Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Oh, Craig....I`m sure you could find lots to fill it with! :) 

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Okay Janie, that made me laugh.

The question for the small business owner is not "can I generate traffic with this blog?", it`s "will the traffic I generate with this blog translate into greater revenue?"

Sure, if you make a gas station into one of those diners where they deliver your food out to the car while the gas pumped (anyone looking for a business idea, haha?), and then made a blog about some nostalgic stories from the old diner days and life on the road, your station might become a tourist trap and then Guy from Foodnetwork is doing a special on you. BUT that only happened because you had the interesting business model in the first place and used the blog to market it, not because you made a blog. I don`t think there`s any way to make people drive 50 miles out of their way to hit a local Chevron when they have one 200 yards from their house.

And yes, blogs need editorial calendars and focus - something most people don`t think about.

Roland- way to hit the middle ground of everything. C`mon man, pick a side and go with it! Let`s see some enthusiasm here!



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If you saw a blog with lower gas prices than the closest station to you, would you drive 25 miles to go there?


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Did it yourself but something on your website still isn`t working the way you wanted? Have no fear - That PHP Girl is here!

Look ma, I`ve gone green!!

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I have to say that it`s my policy to always check the blogosphere before putting gas in the car. Why, I remember saving a whole lot of money one time when I was out and about. I saw a gas station advertising $3.09/gallon, and wondered if that was a good idea. So I drove home, real quick (it was only across town), turned on the computer, and checked.

By gosh if there wasn`t a gas station a couple of streets down from the one I`d seen, and their price was $2.99!! Now THAT`s a helluva savings, I thought, and jumped in the car, went there and bought a couple of gallons!

I`m in favor of having blogs.


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Craig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don`t." - Unknown

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Very good Craig!
I threw in my 1 cent and my apple core on your blog, nikole.
I gotta say, I find this idea kinda absurd. I`ve been around small business types all my life.
Sure there are all kinds of speculative arguments in favour of having a blog, but the return on the effort is simply not sensible. For the effort (or the subcontracted cost) of that blog, there are often many more profitable ways for small businesses to promote.
If the customers are not accustomed to investigating their purchases of a particular item online, nothing you blog will do the job for you. Nothing.
I blog, but it is more a service to my existing client base, and it is because they asked for it - not because it was a viable promotion. Well that, plus I cannot keep my mouth shut or my fingers still.
With all respect to the authors of the original article, if you have a hammer, everything looks like it can be fastened with a nail. The top and bottom of my roast beef sandwhich for instance...
Show us the business case!
Saw you getting picked apart in their response - sorry, your point stands.

Mike


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I really don`t thin a blog can benefit all businesses.  A blog is one of many marketing tools.  It`s like saying ANY business can benefit from ANY form of marketing.

But we know that many forms of marketing and advertising are appropriate for only some businesses.  Some are more universal (like a website or business cards) while others are more specific (like post card mailers or doing trade shows) but not every business will benefit from all of them.  That`s ridiculous.

By the way, I did a quick Google `blog search` for a gas station blog and came up nil.  But then I didn`t spend much time on it.



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