Ventura County Star Article

Juliet Brown, a Camarillo resident, was seeking a business of her own that would provide a community service while supplementing the family income. At the same time, she was using an innovative parent-oriented Web site operated by a woman in Santa Barbara to find information and resources that were helpful in raising her two preschool children, ages 1 and 3.

The site carries a wide variety of information specifically designed to help parents of young children. It includes parenting tips, a listing of coming events and activities in the community, information on schools, monthly contests, free classified listings, a "parent chat" function, and many other subject areas.

That Santa Barbara-based site http://www.sbparent.com was so useful to Brown she thought a similar site in Ventura County could be very popular and helpful to many mothers in this area. She contacted the site owner-operator in Santa Barbara, Rachael Ross Steidl, and worked out a service agreement with her whereby Steidl would provide the basic software and training for Brown's new site http://www.OaksParent.com.

A similar agreement has been worked out with 16 other mother-operators nationwide, mostly in Southern California, who now independently own and operate a site. Brown's assigned territory covers Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Westlake Village and Agoura Hills. Revenue is generated from participating ads and sponsorships.

"This is a great business for me," said Brown, 28. "I'm providing a service that's genuinely helpful to other mothers, and I can operate it out of my home while taking care of my own two children."

In addition to the basic informational functions of her site, Brown will soon implement a "recipe club" and a Spanish translation service.

Her site is a sponsor for several community events, such as the Agoura Hills Relay For Life, Stand For Children Day, and Thousand Oaks Arbor Earth Day. "We are trying to attend and support as many events as possible," Brown noted. "We will be hosting a Healthy Kid's Day' function in August, promoting healthy diets and exercise in children."

The cost of advertising on the site ranges from $99 to $395 per year. Sponsorship are available for $2,000 to $3,500 per year.

Another similar site for parents in Ventura County is operated by Valerie Zeke, from her home in Ventura. Her site http://www.VenturaParent.com covers Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Ojai.

Star columnist Jim Woodard, a Ventura resident, is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. Fax him at 644-0790 or e-mail him at Storyjim@aol.com.