Thanks for the tips.

I certainly tend to think more virtual….however, I venture to guess that I would be pleasantly surprised by the impact and interest that people, real people, could have as well.

Thanks for making me see and consider issues that are well out of the box.

But I hafta admit, it’s a hoot to see my buds wearing my 2Dolphins gear!

Of all your suggestions, only one seems quite far-fetched to me. That was the suggestion that blogger meeting should be conducted.

However, when I ponder this, I wonder how feasible it would be? Considering the geographical differences of most blog surfers, a bloggers meeting, unless its virtual, seems a bit impossible.

Bumper sticker – here I come!

Build a free CafePress storefront and create a line of merchandise with your custom logo and/or designs – and URL, of course! I used this to whip up a 2Dolphins-branded bumper sticker for my car, a couple of t-shirts for friends, a baseball cap for myself, and even a onesie jumper for one of my buddies whose wife just had a baby. I’ve considered splurging on a few t-shirts & caps to use as contest giveaways on the blog…

Also, my wife created some custom return address labels with our website URL for use anytime we snail mail stuff – even bills. This is especially effective around holiday time when we send out a large batch of greeting cards.

Also remember to jam those business cards you had printed onto every bulletin board or community message board you come across. And we stick a business card inside any package we ship – like stuff we sell (occasionally) on eBay.

Be mindful that when you promoting your site to offline folks, you’re likely to have very inexperienced web-surfers showing up at your door. Plan accordingly! Make certain that you have provided ample means for these folks to reach you with a contact form, email links or whatever. And make sure you have an “About” page that will really sell you or give these new visitors some reason to add you to their list of regular reads. And lastly, revisit your 404 page to ensure that it’s as helpful as possible.

It took a bit of guts to send of the initial email but it was well worth the effort. While travel is my niche I’m confident that this approach would work with other subjects areas as well.