Blogging for a Bargain Dracut Resident Launches Shopping Site
By Kathleen Pierce, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
Nov. 17–DRACUT — Megan Garnhum’s appetite for online shopping was so fierce, the style maven couldn’t get enough tips to fuel her purse and shoe obsession. So she did what any enterprising 31-year-old woman living in a mall-free suburb would do. She launched her own, agirlmustshop.com.
Since her shopping blog went live in August, Garnhum, a Chelmsford native who lives in Dracut, has been spending two hours a day scouring the Web and fashion magazines for lip-plumping serums, squirrel ornaments and recycled purses made of bar-codes that can be fetched quickly and cheaply online.
“I fell in love with shopping sites. I just wish there were more, ” said Garnhum, whose penchant for Hello Kitty bags is evidenced by her overstuffed closet.
Like sharing shopping secrets with friends over coffee, Garnhum’s blog is a light and breezy insider’s look at cyber deals. Posts on cashmere gloves for under $25, and tips on how to save money while holiday shopping are typical entries. She doesn’t mask her enthusiasm when she finds an online bargain, either. A tutorial on how to glean free swag online was a recent post.
If this all sounds very girlie, it is. But that’s the beauty of the blogosphere: If you can think it, there is an audience lying in wait.
Different from a vanity site, agirlmustshop is not a forum for her private life. It’s a real service for those who like to shop, Garnhum says. She sticks to products that are unusual (you won’t find them at TJ Maxx) and carry a reasonable price tag, between $5 and $100.
“People shop online and they don’t know where to go,” said the marketing writer. “I was always getting compliments on my purses and shoes. So I thought, there is my niche.”
An early adapter to Web logging, Garnhum started an online diary in 1999 and launched her first blog shortly after. She reads up to 50 blogs a day. She does not read newspapers. What attracts her is the openness of the medium.
“It’s interactive. It gives a voice to people who don’t necessarily have a voice,” said Garnhum, who also designs blogs on the side.
In July, she spoke at a conference for women bloggers on site design. With start-up enthusiasm in the air, she was inspired to launch agirlmustshop.
“I was impressed by all the full-time bloggers and thought I could do that,” said Garnhum.
In a tidy office with striped wallpaper, where bags from Lush and Sephora neatly stacked, she stays in touch with the blog community and has reached shopaholics from around the corner to Shanghai.
Since the launch of agirlmustshop, she has attracted a handful of contributors and advertisers. She sends out an RSS feed to 40 and a monthly newsletter. Ultimately, she hopes another blog will sponsor her site or purchase it.
“The whole point is to gain readership,” she said.
Her advice for anyone thinking of starting a blog: Just do it.
“Blogs are free and if someone can do a squirrel blog, there is an audience for anyone,” she said.
Kathleen Pierce’s e-mail address is kpierce@lowellsun.com.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
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