys) she has received, she makes an effort to return it to the company with a note explaining why.

“My dad is an entrepreneur, so I couldn’t stomach publishing a bad review of someone else’s business,” she said.

Part of McClelland’s success can be attributed to the fact that she comes across as likable and authentic, Jurick said. With her stylish clothing and long, straight blonde hair, she looks like she has it all together. But she also doesn’t take herself too seriously: McClelland isn’t afraid to take photos of herself making goofy faces, show how hectic life can be raising four young children or shoot a video without wearing makeup.

“When her readers and viewers are consuming her content they don’t feel like they’re watching a paid spot, although they very well may be, because she speaks to them like the mom-next-door does,” Jurick said.

McClelland, with her mom, Sharon Couto, and sister, Jane Couto, originally created Mom Generations in 2008 as a way to network and communicate with other women. (“Blogging became the new front porch,” she said). But from early on she dreamed that it might someday also be a way for her to earn an income while staying home with her sons.

McClelland worked for several years in New York as a personal assistant to fashion mogul Donna Karan before moving back to Rhode Island in 2005. With the blog, she capitalized on her fashion knowledge by focusing on content related to stylish clothing for moms and kids. Life with her four sons, Henry, Benjamin, Alexander and William, is also a main theme.

In 2009, once Mom Generations had a following (it now receives about 200,000 visits per month and McClelland’s personal Twitter account has nearly 18,000 followers), brands approached her with paid opportunities. McClelland took on jobs including filming a Tide-sponsored fashion webisode at the People’s Choice Awards with “Project Runway” star Tim Gunn and posing for an Estee Lauder breast cancer awareness advertisement with her mom and sister.

“The excitement of this world is that you never know what opportunities are around the corner,” she said. “But the stress of this world is that none of us have set salaries and you don’t necessarily know where the work is going to come from.”

The business has grown so much in the last year that McClelland says she can now hardly keep up. She travels to New York City about once a week to attend blogging events and meet with PR agencies and brands about current and potential jobs. (The Coutos still regularly contribute to Mom Generations, though not as frequently as McClelland, and they do less promotional work).

“I often work 14 to 16 hour days, but the good thing is I can be home a large part of that,” she says. “I can make my own schedule and shut off the computer at any give time to tie a shoe, help someone get dressed or make lunch.”

McClelland’s husband, Matt, has taken over the day-to-day childcare responsibilities and also helps run the business end of Mom Generations.

“I never expected not to be needed to provide an income, but it’s nice for us both to be home with the kids,” Matt said. “I wind up doing a lot of the housework, but that’s actually a good thing because it’s helping my sons avoid developing some of the gender stereotypes.”

He’s now dabbling in blogging himself, writing on topics related to fatherhood and fitness on a section of the site named Dad Generations. Experts predict that dad and teen blogging will be the next areas to take off, Jurick said.

The digital lifestyle is working well for McClelland’s family, but it’s intense. She rarely goes more than an hour or two without posting on Twitter and Facebook, and lives with her iPhone in hand. McClelland estimates that 90 percent of her life — from the kids’ first days of kindergarten to her latest mall purchase to family preparations for Hurricane Irene — ends up online in one form or another.

Matt says he was reluctant about “putting their life out there” at first, but has since come around.

“It took him a good year and a half to get comfortable with the whole idea,” McClelland said. “He’s a very private person in that way and I’m not. I remember one time I wrote a post about having a fifth baby without talking about it with him first and he was like ‘oh my goodness, Audrey.’ ”

The only topics that are off-limits are her in-laws, sex life and information that could be used to locate her kids or their friends.

“When I started this, I said ‘I’m going to put it all out there,’ ” she said. “Because I started doing that so long ago, I just can’t go back,” she says. “It is what it is.”

One of her biggest challenges is finding the time and self-discipline to unplug. She makes sure that her computer and iPhone are put away during dinner and while helping the kids with homework.

“I don’t want them to think that the only way for them to be heard is to be connected,” she said. But the Internet has certainly given their mom a microphone.

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

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6 Comments

  1. 9.14.11
    Jen Carl said:

    Great article! Congrats:) You are definately an inspiration to bloggers and moms everywhere:)

  2. 9.14.11
    Heidi said:

    Very well written article…and what an awesome and creative idea for a photo. Congratulations!

  3. 9.18.11

    Wow, such a fabulous article Audrey. I totally remember when Mom Generations first began (Pinks and Blues Girls!) 🙂 and am just in awe!

    Steph

  4. 9.30.11
    Nancy said:

    Thanks for the share!
    Nancy.R

  5. 10.4.11

    This is SUCH a great article Audrey! You make me proud.

    Congrats girl!!

Comments are closed.