Logical Expressions Blog

We had our first mini pet blog tour last week.

I was featured as a "guest" poster on three cool pet blogs and talked about how our books Happy Hound and Happy Tabby can be used as fundraising and educational tools by animal shelters and other humane and rescue groups.

You can see Happy Hound and Happy Tabby on tour at:

For the Love of Animals Blog

Paw Path Litter Mat

Cool Dog Hall of Fame

A big thank you to those who participated and for your commitment to helping animals!

We've developed a lot of Web sites for small businesses over the years, and we've heard many stories of confusion and horror related to setting up a domain name for a business Web site.

The confusion occurs at the beginning when the business owners are getting ready to set up their first Web site, and they are trying to figure what domain name to register and how to register it once they pick one. Some people put off this task for a surprising length of time in fear of making a mistake. Everyone seems to intuitively understand how important a domain name is to building your Internet presence, even if they don't understand much about Web technology.

The horror stories come in after businesses have committed money and time into developing a nice Web site, only to lose their domain name because they accidentally let it expire. Suddenly, absolutely everything stops working. Their online store stops working. Their email stops working. Their business cards and expensive marketing materials suddenly reference a site that does not exist, or worse, goes to someone else's site.

After consulting repeatedly with the businesses who have had one or both of these experiences, we developed recommendations and techniques that helped them move forward feeling confident and safe. As any regular reader of this blog or our newsletter knows, we try to share the knowledge we've worked so hard to attain. We figure that we aren't the only people who need to figure this stuff out!

All of this preamble is leading up to the announcement of our latest information product: How to Select, Register, and Protect a Great Domain Name. This program is the first in a new series of products we plan to release this year. The "audio package" includes audio (MP3 files), a transcript, and worksheets you can use to get (and keep) a great domain name.

If you have questions about how to select, register, or protect a domain name, this program will answer them. And, until the end of January, readers of our blog and our newsletter can get this $27.95 program for just $19.95. That's an $8 (almost 30%) savings! Just use the link below to learn more, and use the coupon code AUQH2ALRAT at checkout to receive your immediate discount.

How to Select, Register, and Protect a Great Domain Name Audio Package

Enjoy!

James Byrd

I forgot to post this last week, but this week's issue of the Publishize newsletter and podcast is on ISBNs, which seem to be a tremendous source of confusion and angst for publishers.

What is an ISBN and Why Do I Need One for My Book?

Enjoy ;-)

There's an interview with me on the Virtual Woman's Day blog, which is owned by the Women's eCommerce Association (WECAI).

The blog's tagline is "Where Women Connect Virtually to Share Their Stories, Promote Their Products and Make New Friends." You can read the interview with me at this link:

eMonday Woman Interview with Susan Daffron

(Among other things, you'll find out why we moved to Idaho and about the inordinate number of books I have sitting on my nightstand!)

I was interviewed by Nan Russell for her Work Matters Internet radio show on WebTalkRadio.net.

I am the second person on the interview, which was about how we managed to escape the city, move to the wilds of Northern Idaho, and make our business actually work from out here in the middle of nowhere. Nan is a great interviewer and I had fun talking to her.

Check it out at:

Work Matters Week 3 Show

This link may change, but you should still be able to get to it using the Podcast link on this page:

Web Talk Radio - Work Matters

(My interview is called - Week 3)

If you've ever thought about leaving the city and living where you want, we are living proof that it's possible.

In our newsletter survey, an overwhelming percentage of people wanted more information on how to write copy. So, I decided to start with a basic truth that many copy experts seem to sort of gloss over: know thy customer.

Write Compelling Copy with Your Customer in Mind

Enjoy ;-)

Technorati Profile

Today we packed up all the Logical Tips books that people bought during our pre-order sale and took them off to the post office. (In fact, the response was sort of overwhelming; we actually almost sold out of all the books we ordered!) Anyway, the packing and shipping process was the source of great excitement among the canine team.

Our golden retriever Tika thinks these books should go in a flat-rate box.

These books seem to pass the sniff test.

All that packing is hard work!

After supervising the packing process, Leto needs a nap.

As some people know, I have a "hoop house" for my garden. It's the only way I can grow tomatoes with our short growing season. You can see a bit of my garden in the "Vegans Go Hunting" video on the Vegan Success site (or on You Tube).

Anyway, I'm not particularly tall, but I can stand in my hoop house in the summer. The hoop is on the left in this summertime picture. I can easily walk inside, since the top bar is about 6 feet high.

Here's what it looks like today (the hoop is on the right).

At this point, we have about 4 feet of snow on the ground. The posts sticking out of the snow are 1x2s that are attached to 4-foot T-posts. At this point, the T-posts are almost invisible.

Of course, Cami (the cover model for Happy Hound) is thrilled by the snow, since it provides an exciting opportunity for excavation projects. Note that she has floppy ears; they don't stick up like a purebred Samoyed's do. They are standing up because she's upside-down and moving her head so much.

Go deep!

Cami is pretty convinced something is under all that snow! And if something is there, she intends to find it ;-)

I had the opportunity to be a "guinea pig" for a new program Marcia Yudkin is running. She has revamped her Marketing for More site and now is offering members the opportunity for marketing help via "Feedback Feasts."

I was the "feastee" for the first call. The topic was how to position our book Happy Hound, without using typical copywriting "scare tactics" to encourage people to buy it.

Since my goal with the book is to promote adopting pets from animal shelters, the last thing I wanted to do was write a bunch of negative copy that made it sound like shelter dogs are all problem dogs. (They aren't!)

I was nervous about doing the call, since I don't think of myself as a great copywriter, but I had a good time. It was also inspirational and I rewrote the Happy Hound page afterward, liberally drawing from some of the many drafts I had on my hard disk that had never seen the light of day.

Anyway, Marcia posted a case study on her site with links to both versions:

Do Feedback Feasts Work?  Read and Decide!

Unfortunately, I had gotten so excited about redoing the page that I overwrote the old version when I uploaded the new page. But after Marcia asked if I still had the old one, we realized we could get it off our weekly server backup. So my less than great initial effort gets to live on in infamy as the "before" version.

In addition to feeling way better about the Happy Hound site, I also know what I need to do to revamp the Happy Tabby page. Cats need equal time, after all  ;-)