Swanage in Dorset, after a storm.

When I’m sitting comfortably on my sofa with a glass of wine in my hand watching my favourite programme on television as the rain pours down and the wind howls outside, I sometimes pause to think for a moment about the brave lifeboat crews who are more than likely out there on the high seas struggling to save the lives of others – and possibly also their own.

So, when John contacted me to mention his Dorset blog that charts the ‘shouts, training, thoughts and fun’ of the Swanage Lifeboat crew, I was more than happy to give him a shout that will, on this occasion, not put his life at risk (see right hand column for RSS feed).

The last time I was in Swanage was just after a storm. People were still clearing away the seaweed from the sea front and I got a strong feeling of life going on in a seaside town no matter what. Life is like that in seaside towns.

For many people around the world and in Dorset, the economic climate is blowing a very strong gale and, at times like this, it is often difficult to believe that it will all be over one day and life will return to normal.

John and his fellow crewmen, who have to react quickly to all that the stormy seas throw at them, are a great example of courage to all of us.

Having weathered the storm, the sunshine on the day after will feel wonderful

Merry Christmas to all!

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author and confirmed landlubber.

Christmas stockings likely to be empty this Christmas

I was talking to my brother today and he tells me that the Credit Crunch has bitten so deeply now that he is offering rates for his Bournemouth painting and decorating services of as little as £10 an hour.

Since he is a highly experienced, hard working and able professional painter decorator, it shows the poor state of the trades currently that are associated with property and building maintenance.

As my brother said to me, if he charges any less, he will be below the minimum wage and would be operating illegally.

Let’s hope that the interest rate reductions made by the Bank of England have the effect of stimulating the economy soon, otherwise there are going to be a lot of very empty stockings hanging at the end of children’s beds this Christmas.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author

View from Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth, Dorset

One of the really fun things about having a blog is that sometimes the most interesting people can pop up out of the blue and make your day.

Dorset blogger Jane has a really great blog which is all about the wildlife and countryside of Dorset – and probably anything else that takes her fancy. It’s full of great Dorset photography and she really knows the names of plants, insects and wildlife so it’s very informative too.

The name of Jane’s blog is Urban Extension – Corfe Mullen : A Disappearing Dorset Village. It’s well worth a visit. I liked it so much that I’ve added its RSS feed to this page. You can see it in my list of blogs I follow in the right hand index.

Thanks Jane for a great blog.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author and travel writer

Blogging can successful assist your small business marketing.

Dorset small business marketing through writers, writing, blogs, blogging and bloggers is the subject of today’s discussion.

This topic was prompted by a chat I had yesterday with a very unhappy estate agent who was desperate to find a way of increasing his small business sales.

No, I’m not trying to sell my house, thank goodness – and, certainly, I feel very sad for those who are forced to sell their houses in these turbulent times.

Instead, I’m talking generally about small business marketing. This is a subject fraught with difficult at the best of times and the Internet, which has been much heralded as an easier and lower cost way of setting up business and making sales, often merely turns out to be just another way of spending promotional money with little return.

So I thought today I would talk about free blogs and blogging as a way of promoting your small (or large) business, whether in the beautiful English county of Dorset or elsewhere in the UK.

Quite simply, if your customers are likely to be looking for your service or product on the Internet, adding a blog to your web site – or even as your web site – is a very sound and low cost, possibly no cost, strategy. Each day that you write more about your business or matters of interest connected with your business, you are sending a little sales emissary off into cyberspace that could bring customers back to your site … and then more … and then more.

Blogs are really cheap to set up and require little expertise to update. They were designed to be used by just about anybody to put content online specifically avoiding the need to pay geeks loads of  money. If you can use a word processor (write a letter on your computer), you are probably able to handle a blog.

Need proof? Go to Blogger.com or WordPress.com and sign up for a free one. Both systems provide free web space with their free blog which makes using them even easier. Once convinced, you can always move to a paid blogging host which has some advantages.

