Eating The Blog Elephant

Savvy Blogger Suggests Write!

Every journey begins with a single step. My first meandering into this realm of becoming a blogger came from Larry Blenn (web & logo designer, realtor), who suggested, "You should blog on World of Warcraft", an online game I have played since the first month of release. I dabbled with the idea for two to three months, did nothing of merit with it, and let blogging slide away into the R.I.P. Blog Graveyard. I even owned the domain name.

Hunger Decides Pizza Fate

Fast forward to 2009. My wife and I, as we headed home from her work, decided to grab a bite to eat at our favorite sandwich shop - Subway. Fresh or not, we were hungry. My wife pointed at a pizza parlor right next door Pizza Italiana, asking me, "Want to try it instead?" I recall shrugging and possibly rubbing my belly as answer enough. The short of this eating frenzy - ooh la la - pizza yummy. And possibly one of the best pizzas in Vancouver!

Gestalting

This blurp so far is not about pitching links or making you hungry. Well maybe a little hungry... My goal is to unveil how this blog germinated from a myriad of random encounters and crystallized into its current - work in progress.

Local Repair Shops Rescues Oprah!

Fast forward again, still 2009. Our lamp goes out on our big screen and I'm in a frenzy; Oprah's on soon. Just kidding. I love Oprah, but don't watch much tv. When it comes to fixing or cooking, I have four thumbs, so I initially called Best Buy for repairs (disclaimer: Wife claims my four thumb problem disappears when someone else cooks and I get to eat only.). Then I called what I refer to as a "hole in the wall" shop for a quote. I had driven past Ableman TV & Electronics hundreds of times, but still had to google them for their number. They convinced me that even a tool challenged klutz like me could replace the lamp in the tv and save myself any labor charges (more if they have to drive over). They proved right. Not only did I replace the lamp like a pro, save myself wazoos of cash I didn't have to spare, have my wife gift me with my very own tool belt in honorum, but I became a devotee of Ableman's because they took care of me.

The Epiphany is Coming Soon

The final flash is backwards to 2006 and the Empire Sportsmen's Association. This is a locally run poker room. This last snippet isn't about poker, tv repair, pizza or Larry. Take a moment if you haven't already to follow each link and give each site a quick once-over. No thorough study required. Here is what dawned on me:

• Larry Blenn - Once he reads this post, he will be quick to give me updated links to display his talents. I don't know why he using his current Real Estate site. Shameful.

• Empire Sportsmen's Association - local ordinance forbids them from advertising. Not sure how they can do this? I guess the First Amendment does not apply. This poker room has NO way to connect to a customer base or generate more business other than word-of-mouth. They could use old fashioned smoke signals, but there is an ordinance against how you can use fire to burn debris.

• Pizza Italiana - They have a static webpage. You can't even email them. I can forgive the look of the site in fond memory of each meal. Even with a domain and site, they have NO way to connect with their customer base; minimal at best.

• Ableman's TV Repair - their site looks worse than the others. At least they have the ability to leave comments for what its worth.

Adwords the Holy Grail

A host of brick and mortar small businesses similar to my examples all have the same issues. What they don't know about what they don't know regarding generating more loyal customers via the net, is stifling their growth potential. Adwords and my own business opportunity to the rescue! Or so I thought. It lead me to googling for hours on end. Searching to discover instructional adwords coaching was like questing for the mythical "Holy Grail." Notice the time between when I created this blog and this first post (google blurry-eyed). And as I cut off (learned from) each head of the hydra-adwords-blog-google muck, even more heads sprouted to replace them. It was and still is, unending. That is when I plunged ahead anyway, "Go with what you know and work from it."

The Law of Leverage

I will never be able to explain E = mc2 even if Einstein could personally coach me. I know far less than many and far more than most small businesses. Luckily online marketing is not the Theory of Relativity. And good old fashioned common sense can be applied: Use what you know. Leverage what you have learned into the next bite of the blog-elephant. After all, "How do you eat an elephant?" One bite at a time...