Northwest Flower & Garden Show – Flora’s blog
www.mygardenspaces.com/NWblog/

Flora keeps Pacific Northwest gardeners up-to-date on the latest happenings in the local gardening community . She covers everything from wildflowers to rhodies to how to pair wine with food (for your garden parties)

Check out Flora’s tips on Simple Ways to Live Green, Part 1 and Part 2

San Francisco Flower & Garden Show – Jasmine’s blog
http://mygardenspaces.com/SFblog/

Flora’s Bay Area counterpart, Jasmine, has gone absolutely ‘green’ lately! She wrote about The Big Green Bus, powered with waste vegetable oil, ‘Green’ business practices, and how to create a sustainable garden design.

She’s also got a whole series on wine tasting, for you wine aficionados who are heading to the Napa Valley this summer:

• Tasting the Fruit of the Vine
• The Nature of Wine Tasting
• Tasting Tips
• You Can’t Judge a Wine by Its Label

Rich’s for the Home
http://richshome.typepad.com/blog/

Rich’s blog has a gardening theme going, too. You’ll get tips from an expert gardener about how to successfully grow an orchid, learn how to accent your backyard retreat with bamboo–or, perhaps, a tiki thatch canopy.

You’ll also pick up some delicious grilling recipes:

• Sweet and Sour Fruit Salad
• Perfect Pasta Salad
• Grilled Pizza Tortillas
• Cherry Teriyaki Pork Chops
• Grill Goulash
• Summer entertaining menus

Alderbrook Properties
www.alderbrookproperties.com/blog/

Speaking of food, have you tried Geoducks lately? (in Washington state, we pronounce these monster clams “gooey-ducks”). You’ll find ‘em aplenty on the Hood Canal, at Dosewallips State Park (that’s “doe-see-wallups” for you non-natives).

What, exactly, is the Hood Canal? Is it a stinky, waste-infested swamp? No, not at all! In fact, the Hood Canal is a beautiful fjord. Read all about it.

If you’re planning to visit—or move to—the beautiful Pacific Northwest, be sure to read up on all the latest happenings along the Olympic Peninsula, brought to you by Alderbrook Properties.

Tags: Alderbrook Properties, gardening, geoducks, grilling, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Northwest Flower & Garden Show, orchids, recipes, Rich's for the Home, salad recipes, San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

Do you have a child aged 0-5? If so, does the apple of your eye have his or her own social networking Web page?

No? Well, you’d better get right on it before your infant or toddler labels you hopelessly old-fashioned and un-cool.

Yes, it’s true. TotSpot debuts today. Your young ’un can have her own free page, where she can post photos and videos of her first tooth, first step, and first temper tantrum. She can highlight milestones such as “fully potty trained” and “smeared face with chocolate frosting on third birthday.”

And, of course, your youngster can invite other babies to be her “friend.” And all her “friends” will receive an e-mail whenever she posts new content (your baby does have an e-mail address, right?)

Like me, you’re probably wondering: But what about security? Won’t this site be a haven for predators? Adam Katz, co-founder of the site, says that only invited family and friends can view your page.

But what if your “friends” aren’t really friends at all? And what if no one wants to be your “friend”? Won’t that irrevocably damage your child’s self-esteem?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

If you yearn to introduce your child to the world of social networking now, before he’s six years old and the whole social networking thing becomes old hat, you’d better plop that baby on your lap right this second, click over to TotSpot and help him create his very own page.

Let us know how it goes. Really. We want to hear what you (and your child) like/don’t like about the concept.

Also in this series:

• Doggone Bloggy: Glenn Close Starts ‘Lively Licks’ Blog

• Working Mother magazine builds business via blogs

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Social Networking, TotSpot.com

Yes, it’s true. We’ve joined Twitter and have begun tweeting away. We’ll experiment with just about any social networking gizmo to see how well it works as a marketing tool.

Follow our tweets at http://twitter.com/heblogssheblogs

This is what our Twitter logo looks like, so you can spot us easily:

Do you tweet? Let us know your “handle” in the Comments area so we can check you out!

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, tweet, Twitter

In their seminal marketing book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!, Al Ries and Jack Trout argue against the concept of line extension—which is exactly what Daniel is trying to do with his products. The “law” is this: trying to introduce new products under your established brand is almost impossible to make work.

Once you’re in the consumer’s head with one product, it’s hard to get into their head with another.

Example:

When Xerox was the god of the copier world, they decided to start selling computers. The huh? going through your head right now is testament to the fact they failed miserably. They were known for copiers, but computers? No way. They spent millions trying to establish themselves as a computer manufacturer. Whoops. (By the way, IBM tried to sell copiers; it worked about as well as Xerox’s idea to sell computers.)

Would you buy a DVD player from Nike? Probably not. I know, that’s extreme, but would you buy a soft drink with the swoosh on it? History says no.

