You should not be blogging if ...

If you're a small business person, at some point you've probably entertained the thought of starting a blog. There can be any number of reasons. You want your customers to be up to date on your latest services and products. You want to boost your online profile. You have interesting things to say.

Fair enough, but I can't tell you how many blogs I've been to where the latest entries are three or six months old. Blogs die because people lose interest, or because people discover how much work they are.

Here is an article that caught my attention this morning, by Jeff Haden of MoneyWatch. If you are a onetime blogger who groans at the thought of how your blog has died and now just sits there, you have my sympathy. If you are blogging only because you've been sold on the idea, here's what Haden has to say.


You should not be blogging if:

• You cringe at the thought of writing another post.
• Your page views are flat.
• You can't quantify a return.
• You don't even feel like trying to quantify a return.
• Your readers are not customers or potential customers.
• Your goal is to provide valuable resources to customers (high-value content should go on your Web site).
  

For the full article, click on this link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505143_162-57349641/should-you-stop-blogging/?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea

BizMojo Idaho on the air. Listen in

I went on the radio for nearly half an hour Tuesday with Tim Lewis. For those of you who may have missed it, here is a link: http://www.eastidahonews.com/2012/01/business-expert-on-idahos-morning-news-w-tim-lewis/

I would love to hear what you think, and if you have any questions we would love to hear them. It was actually a lot of fun, and good promotion for the blog. We will be doing it every Tuesday morning at the top half of the 8 o'clock hour.

Dickey's BBQ shooting for Jan. 27 opening in Idaho Falls

Dickey's Barbecue Pit is shooting for a Jan. 27 opening in Idaho Falls, at 2090 East 17th Street (formerly the location of Taco John's).

The restaurant is being developed by B.J. McDougal, and the local franchisees are Bob and Deeanne Wilkins. McDougal said he chose to go with the Dallas-based Dickey's because "Idaho is a meat-and-potatoes kind of state" and because he believes people will respond well to the fast-casual style of service the chain offers.

If they don't make the Jan. 27 deadline, he said the latest they will open is Jan. 31.

Another Dickey's is opening in Nampa in early February, and McDougal and the Wilkinses are planning to open one in Pocatello. McDougal also said they are looking to open in Rexburg and Twin Falls, and that anyone interested in becoming a franchisee should call him at 208-318-6687.

Dickey's was started in 1941 by Travis Dickey, Sr., whose mission statement (if such a thing existed then) was, "Serve the best tastin' barbecue imaginable, just the way people like it. And don't make 'em wait too long to get it." In the past 10 years, the chain has been expanding aggressively across the United States.

Outdoor journalist Kris Millgate expands to talk radio

KRIS MILLGATE

TV’s outdoor journalist Kris Millgate is taking on radio in 2012. Wake up with Millgate every Wednesday at 6:35 a.m. on Newstalk 690 & 1260. Idaho's Morning News host Tim Lewis will talk with Millgate about outdoor issues and the upcoming stories she’s working on for her weekly TV news segment Time OUT with Kris Millgate

“It’s important to me to add someone to the show that is qualified to present the outdoors as an expert in a way that is enticing to any of us who want to pick up a fishing rod or hop on a snowmobile,” said Lewis, Newstalk Radio program manager. “It’s a natural thing to have Kris talk about what she’s doing outside and then send people to her website to watch what she’s doing.”

Millgate, owner of Tight Line Media, has 15 years of experience in journalism. She holds honors with Outdoor Writers Association of America for Best Outdoor Ethics and President’s Choice. She also has awards from the Idaho Press Club for 1st place in general news, best documentary and environmental coverage.

She also produces several documentaries annually, and she’ll give radio listeners the inside scoop on what it's like to travel around the country filming wildlife in wild places with wild people.

For a direct link to Kris' work, click on the TIME OUT logo that's posted on the right side of this page.

Areva announces $500 million deal

Areva has made a $500 million deal with Xcel Energy to supply the utility's Monticello nuclear generating plant in Minnesota. This should be good news, right?

Not so fast. For Idaho Falls, the real news may be at the bottom of a story posted Sunday on http://www.coolhandnuke.com/ and written by Dan Yurman, formerly of Idaho Falls, who blogs Idaho Samizdat: Nuke Notes (http://djysrv.blogspot.com/).

In December, Areva announced that due to a cash crunch it was suspending construction on the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility near Idaho Falls. Now, the French-state owned nuclear company appears to be considering a stake in the Urenco enrichment plant in southern New Mexico. Urenco is a uranium enrichment firm owned by several German utilities and the governments of Great Britain and the Netherlands.

"This new development suggests the firm is taking a page out of the playbook of the beer brewing industry. The way some brewers have boosted production capacity is to simply buy other breweries with existing plants and swap out the product line. ...

"If that is the case, and this is only speculative, then it could be that Areva is thinking it would be a lot cheaper to take an equity stake in an existing uranium enrichment operation, like the one in New Mexico, than to spend $3 billion on a new plant in Idaho."

http://www.coolhandnuke.com/Cool-Hand-Blog/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/92/Areva-inks-500-million-nuclear-fuel-deal-with-Xcel-for-Monticello.aspx