That’s all there is to it! Try putting up a post each weekday talking about some aspect of your business that potential customers might find interesting.

Just chat. Imagine you are in your  shop, hotel, sales  room or even the pub and you are talking about your business. It doesn’t have to be intense and perhaps you shouldn’t overtly sell – although that’s not a cast-iron rule.

Your main aim is to build a relationship with your potential customer so in the future they would probably prefer to come to you when they want to buy rather  than go to somebody else who is an unknown quantity – or perhaps they might mention you to their friend who could also come to you and buy.

OK, now I’m going to talk about a few problems – well one big one, really

The problem is that not everybody finds writing easy. It’s not so much a matter of putting words together like in a business letter, the difficulty more often lies in creatively thinking up a new subject each day and then being motivated enough to put it down in writing.

However, there are ways around this problem. Perhaps your wife, your husband, your friend or someone you know really well would be willing to help. They might already consider themselves an amateur writer or might be willing to give it a go and subsequently find they have a hitherto undiscovered talent.

Of course, you might be able to find a local writer who is willing to keep the blog for your business for a modest sum. Writers, whether they consider themselves professional or not, are usually fairly poverty stricken so their assistance may come reasonably cheaply.

How soon should you see results? This depends on lots of things.

If there is no market for your service or product, it doesn’t matter how many people you tell, you still won’t make sales. The aforementioned estate agent is currently proof of that.

If the words you put in the title and body of your daily posts are not words that people are using in their searches, keeping a blog won’t help sell your products or service either.

If you are in competition with many other people who are expertly using online marketing to sell their products, you could find yourself  at the end of a  long search engine list with perhaps nobody reading your daily writings. As with any business tool, the expertise of the user can make a difference.

However, if you are a wonderful small cafe, hotel, pub or restaurant that people just don’t know is there, your blog may be the best way to tell them. Make sure your geographical location is included in each post and the words ‘what’s on’ or ‘things to do’ or ‘places to go’ and customers could come streaming to your door.

That’s it! I hope it helps. When you have got your Dorset blog going, come along here and tell me about it and I will add a few words on this blog telling people about yours. Maybe you might do the same for me. It costs nothing and helps the world go around

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer and blogger

Seagulls, swans and ducks being fed (although not by me!)

I got this photo while visiting Mudeford Quay and Christchurch Bay. Don’t the sea birds look marvellous!

I have to confess that the seagulls, swans and ducks had got rather excited because somebody (not me) had just been feeding them. Feeding seagulls does lead to problems and there are usually notices asking people not to. I didn’t say anything to the middle-aged and kindly-looking lady who was creating all this excitement.

Sometimes, I think, it is better to be silent and it certainly got me a great picture

Mudeford Quay is a great place to visit. For the kids, it has crabbing with kind crabbing equipment and bait for sale. For Mackerel fishermen, there are sea cruises to catch them. For sailing enthusiasts, there is the public slipway. For revelers there is rather a nice looking pub.

Mackerel fishing trips Mudeford Quay, Christchurch, Bournemouth, UK

Finally, for an itinerant online travel writer, there is lots to enjoy and to photograph on a sunny afternoon.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online travel writer

Crabbing at Mudeford Quay, Christchurch, Dorset, UK

Weymouth during the Wessex Folk Festival from the bridge

Of all the places I’ve been in Dorset, Weymouth during the Wessex Folk Festival was one of the most memorable.

Hope Square with the sunshine beaming down and the happy crowds all around enjoying the free music had an ambiance that was very nearly perfect.

I fact, I think my favourite part of seaside Weymouth is the harbour area with its swing bridge and pubs. For a small sum, there is a chap with a rowing boat that takes people across the harbour who don’t want to walk back up to the bridge.

There are also plenty of places  just to sit and chat and enjoy watching the incredible boats going by.

