Blogger's Affinity Group

I have been swirling an idea around in my head for weeks. I am experimenting with a new, organic means of generating traffic to my site and others. Check out the Bloggers Affinity Group and become part of the experiment!

My Thoughts on Adsense

While surfing the other night, I came upon this article, more of a question really:

"Pay Per Click (Google AdSense to be even more specific) is the greatest business model ever devised. Why? Check out Google’s financials and you’ll see why. PPC is the most efficient, most profitable business model ever created.

That’s just my $.02. What do you think?" For the full article and all comments, click here.

Here's my comment:

For $.02 worth, you must have a low eCPM!

I have had blogs up for 23 days and have made about $30.00 from Adsense. My best earning site is actually my Little League Blog and my Little League team Blog. My “main blog,” The Hot Dog Truck, gets more views but does not earn like the two “extreme niche” baseball sites. I am new to this, but here’s my thoughts on the subject. Google (and others) have increased the ability of the regular schmuck to publish on what interests them, or, as in the case of my baseball sites, what serves the needs of their small but targetted audience.

My Little League site has relevance to about 1200 families of kids who play LL baseball in our community and possibly a few other folks scattered around the country (grandparents, folks who’ve moved, etc). The team site has relevence to 14 families-and maybe some team alumnae in town. Both sites are/will be used for communicating, allowing people to do game write-ups, posting coaching tips and posting photos in a more open (and FREE) platform than the League’s main site (which I administer).

The sites are already getting hits due to the links from our main site and the fact that there is increased traffic from the League site due to registration form downloads for the upcoming 2007 season.

This is a win-win-win Google has created in this case. They get to sell their ads into an extremely targeted, geographically specific, niche audience. The advertiser benefits because there is less “clutter” than from a broader reaching “tips on youth baseball” site or on a site that’s pitching products to a broad reaching audience. The publisher (our League) benefits from a complimentary (in both senses of the word) internet presence and an opportunity to earn some money for the League. My modest goal for the League and Team blogs is to be able to cover the costs of administering our main League website and to pay for the software we just purchased to do our scheduling.

Google’s going to win in any scenario but what makes this a win-win-win is the niche aspect. Our niche is small enough to be able to provide value to the advertiser but large enough to create value to the publisher.

Now if I could only get more clicks for the Hot Dog Truck…….

So you wanna be a hot dog man?

Why be a Hot dog man (or woman)? If you're reading this, maybe you're looking for the answer. As someone once said: "Just when you think you have the answers, I change the questions!"

For me, I wanted a low key business that involved lots of interaction with people. I like most people and enjoy chatting about the news of the day, the Red Sox, football, the weather, kids, wives, families etc. I was a commissioned salesperson for 20 years before I started this venture, so I know about people. I just wanted to deal with people straight up, without an angle. I have something they want and I give it to them-SIMPLE. I wanted no more of the stress and high pressure of commissioned sales.

I also wanted to be involved with hot dogs because I like hot dogs and I feel the way I cook and serve my hot dogs is the best way; I have never found a hot dog anywhere that tastes quite like mine. The secret is in the way I cook them (not telling...yet) and serving them on freshly butter grilled buns (Its all about the buns, baby). I figured if I could serve up a consistently good hot dog, I'd do OK.

Which leads me to the final reason I got into the business- MONEY! Cash is KING and you can make a very nice income selling hot dogs. I know I'll never be a Rockefeller from this venture, but I can earn enough and be relaxed and happy and have plenty of time left over for my family, my little league team, my master's degree and now Helium.
The work itself is very uncomplicated. Serve good food and treat people nice. If you do that, the customers keep coming back.

One of the pitfalls of this business is crappy weather (I write this on a night in February and its about 5 degrees outside-it was a cold and lonely day at the hot dog truck). In the winter you'll be cold-like ice fishing without the fish or beer; in the summer you'll be hot-picture a 95 degree day and you're standing next to a grill all day. Every once in a while I also feel that the work is too repetitive-that feeling usually goes away once I get the first customer of the day. Overall, for me, the advantages and lifestyle this business brings outweigh the bad stuff.
What you need to ask yourself is why do YOU want to be in the hot dog biz? If you decide that you want to give it a go, keep reading about how to get going.

I run my business in the same location, Monday through Friday from 10:30-3PM. Other folks will travel to different locations, operate "after the bars close" in hopping nightlife areas while others work large events (fairs, festivals, parades etc.). I have a customer who sells sausages on Friday and Saturday nights in a downtown Worcester, MA area with lots of bars and he also works Downtown Worcester on the 4th of July-he sold 1200 pounds of sausages on 7/4/2006! For the purposes of this article, I'll deal with the "same location" model.

