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Simon Pickles the owner of the Domino’s franchise at St Helens in the U.K. has established a very successful blog to promote his business keep in contact with his clients.

Simon’s site is one of the first restaurant blog site I have seen that actually “gets it”. He understands exactly how to make this virtually free Advertising medium work within his local community.

Unlike many, he has NOT filled his site with mere “Brag and Boast” Advertising about him and his business, instead, his site is about his customers and the community he operates within.

He uses his site to announce winners of his competitions, he reports on the success of local sports teams, he posts video clips from YouTube that will interest his customers, he promotes the local fund raising initiatives from his community, and he uses his blog to chat to his clients and build a relationship with them.

DOES IT WORK?

Simon tells me that 32% of his delivery orders come from the internet, the National average is 17%. during busy times, staff are not tied up on phones. The orders by internet are a 10% higher average dollar sale and 1% lower food cost and the order frequency by internet is much higher than by phone.

So, does it work?… More customers, spending more money, more frequently is THE formula for business growth.

Simon also say’s… (it’s starting to sound a bit like the “Simon says” game)

“The 2 month old site is generating a respectable number of hits, but the key is: they are all from local people who are my potential customers. However it also has the spin-off benefit to me that it has helped me find out a lot more about the town I trade in (I live about 10 miles away and am thus a foreigner). By sourcing stories for St Helens News I have managed to find out a lot more about the local community. For instance, as I write, I have a couple of staff in the town centre handing out leaflets at the Grand Christmas Lights Switch On Party. Yesterday we completed a 40-pizza order for a local school who I contacted while researching material for St Helens News. ”

Savvy bloggers will note that Simon has actually established multiple linked sites to ensure he dominates search engine results in his region, that is to say, whenever potential customers search food or news in the St.Helens region, there is a good chance one of Simon’s sites will register highly, all of which naturally lead to his online store front, as I mentioned above, this gut really does get it.

In Summary:

Simon claims he is only in the early stages of his sites development, but already he is seeing real dollar and cents results from his efforts. Simon has obviously understood the power of having his own communication medium.

He understands the old newspaper theory, that if you want people to buy your paper (visit your web site) fill it with news and photos of them, then you are guaranteed they and their friends will visit to see what you have written about their favorite subject… THEM.

If you do this stuff right, it’s just like owning your own newspaper and television station, and will add real value and sales to your business.

Here’s a link to his site…

Simon, Thank you for sharing this information with us.

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