This morning, Omaha.com added an external website to their growing list of staff member blogs. Momaha.com, “Where Omaha Moms Connect,” was introduced to readers with an article by the new blog’s editor, Veronica Daehn Stickney, titled Moms, have we got a site for you:

Hey, Mom, need an idea for dinner tonight?

Thanks to our sponsor

Become an SPN sponsor »
Meet our sponsors »

How about a laugh? Or an activity to entertain your kids when there’s a snow day?

Check out momaha.com, a World-Herald Web site […]

Read the full article

As more and more print publications begin increasing their online offerings, it’s encouraging to see the World-Herald do the same. In fact, until today I was unaware of the existing blogs on Omaha.com — sports-focused blogs by World-Herald sports writers, most notably, Tom Shatel — but that’s likely due to the fact that I don’t keep up with Nebraska sports. Now, with blogs serving both sports fans and moms, it’s evident the World-Herald wants to make a splash in Omaha’s blog scene.

Momaha features contributions from a team of 10 women assembled by Stickney to represent a variety of backgrounds and experiences, such as work and family. In addition to blog posts, the site has dedicated pages to a collection of recipes, a calendar with family-friendly events, a “mama talk” forum, and a “mama help” section with a variety of topics. Stickney has also brought on five men to contribute to the “dad blogs”, which will be updated every Friday.

I exchanged emails with Stickney today to hear more about the story and team behind Momaha as well as the World-Herald’s plans for additional blogs. Stickney has been a blogger since 2007, and although I haven’t followed her personal blog, I’m excited to see where she takes Momaha.

Momaha.com editor Veronica Stickney with her kids Paige and Rye. Photo by Kiley Cruse of the Omaha World-Herald.

SPN: Congratulations on the launch! How have things been going so far?

Veronica Stickney: Thanks! They’ve been going really well. Last night, I sort of felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, filled with that anticipation, you know? I still haven’t figured out if the snow day has helped or hurt traffic on our first day!

SPN: In your post today, you wrote that this was three-months in the making. How did you go about finding a team of mommy bloggers in Omaha? What were you looking for in the bloggers?

VS: Assembling a Mom Team is something I knew I wanted to do right away when we began talking about the site. Initially, I thought we’d have a small group of four to six women. I got 75 applications, though, (the women responded to a general call we put out in the paper and on Facebook for applicants) and I had a very difficult time narrowing them down. So the team has 10 women – eight from the community and two World-Herald reporters. First and foremost, I was looking for women who could write. Secondly, I was seeking women with varied experiences: work, family, etc.

SPN: How long have you been a mommy blogger and what has your experience taught you about blogging?

VS: I started my personal blog (www.meowmusings.blogspot.com) in the fall of 2007. Very quickly after that, I got really interested in mommy bloggers and started reading blogs like Heather Armstrong’s dooce.com. I was amazed (and jealous) that someone could do that for a job, make enough money off it, you know, to live and thrive (and she is doing very well)! My childhood best friend had also begun a blog around that time and got involved in that online mommy world pretty quickly. She has commented before that she has “bloggy” friends – other women whose sites she visits regularly and vice versa – and then her other “real world” friends. I think that is so true for so many moms who have blogs. They use it as a very real, very fun way to connect with each other. I suppose I’ve learned that the effort you put into a blog really affects the outcome. The more you blog – and the better you are at it – and the more sites you visit and leave comments on – the more traffic your own blog will get.

SPN: You didn’t forget about the dads — you have a section titled “dad blogs.” Will we be seeing the same types and frequency of posts there or something different?

VS: Though this is a site for moms (and there is market research to back up why we’re targeting moms. By many accounts, women are responsible for 80 percent of the buying decisions in a household), we recognize how involved many dads are now in parenting. So I put together a team of dads to blog every Friday.

VS: One of those dads, Al Watts, is vice president of Daddyshome, Inc., The National At-Home Dad Network. He has been a stay-at-home dad for the past seven years. He is married with four children. A couple moms stay at home. A couple moms work full-time. One mom works part-time. One mom works from home. One mom is retired. They’ve experienced natural births and adoptions. Some love to cook. At least one hates it. Some are from Omaha; others are recent transplants. Complete bios of both the Mom Team and Dad Team members are up on momaha.com. There will be a new Mom Team blog post every weekday.

VS: Simple answer is yes, the company plans to expand with more blogs and social networking.

VS: Well, it’s not up to me! I’m just thrilled we have momaha.com. I’d like to alter the way we do Community Connection (our “good news” section, which I helped start in January 2007 and just stepped down to help run momaha.com) and make that more Web-based. I think a Web site like momaha.com helps people connect with each other and really helps them find a community.

VS: Of course, we plan to have events! The first one is at Scooter’s coffee on the second level of Westroads Mall this Saturday. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., folks can meet me and some of the Mom Team members. We will also have coupons for buy one drink/get one free at Scooter’s that afternoon only. And moms can register for a chance to win a Medela Pump in Style Advanced breast pump from Kohll’s Pharmacy and Homecare. We’ll do the drawing late Saturday afternoon.

SPN: If someone would like to join your team, how do they go about applying?

VS: People interested in getting involved or sharing an idea can always e-mail me at momaha@owh.com or call 444-1535. We’re also on Facebook (search for momaha.com) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/omahamoms).

VS: I mentioned the community aspect of it earlier, and I think that’s the main reason. Sharing stories and photos and insight and humor with others via a blog can really help you feel connected, part of something, and that’s a critical piece to being happy in life.

VS: I like Heather Armstrong’s mommy blog, dooce.com quite a bit. I also like Kristin Armstrong’s blog on Runner’s World (that’s Lance’s ex-wife, who has used running to bounce back from her divorce and find her own identity).

VS: We just posted a new recipe from a reader today – curried squash soup! Looks super yummy!