Modern Mom, Baskin Robbins in Local Launch

Modern Mom, a Los Angeles-based pioneer in the increasingly crowded “online moms” space, is launching 12 city guides on Wednesday (Nov. 15). Previews of L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., are already up. These cities will be joined by Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Seattle, Minneapolis and Dallas (if my reading of the pinpoints on a 50-state map is correct).

“Founding Mom” Lolita Carrico says that the city guides will each have a local editor but won't initially be accompanied by local sales  although the site might eventually get local sales partners. For now, the site will be relying on national sites such as Shutterfly, TiVo and IsaBooties, and by companies like Roche, which features a link to its localized Flu Tracker site (“find out about flu conditions in your area”).

Another localized advertiser is Baskin Robbins 31. In fact, I found the site because I am on Baskin Robbins’ birthday list and received an e-mail promo giving me $3 off its new Fudge Crunch Cake. At the bottom of the online flier is info for Modern Mom, urging ice cream lovers to “be the first to check out their San Diego City Guide for the latest scoop on hot products, must attend events and fantastic services for you and your family!” As my friend Jim Bonfield says, “This stuff really works.”

Carrico notes that the site, which was founded in 2002 and is still independent, currently attracts 250,000 unique visitors a month. It also has 80,000 subscribers to a daily e-mail. The site gets very frequent usage, with 30 percent visiting once a week, and 22 percent daily. Thirty-five percent have household incomes above $100,000.