Blistful

Marcie’s lead-free toys rock!

2007-11-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

When we went live on October 12, Marcie posted her list widget of lead-free toys to her blog, Adopt Two Boys. Marcie’s passionate about finding all the places to find toys without lead that can harm developing brains, and her readers rely on her savvy research and recommendations. Over the last three weeks, her Blistful list widget has taken off, and we’re really excited!

Marcie’s blog already gets a lot of traffic – when you google “lead-free toys” Marcie’s blog is listed #2 in the results. When several bloggers picked up Marcie’s widget in the first weekend, the views to her list of lead-free toys doubled, and since then, views have tripled. Her list widget has been picked up by 17 other blogs (11 of them added her widget during the last week when Marcie launched her November non-toxic toys giveaway):
o Raising A Healthy Family
o Blog Mommas
o Bailey Family
o Adventures in Baby Wearing
o Lead Free Toy List
o Free Holiday Ideas
o The Princess and the Little Guy
o New York Meldrims
o At Home, Naturally
o Daily Thoughts
o Gotcha Baby
o Boys Rule My Life
o Kevin and Jenna
o Mommy Instincts
o Kerith’s Korner of Momdum
o Momdum Chronicles
o Young Mom in the Big World

More people have taken Marcie’s widget into Facebook, where they can meet other people interested in lead-free toys, and get live updates of any comments people make or updates Marcie makes to the lead-free toys list.

Marcie, you rock. Clearly lots of folks are thrilled you find reliable sources for lead-free toys for all of us. Thank you!

Great books

2007-11-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

I belong to a book group, although that's not to say that I read the books and go to the book club get-togethers. I'd like to, but I rarely find the time to immerse myself in great literature. The real reason I belong to the book group -- in addition to perpetuating a fantasy that my life allows me to savor the moment and beloved pastimes -- is I love to see what books the group is choosing. Every once in a while, when a vacation comes around, I select a book and treat myself to a luxurious read. If you're like me, you may appreciate the list widget I've posted here, "Monica's Book Group Picks".

I am a bit more diligent when it comes to seeking out books for my kids. After all, their lives should permit routine downtime with a good book, not to mention it's required by their teachers! I don't have book clubs for them, but I have discovered two great list widgets from Blistful users, "Favorite Kids' Books" from Keith Raffel and "40+ Books for 2nd and 3rd Graders" from Veronique Chesnais Christensen.

Keith is a popular author in Silicon Valley. His first book, Dot.Dead: A Silicon Valley Mystery was a thrilling read. As a father and avid fan of literature, Keith created a list of recommended books he enjoyed as a boy. If you want to see more musings from Keith, check out his Dot Dead Diary blog.

Veronique blogs on crafts for kids on her Little Elephants blog. One of her children attended a class where a mom in the class offered to host a book club for the kids. The kids were so enthused with the book selections that they decided to publish their favorite reads so their classmates could also discover new books, specifically recommended by kids. When my friends saw this great list, routinely they asked, "Does Veronique also have recommended lists for 4th and 5th graders?" We hope you're working on that list, too, Veronique.

Take any of these list widgets into Facebook and get live updates by clicking on the "Facebook" link at the bottom of the widget you want. Or, if you're inspired to share recommendations among your friends, get onto Blistful to start your lists. By the way, send us any lists you'd like to share with everyone and we'll post them here. We'd love to benefit from your recommendations!

3 .. 2 .. 1 and we're live

2007-10-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hi. After several weeks of testing, tweaking, testing and tweaking, we went live with Blistful on Friday, October 12. Of course, we popped the champagne ... and then quickly returned to manage an uptick in traffic to our conversational list widgets!

Want to take a look?

Marcie is a Chicago mom who adopted her son from Russia and is now adopting her second child. Her blog readers routinely turn to her for her keen insights on places to buy lead-free toys, and now they can take her list with them:

Josh is a San Francisco dad who spent three months at home with his infant daughter. During that time he became the go-to-guy ... all his friends ask him what stuff they really need for their babies. So, Josh set up an Amazon store with all his picks and dropped the links into his list widget:

Monica (me!) is a fan of Annie Lennox. Last week I went to her concert where she made an appeal to help mothers and children suffering from HIV/AIDS. Here's how you can help, too:

Let us know how you're using Blistful list widgets. We'd love to feature you, too.