Blogging on the Go

Women bloggers have come a very long way from “mommy bloggers,” and they’re expanding into social media and the mobile space at a rapid pace.

Approximately 2,400 female bloggers are converging onto New York City for the 4th annual BlogHer Business conference followed by the 6th annual BlogHer conference. The Silicon Valley startup, helmed by Lisa Stone, Jory Des Jardins, and Elisa Camahort Page, connects women bloggers with big brands such as Wal-Mart, P&G, Kraft, and PepsiCo., just to name a few.

The site, started because the three co-founders were tired of hearing the question “where are the women bloggers?” has moved well beyond the era of moms blogging about their kids. “There’s still a market for mommy bloggers, but the single female blogger is expressing herself more and more on all topics from politics to business to entrepreneurship,” says Stone.

She points to mobility and social gaming as the hot topics of this year’s conference. “The No. 1 reason women blog is to express themselves,” Stone says. “And with the social gaming and mobility platforms, they’re realizing that they can reach a wider audience. It’s a new distribution model for them, and they’re embracing it.”

One reason for their enthusiasm is that by going mobile and social (because for savvy bloggers, it’s not an either/or), they extend their reach beyond just the traditional blog. And that can mean more money in their pockets.

“There’s always been a challenge around how to monetize a blog. And women aren’t necessarily just looking at ways to make money just off their posts,” Stone explains. “Sure, they’re following the advertising and sponsorship models that have worked for many others, but now, with mobility, they’re looking at their blogs as a sort of online résumé, and many are scoring consulting gigs and freelance opportunities based on how they position themselves as brand and industry experts in their posts.”

For those just getting started, Camahort Page and Des Jardins suggest working to fill a personal need. “There’s no one smarter out there than users, and we’re all users. We’re successful because we found a void we wanted to fill in our own lives—promoting smart women bloggers—and asked others if they were seeing the same need,” says Des Jardins.

Once interest started pouring in, the business expanded. “We used to think of ourselves as ‘chicks with credit cards,’” says Camahort Page of dipping into her personal credit account to help fund the first conference. “But when we saw the response and started thinking about how we could make this work, that was the first time we realized we were actually building a business and not just a singular event.”

Four years later, the company boasts 20 million daily visitors and has introduced an iPhone app to take advantage of the growing mobile marketplace. “Just like we did when we explained to women about the blog-advertising model, this year we’re going to focus on the mobility and social-gaming business models because the opportunities in that space are massive,” says Des Jardins.