Mom's the word

INTERNET: Heather Armstrong’s irreverent blog, Dooce.com, has won her 850,000 readers, most of them women. That’s good news for the stay-at-home mother of a four-year-old daughter. What’s even better: the site has attracted so many advertisers that Armstrong and her husband have both given up their previous jobs.

Web sites for and by women are the fastest-growing segment of the internet after political sites. More than 85 million people visited women’s sites in May this year, up 42 per cent from the same month in 2007. Advertisers placed 4.4 billion advertisements on women’s sites in May 2008 alone, according to comScore, a company that measures internet traffic.

“Moms are the decision makers of the household as far as purchases are concerned,” Chris Actis, vice- president and digital director at MediaVest ad agency, told The New York Times. As a result, more ads are placed on women’s sites than those aimed at children, teens or families. Large media companies are also becoming interested in women’s sites. Earlier this month, cable company Comcast bought DailyCandy, a shopping and entertainment site, for about $125 million.

Heather Armstrong says readers like her site because it is more honest than traditional women’s magazines. “It’s really raw and unfiltered, not run through a committee of 12 people who need to approve what you say.”