On April 9 2009 I made my first post on Dirty Diaper Laundry titled “Welcome to Dirty Diaper Laundry.“ The night before I decided that I was going to start a blog. I bought a domain name, found a host, and settled on WordPress as my blogging platform. I knew nothing about blogging. I just knew I had something to share with the world. My objective was to blog about cloth diapers and green parenting. I also wanted to film video reviews to help parents decide what cloth diaper was right for them.
I wrote my intro post and then filmed my first video review, which was for Gro Baby. I had no idea what I was doing. It took me hours to film, I swear. My husband was behind the camera. I sat on the couch with the diapers next to me and and a script on my lap that I was reading from. I had every “scene” written out. It was awkward and wordy and not very good. The review was almost 10 minutes long, so I had to trim and remove whole clips to make it a manageable size. It took a day of editing since I had no experience with the software.
I did have a vision, and even with many changes to my films the principles have stayed the same. I have an introduction of the diaper, I show the various parts (shell, inside, inserts, special features if they have them, how it goes on a baby, and a conclusion) After a few reviews I decided to leave my opinion out for the most part, and let my written review speak for that. The videos are neutral because even if the diaper wasn’t my favorite, it is someone else’s.
Now I can film and edit a review in less than thirty minutes. Instead of writing a script I watch my filmed review and I dub the audio to narrate what I am showing. While my videos have no special effects they serve their purpose.
Besides video reviews I have had the opportunity to share my opinions on Breastfeeding, Elimination Communication, Babywearing, green living and parenting, and cloth diaper topics.
My blog has also afforded me opportunities to review products that I feel are relatable to you all. I don’t accept every review offer, and I have contacted companies myself hoping to review items. This has been a wonderful thing for us. I have always disclosed that items I review were sent for free, but my opinions have never been swayed by that fact.
Since starting I have also been able to pay for the hosting, domain, various graphic work, etc through advertising revenue. In fact, my hosting fee will be paid today! I am extremely grateful to those who choose to advertise on my site. It makes it possible to go on! So thank you all! Funny enough, I started google ads on day 1 and have still not been able to get paid. I am 10 dollars away! 1 year= 90.00 in revenue. Luckily I have earned other revenue by selling ads myself and through my affiliate link at Kelly’s Closet.
Lastly, I want to thank all of YOU for reading my little blog. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have a blog. A blog isn’t a blog without readers, is it? I am very grateful to those who come by and check everyday. Some of you comment on almost all of my posts, not just giveaways. I don’t always reply to all of the comments, but I read all of them! I started with 0 readers, and 0 Google Followers. Now I get hundreds of views a day and I have 531 Google Friends!
I hope you will continue to read Dirty Diaper Laundry for the next few years while I still have babies in diapers! Then, who knows?