People just relaxing by the harbour at the Weymouth Wessex Folk Festival

People are friendly too and I remember a conversation with an old chap who had  come to Weymouth as a young man to crew on an aircraft carrier. He had now retired after a lifetime of working on naval and other boats and was just giving away some sailing tackle because he would rather it went to a worthy cause than make a bit of money.

I’m sure there are lots of places in Weymouth that would be interesting to write about.

Weymouth and, in particular, its harbour area is a great place to spend time and I’m really looking forward to visiting the small pubs, restaurants and hotels again.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author and blogger

Swanage is a friendly town in Dorset on the South Coast of England

Recently, I visited the Dorset town of Swanage on the beautiful South Coast of England just after the weather had done its worst with high winds and floods and just before it was threatening to do it again.

Swanage looked like a lady, a little past her prime but still forcing a smile and always willing to give a warm welcome.

Seaweed was being brushed away from the sea front walking areas and small businesses were opening their doors determined to provide service to their public.

Sword dancing at Swanage Folk Festival

It was my first visit to Swanage and I must confess that I liked what I saw.

How is it that some places seem friendly and others don’t?

Perhaps it was Swanage Bay that wrapped itself around visitors as they walked along the promenade.

Perhaps it was  Swanage’s South facing aspect that allowed the sun, when it appeared from behind the clouds, to warm this part of the Jurassic Coast.

Perhaps it was the friendly Swanage Folk Festival that provided cheerful dancing in the streets and free music in the pubs.

Swanage sea canoeing

I’m sure that there is much more that I could write about the pubs and hotels of Swanage. It seems to me that Swanage is the sort of place that could stimulate many interesting articles and memories to write about.

But, for now, perhaps I will just leave it to you to find out for yourself by taking a trip to visit this pleasant South Coast Dorset town.

Maybe I’ll even see you there

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author and travel blogger

Bridport Arts Centre in Dorset - home of the Bridport Prize for Creative Writing

Bridport in Dorset is a truly amazing town which I visited last Saturday for the first time and must check out again sometime soon.

Inspired by the architecture, on returning home, I looked up Bridport Arts Centre on the Internet and found that, for a small town, it has lots of interesting things going on.

The Bridport Prize Creative Writing Competition caught my eye. Coo, that prize would be good! Five thousand pounds just for writing a story. If I had five thousand pounds for every free story I’ve written and uploaded to the Internet for people to read, I’d certainly be wallowing in the readies instead of scrimping and saving.

Hey ho! Earning money from writing is never easy but it’s a great way to spend time and it’s also nice to know that literally millions have read my stuff over the years.

The problem is that, like many writers, my mind keeps thinking up crazy stuff all the time. One minute I’m thinking that I ought to be finding a nice small tourist business that needs a blog ghostwriting each day to tell the world about them and boost their customers, and then, in a flash, I’m dreaming a short story about a small business advertising for a ghost writer for their marketing blog and ending up interviewing a ghost!

They say that writers are born not made and I must plead guilty to dreaming. Perhaps it’s a good thing there are enough pragmatic realists around to keep the world sane and in some semblance of order

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author, blogger and insatiable dreamer

Awesome cliffs at West Bay, Bridport, Dorset

For my first post to this web site blog, I have a totally awesome photo I took yesterday at West Bay, Bridport, Dorset. I’ve seen many cliffs but this one with its incredible striations really has a wow factor.

If you are in the Bridport area of Dorset and you fancy a stroll around a busy little port with incredible views of cliffs, West Bay is worth a visit.

While I was wandering around, I noticed people walking the path to the top of the cliffs. I wonder if there are any fences up there? I doubt whether I have the courage to go and find out

People following path to top of West Bay cliff

This is just a quick post to get this web site started – much more about West Bay and Bridport in Dorset later.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author and blogger

Rob Hopcott - online author and blogger

Welcome to Blogging Dorset Blogs which is a web site blog about places I’ve visited in Dorset and blogs relating to Dorset that I have visited in cyberspace.

I look forward to seeing you back here often and welcome your comments.

Bye for now

Rob Hopcott – online author