I was finally able to catch that little bugger and hold him down until he answered a few questions. Turns out @FloorElf has an alter ego, a guy named Roger Lodwig, the tile guy. Strangely, he’s got a pretty popular blog, which says a lot about Roger’s hilarious sense of humor as well as his prodigious knowledge of the art of laying tile. He also knows a thing or two about business, both on and offline.
Roger talked about:
- How his personality brand transformed a boring blog about tile into a funny blog about tile — that’s also popular.
- Why he’s taken six months to write the ebook he’ll be launching soon.
- How he found his passion for tile after giving up a career as a scientist.
- His accidental discovery of the SEO power of blogging.
- How his blog has helped him weather the recession while many of his competitors went under.
- How the @FloorElf was born.
But our conversation started where all things #customerlove should: with the woman who inspired it, Naomi Dunford:
Right-click to download MP3 25:03
Roger’s website: Tile Art Center
@FloorElf‘s blog: FloorElf.com
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Fantastic to hear Roger’s voice at last & this was an interesting interview. People often don’t believe that offline businesses like Roger’s can benefit from blogging but he certainly proves that they can.
You absolutely can! The most important aspect is consistency. Everyone’s business is where it is due to the things they’ve done to get it there. Don’t ever stop doing that.
Now all my secrets are out…
I totally agree with Kirsty. It is very nice to hear more about how an offline business is leveraging online media. The pics on Roger’s site of tile installations gone bad are very interesting- of course this is coming from someone addicted to HGTv and the DIYnetwork. 🙂 Very cool- thanks Roger and LaVonne for wrapping up this challenge round in a fun way!
Thank you for taking part in the challenge! It’s you guys that make it work. LaVonne cracks the whip and I’m just around for comic relief.
And, you know, fix the occasional tile. I have about (literally) 50 more pictures for my ‘flawed’ page that I need to sort through – welcome to the dark side. 😀
Cool websites Roger. I’ve sent the links to my dad. We’re re-doing our main bathroom in January. I’m the “take out the old junk” girl and I’m paying for it. This isn’t his first bathroom, and he does a lot of research. In fact, it’s likely he’s already seen your sites.
I like what you said about Mike “you know who”. My dad doesn’t agree with him all the time either. He likes to break things in grand fashion, but I guess that’s what adds to the TV drama.
You’re a cool dude and so different than the rest of us! Thanks for taking part in the challenge. You rounded out the group.
I’m glad you found the interview useful, Marlene. It feels good to break out of the closed little online marketing community and talk to some ‘real’ people for a change. Okay, real ELVES. Whatever.
We all love Roger! 😀
Totally awesome interview. I love this because I interact with a lot of offline businesses and there’s a huge potential to dominate a local market if you’re a location dependent business. You don’t have to be too fancy like the big a-list bloggers, you just have to be honest, informational, and “yourself” (or a FloorElf) 😛
So glad you liked the interview — and agreed: we DO love Roger!
Thnx for this great interview about the biz benefits of Loud & Proud!!!