Today’s moms are all about community. Today’s schedules don’t always allow for face-to-face community, though. What’s a mom to do? Go online, Momma! Brooke Burke, of Wild On! fame and winner of Dancing With the Stars‘ seventh season, has created a full-fledged mommunity at ModernMom.com. Dubbed “The Magazine and Community for the Woman Behind the Mom,” ModernMom.com offers a one-stop site for anything moms might be interested in.
After browsing around and exploring the site, I found it to be informative and entertaining, without the speckling of advertising much like Grandma’s 1980’s makeover-gone-horribly-wrong that so many community sites have these days. Yes, women – and moms in particular – are a huge, powerful revenue source. But there is so much more to us than our wallets. So what else did I find at ModernMom.com? Check out the pros and cons:
Pros:
Easy Navigation – You never have to guess how to get back home (or anywhere else) at ModernMom.com. The navigation stays up top no matter where you are on the site – even in the forums.
Easy Log-in – Don’t you love those sites that talk up “members this!” and “members that!” on every other page, but apparently hide the log-in? Modern Mom makes it easy to log-in: just go to the top right of any page! Whodathunk?
Covers Everything – Just starting out in the mommyhood? Check out Pregnancy & Parenting. Trying to get back in the groove? Read the Love & Wellness category. Or Food & Home. Or Beauty & Style. Or get your celebrity fix in the Mommywood® category. And of course, there’s the Must-Haves, the Blogs, and the Community, which brings me to another plus:
Forums Who doesn’t love a good forum? You can have great conversations that last days with people from all over the world. Modern Mom has forums for everything from just introducing yourself to a book club, politics board, and even a venting zone (that may become a regular stop for me).
Blogs – I mentioned it before, but I want to highlight it. Modern Mom isn’t just Brooke Burke yakking. She does have a blog, yes, but there are nine – count ‘em, nine! – other blogs, including two Dad blogs to get the testosterone-y version of parenthood.
Now, as wonderful as all that is, there are few things I thing Modern Mom could do to improve.
Cons:
Poor Grammar and Spelling – I ran across some poor grammar and spelling in a couple of places. Now, I expect some grammar and spelling errors in blogs. They are intended to be real and personal, after all, and even blog writers make mistakes (I should know). However, articles intended to inform readers included in the general area of the site should be as close to perfect as possible. Use spell check. Make sure there are no not extra words in sentences (did you catch that one?). Simple proofing mistakes like these kill professionalism and credibility. As personal as a site wants to be, credibility is key if you want return visitors, and these mistakes should be nonexistent.
Search Limitations – If you’re not sure exactly how to phrase what you’re looking for on the site, take your time. Searches are limited to every 15 seconds, which is an eternity in cyber terms. I was cut short while looking for articles about moms like me, which leads to my last con:
No Focus for SAHMs – I searched for SAHM. Nada. I searched for stay home mom. Zip. I tried to search for just stay home (at which point I was told to wait). Nil. There’s an entire category up top for Working Moms, which is great. I admire working moms – I don’t think I could do everything that other moms do that have to actually leave the house for work everyday. They need a category devoted just to juggling all that they do. But let me tell you, staying home isn’t all eating bon-bons and taking naps, either. I don’t believe in excluding any one type of mom, whether she breastfeeds, bottle-feeds, works at home, works at the office, or stays home. All moms need a place just for them to reach out to other moms that understand their particular situations in momdom.
All in all, I think ModernMom.com is a great site for a newcomer. Everything new has room for improvement, but girlfriend, Modern Mom’s got enough going for it to overcome the the hiccups! 
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