Michelle at Scribbit has created a Google custom search engine of nearly 1700 mom blogs. If you want information on one of the many topics we all post about, try her search engine out. If you want similar posts to link to, she’s got that too. It’s really very cool, and huge props to Michelle for putting it together.
A little more info for you via an e-interview (paraphrased, because I lost the questions I asked her):
MMTaM: How on earth did you come up with such a great idea?
Scribbit: My husband needs the credit. He’s been after me for a couple months to put the CSE (Custom Search Engine) together because he did one for maps that’s been successful. He’s been my agent and mentor in the whole blogging experience and finally I figured that since he’s been right in so many other areas maybe he was right about this too.
MMTaM: Are you some kind of special techie genius or something?
Scribbit: Figuring it out wasn’t hard, Google announced months ago that they were making it possible to put a CSE together, and it’s fairly easy. It was merely being aware of the technology available and then putting it to use in my niche. I’m not adept at coding, I bumble around the CSS and haven’t a clue about things like java and PHP but I get by.
MMTaM: How did you decide which blogs to include?
Scribbit: At first I only intended to add the 200 or so blogs I’ve frequented from time to time but when I got into it I quickly realized that it made sense to add as many as had pertinent posts and information. I’m a member of several blogrolls so I went through each and added the momblogs that were listed there. I didn’t add all of them–if their content was objectionable (and that’s a purely subjective thing I know, but it is my CSE so I had to be the one making the judgment call in this area) or if they hadn’t posted in a month I didn’t add them. Of the blogs registered with Blogher I added the majority of them but wasn’t as thorough there just because of the huge number of blogs involved. I was getting tired after 1500.
MMTaM: Is your CSE complete or are you continuing to add to it? How can someone get their blog listed?
Scribbit: It’s now grown to nearly 1700 momblogs, though I’ve kept the “1500″ label just for convenience sake. If someone wants their blog added (and they should check first to see if their blog comes up) they should email me at scribbit at gmail dot com. Please don’t leave a message in the comments because it’s harder to trace it back and with the number of emails I get that’s a little inconvenient to respond that way.
So there it is, glad you like it and thanks for the interest. As a final note, one of the things that I love about blogging is it’s non-competitive nature. That may sound odd to say but with blogging, as opposed to print and other media, my neighbor’s success helps me as well. If I can boost another blog’s stats and ranking and they link to me, then my ranking and links are benefited. When a blogger friend succeeds, it boosts my blog as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship that no other media enjoys and one that I find wonderful. I hope this CSE I’ve created helps to strengthen the momblog/blogs by women community and makes all of us a little more successful in our endeavors.
So, there you have it. A very cool little idea grown into a very cool big thing. If you’d like to post Michelle’s CSE on your site, just email her for the code. It looks like this:
Search 1500 Momblogs
Search for ideas on parenting, crafts, gardening, books, cooking and more…
hosted by Scribbit
Give it a shot. You know you’re tempted. Try it from this post and see what you come up with. Find something interesting? Tell us in comments!