Did you know A1-Steak sauce spent $18 million dollars on A1-Poultry sauce? Yeah, I’m not using it on my chicken these days either.

On the other hand we have Amazon that started out in books and has successfully extended their brand to include almost everything in the known universe.

So why did it work with Amazon and not with the other examples noted above? We’ll explore that next time and talk about whether Daniel (our 12-year-old entrepreneur) is going to succeed or not with his plan of line extension.

Also in this series:

• 10 Marketing Lessons from a 12-year-old Entrepreneur
• What’s Your Passion?
• 5 Tips for Becoming an Expert at Your Craft
• 5 Ways to Stay Motivated
• Get Them in Your Gravity Well
• Grass Roots Marketing
• What is Your Product Worth?
• How to Market Your Product
• Business Card Marketing
• Yellow Page Advertising: Waste? Or Found Wanting?
• Yellow Pages, Revisited

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, Law of Line extension, Marketing 101, marketing lessons

Amazon’s 1-click ordering system is causing an uproar in the publishing community. If you’re not familiar with the system, it allows account holders to skip the whole shopping cart rigamarole and instantly charge products to their default payment method. Click once and zippo, you own the product!

Anyway, the latest publisher to sound off is the British unit of Hachette Livre (commonly referred to by us authors as “Hatchet Livers”). They’re calling Amazon a bully for demanding a bigger percentage of the revenue that is currently shared between the publisher, author, retailer, printer, etc.

In retaliation, Amazon has removed the 1-click buttons from thousands of popular titles, which means that Amazon book buyers must now click that mouse button at least three times to purchase a coveted book through Amazon’s open marketplace (which links them to third party booksellers).

As an author, I have mixed feelings about this dispute. I can see why publishers are upset, as they already sell books to Amazon at a huge discount (which gives the publisher the opportunity to potentially move a lot more books, but at a significantly lower profit margin). Why should Amazon, a company that is already a major player in the bookselling market, use their clout to make it even more difficult for publishers and independent booksellers to stay in business (can anyone say Wal-Mart?).

On the other hand, I realize that a fairly high percentage of my own books are sold via Amazon. I’m happy that Amazon promotes my books, 1-click or not (incidentally, neither of my books have a 1-click ordering option available).

The vast majority of authors are no-names whose books rarely appear on the shelves of brick-and-mortar bookstores. We receive miniscule—if any—royalty payments. Whatever the discount Amazon negotiates with our publisher, we shrug and say, “Well, at least my book is being promoted in cyberspace and there’s an opportunity for it to sell.”

I’m going to do some more thinking about this issue, but I’d love to hear from you. Has Amazon gotten too big for its britches?

Tags: 1-click ordering, Amazon.com, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, publishing

I visited with a friend who manages an independent bookstore last week. As he toured me around the newly-expanded store, I noted the absence of rack upon rack of music CDs that populate most [Christian] bookstores.

“Why don’t you sell more CDs?”

My friend explained:

• CDs are expensive to stock
• People download individual songs from their home computers to MP3 players instead of purchasing entire CDs
• Customers can create custom CDs right in the store

“Custom CDs? How does that work?”

He explained that customers can listen to thousands of albums from the kiosk in the store, click the tunes they want to purchase, and a custom CD is burned right then and there and pops out of the kiosk, ready for the customer to purchase.

How convenient! It reminds me of photo kiosks, where you plug in your storage device and a few minutes later, you walk out with professionally-printed photos.

This innovative combination of digital and in-store products illustrates Marketing Lesson #7: Make it easy for customers to purchase your product.

Our 12-year-old entrepreneur, the custom pen-making Daniel, does just that with his clean, easy-to-navigate Web site, Pens By Daniel.

• His home page contains a series of descriptive navigation buttons, so you know how to find exactly what you’re looking for.
• Daniel’s home page pictures him, hard at work. Visitors feel an instant connection with the master craftsman.
• Click on any of the navigation buttons and you’re redirected to a page that showcases Daniel’s pens and displays thumbnail images of each pen style (which you can click on to view full-size). A slideshow helps you efficiently scroll through all your purchasing options.
• Each image includes a PayPal button, so when you find a product you want to purchase, you are re-directed to Daniel’s shopping cart.
• As an added bonus, we learn that Daniel supports breast cancer research; a page on his site showcases a special pink pen. Daniel donates 33 percent of the profits of each pen sold to the Susan G Komen For the Cure foundation.
• If you’re still confused about how to order, Daniel includes a separate page that explains multiple ways to order, and yet another page that includes contact information.

If a 12-year-old can do it, so can you.

• What product or service do you sell (or want to sell)?
• What steps are you going to take this week to make your customers’ shopping experience easy, convenient, and rewarding?

Let’s share ideas, folks. Put your #1 goal for the week in writing, right here in our Comments area. Next week, tell us what you’ve done to meet that goal.

