Blog

A New Website Can Improve Your SEO

Michael Dobson, SEO Specialist at Consumer Focus Marketing shares his expertise on search engine optimization: Have you noticed that your website pages are not appearing as high up in Google search results as you would like? Maybe your website used to be featured more prominently in search, but lately, you have noticed that you’ve dropped? If this is the case, ...

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Marci Gagnon: Offering Mobile Payment Options

The past couple of years have accelerated the need for advancements in payment technology within the Energy Industry. Tech savvy consumers are seeking modern payment methods that they trust and are familiar with and the largest request from customers is to make payments via their cell phones. Like most businesses today, Marketers are no doubt familiar with cell phone payment ...

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Welcome to the No-Margin-for-Error Zone

It’s official, today’s tumultuous market conditions are beyond challenging for Fuel Dealers, as they must execute all aspects of their business with supreme precision in order to survive and thrive. The rules have changed as we’ve reached a unique crossroads with no margin for error. Utilizing technology to help run the business more effectively is paramount as some expenses are ...

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Hedging in a Volatile Market

Offering the consumer price protection from rising oil prices has been part of many an energy marketer’s offerings since the late 1980’s. I believe Wyatt Energy, a Connecticut-based wholesaler, was the first to offer the heating oil dealer the tools to hedge in the form of so-called wet barrel contracts in future months. Heating oil marketers quickly adopted this unique ...

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How to Reduce Card Acceptance Rates

It’s been a long-held practice that the card brands make rate adjustments twice a year in April and October. After delaying some interchange fee increases because of the pandemic, the card brands have implemented the planned 2022 increases this April.  This year’s pricing updates are less noticeable than past years with most changes impacting dues and assessments, which are tiny ...

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My Connection to the War in Ukraine

Inna, my wife, is from Mariupol, Ukraine. We lived in Mariupol for a time to care for her elderly parents, and for other business reasons. We are in Alabama today. I built a team of students in Mariupol. The team books and dispatches calls for our business. Every team member made it out of the country this morning except one: ...

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Answers to America’s Clean-Energy Challenge

Five heating fuel industry leaders respond to the key question: ‘What’s one thing our industry can do to help secure our place in the clean-energy future?’ By Sean Cota, NEFI and Tom Tubman, AEC It’s not every day you get three of the country’s biggest heating oil wholesalers together in the same room alongside the leaders of the National Oilheat ...

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2021: Year in Review

The American Energy Coalition and the National Energy & Fuels Institute sum up the industry’s biggest battles, victories, threats and opportunities of the past 12 months. Earlier this year, our colleagues in the National Energy & Fuels Institute and American Energy Coalition came up with a novel idea: since our associations have been working so closely together to help confront ...

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A Growing or Shrinking Industry: You Decide

We’ve come far in the past two years, but don’t forget what we’ve lost over the last 10. By Sean Cota, NEFI & Tom Tubman, AEC Since September 2019, the liquid heating fuel industry’s federal and state advocacy efforts have resulted in some big wins. Unfortunately, our opponents have seen even bigger victories. Today, we have reasons to be excited ...

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‘Legacy’ Is a Four-Letter-Word

Antiquated payment technology costs you time and money. If your payments provider is not proactively talking to you about new intelligent technology enhancements or the significant time and resources their company invests on their payment platform, you should take note and ask yourself why. By Larry Richmond In today’s digital economy it’s essential your company is properly positioned to optimize ...

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