The first thing you need to do is find a good spot. Anywhere there are lots of people is good. If you are in an urban area where parking is limited or you can locate in a park, you may want to consider a hot dog cart. If you're in a suburban setting, look for areas where there is a lot of vehicle traffic and a ready supply of regular hungry customers. Good parking is a must for this type of setup. If you have the space in your spot (and the money) you may want to consider a truck or trailer for your biz. I like having a truck-mine is a "mobile kitchen"-because there is more room, shelter from the elements and a decent amount of food prep and storage space.
If you are going to be on public property, check with the local police department for any restrictions you may face regarding locations or any special site permits you may need. Most municipalities have websites these days and oftentimes that type of information is available there, if not the cops are a good place to start (cops like hot dogs-I have many as regulars).

Locating on private property eliminates the need for site permits, but you'll have to pay rent. You also need to check with the local building inspector to see if there are any site permits. This is the arrangement I have. The advantages of my location are plenty of parking, good visibility on a well traveled route, proximity to a large industrial/office park and lots of construction in the area (construction workers like hot dogs too). I also know my location will be plowed on snowy mornings and, since I am in the parking lot of an office building and gas station(with a car wash going in next spring) I know there will always be steady traffic in and out. One other plus is that there are few eating places nearby that don't involve going into a congested secondary highway-folks pop out of the back entrance of the office park to get to my spot. The rent is worth it. If you can find a site with these characteristics-you'd be well advised to snag the location. This will involve some networking and sleuthing on your part.

If you get into this business, you will need to get a permit from your local Board of Health.
Many local Boards require Servesafe certification before they will issue a permit. If they do, you'll need to take the Servesafe exam.

Dealing with the Board of Health really means dealing with the local Health Inspector-he or she is the person who you will deal with. Just like any other occupation, some are nice and some are jerks-I am lucky that my local Health Inspector is a fair and nice man-it doesn't hurt that he likes hot dogs too. Whether the person is nice or not, they are a resource. You can find the local Health Inspector's contact info on any municipalities' website. The best thing to do is call them up and politely engage them in a conversation. Tell them you want to open a hot dog stand, where you were thinking of locating (again if its on public land make sure you've checked out local restrictions and permits, if you're on private property let the inspector know where), let them know you'll be getting your Servesafe and ask them what you need to do. Most inspectors will be straightforward and let you know exactly what you need to do and what type of equipment will meet with local health codes.

Once you've figured out what the Health inspector requires, you can move on to acquiring a hot dog cart, truck or trailer. Make sure whatever you buy will comply with what the inspector told you. There are many varieties and manufacturers and prices range from a couple of thousand dollars to over $200,000 for a totally decked out mobile kitchen. You'll need to decide what will suit your site, your tolerance for the elements and your budget. If you're buying new, try to deal with a company geographically nearby-it makes no sense to order a hot dog cart or truck from a company in Sacremento if you live in Philadelphia! There are always good values to be found in used equipment too, try to find someone selling hot dog equipment used and you'll get more bang for your buck. There are many manufacturers of hot dog carts, trucks and trailers online. Do a Google search and you'll find hundreds of manufacturers of all different kinds of equipment. Do your research before you buy!

As with any business, one of your fixed costs will be insurance. Determining how much you'll pay for insurance each month will need to be factored into your pricing. Obviously, if you have a Hot Dog Truck, like me, you will need Vehicle Insurance. For a quick, easy and convenient quote online, you can go to the Insurance Portal Online to get an idea of what those costs will be. This is one of those companies that gets quotes from over 100 different companies depending on your needs so you can compare rates and coverages in an easy, "one stop shopping" format.

Depending on where you are located (public spot or private property) you may have to increase your liability insurance on your vehicle or, in some instances, purchase separate business liability insurance. I have all my liability insurance wrapped into one homeowners policy with different riders for different liability issues, some business related others personal.

People fear being sued so having the proper insurance is important in any business and is almost always required by landlords and municipalities. I always try to buy the cheapest insurance policy I can find and I am always very careful!

Here's an ebook I found helpful when I was starting out. I still refer to it now and again. It's worth spending the thirty bucks before you go too deep into the process. It's a bit over the top for running a simple hot dog truck, but there's no BS like some of the other "Start a Hot Dog Business" ebooks out there. Lots of information and worth the dough!

Click Here to check this ebook out.