Also in this series:

• 10 Marketing Lessons from a 12-year-old Entrepreneur
• What’s Your Passion?
• 5 Tips for Becoming an Expert at Your Craft
• 5 Ways to Stay Motivated
• Get Them in Your Gravity Well
• Grass Roots Marketing
• What is Your Product Worth?
• How to Market Your Product
• Business Card Marketing
• Yellow Page Advertising: Waste? Or Found Wanting?

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, marketing lessons, Pens By Daniel

Have you heard about Derrie-Air, the new “green” luxury airline? They tout themselves as “the only airline that plants trees to offset every pound of carbon that our planes release into the atmosphere.”

They expect their passengers to help protect the environment, too. Because it takes more fuel (i.e., more carbon emissions) to haul heavy planes from point A to point B, Derrie-Air has developed unique, sliding scale ticket prices:

The more you weigh, the more you pay.

A ticket from Philly to L.A. costs $2.25/lb. So, for instance, if you (and your luggage) weigh a total of 150 pounds, you’ll pay $337.50 for a ticket. Weigh in at 200 pounds, and you’ll pay $450.

If you’re a thin person, here’s more good news: every seat on Derrie-Air is first class! Some of the amenities include:

• Gorgeous air hosts and hostesses
• Golden-age Rat Pack films
• Top-shelf vodka Martinis
• On-demand video blackjack
• Spacious private washrooms outfitted with porcelain fixtures and gilded faucets
• Gourmet snacks
• On-board masseuses
• Loofah scrubs
• Digital cable

Are you snickering yet, wondering if this is some elaborate hoax?

Well, you’re right. The hoax was perpetuated by Philadelphia Media Holdings. They, along with Gyro ad agency and the owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, ran a one-day ad campaign Friday to test the results of their print and online advertising.

News of the prank was picked up by the Associated Press, and was splashed in media worldwide. Just goes to show that a bit of creative thinking can reap a heap of free publicity.

Tags: Advertising, Derrie-Air, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, hoaxes, Marketing, Philadelphia Media Holdings

A week ago, a magazine editor called out of the blue (I love it when they do that!) and assigned me a docu-drama.

Befuddled, I asked, “Uh…what’s a docu-drama?”

She explained that it is a dramatic, first-person, as-told-to story – similar to those “drama in real life” features in Reader’s Digest. “It’s written like fiction, with scenes and dialogue.”

Uh oh. I’m not a fiction writer—yet—but the assignment sounded fun and challenging, so I agreed to tackle it.

I conducted the interview, wrote out the whole story so I could get the big picture, and then started cutting. And cutting. And cutting. After the fourth draft, the story sounded so disjointed I wasn’t even sure it made sense anymore.

It was time to call in the rescue squad. I dashed off an email to my writer friend, Jenn Doucette, asking her to highlight places in the article I could condense and to suggest a headline (I’m headline-challenged; Jenn cranks out perfect headlines like nobody’s business).

A couple of hours later, I received her reply: “I’m on it, girlie.”

An hour after that, she returned my marked-up draft, accompanied by the terse message, “The story seemed way too choppy and disjointed.”

Whoa…she doesn’t mince words!

But I appreciate Jenn’s blunt honesty, because it’s exactly what I needed to hear. I knew, in my heart of hearts, that the story was… er… choppy and disjointed. I just needed another writer to confirm it.

During the last five years, I’ve been a member of a writers’ critique group, joined my local writers’ association, and had several writer friends (such as Jenn) who I can call on in emergencies.

These sorts of relationships are invaluable for us writers, for several reasons:

• Writers tend to be solitary people, scribbling away in dimly lit rooms for hours on end. We need human contact to stay sane. Even if they are other writers.
• We writers tend to fall in love with our words. We pen (what we assume is) the perfect phrase, and we dread the thought of someone criticizing our words.

But constructive criticism is most often just what we need. I sent my draft to Jenn because we have developed such a deep trust over the years that I knew she’d tell me exactly what I needed to hear, without sugar coating it. And I knew she’d get back to me quickly (after all, I am on deadline).

I wasn’t disappointed. While I disagreed with some of the changes she suggested and won’t incorporate those edits into my next draft, the vast majority of her suggestions were right on target and had me smacking my head, saying, “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that?!”

Jenn (who is a fiction writer) pointed out gaps in the story’s timeline, places where I’d made choppy transitions, and stilted dialogue (among other things).

I have my work cut out for me today, but I feel so much more confident to tackle the next revision. All it took was a second pair of eyes.

Tags: freelance writing, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, writers' critique groups, Writing

How much do you spend on yellow page advertising per month? If you’re in the $0.00 - $0.00 range, it’s dollars well spent. Anything over zero dollars? A colossal waste of money.

Back in the mid 90s I learned about a study that showed 60%-82% of the people who go to the yellow pages already knew the company they wanted to call. They just didn’t know the phone number. This meant up to 82% of the time, money spent on a yellow page age was wasted. I told my clients that in addition to the wasted money, in the yellow pages they were paying to be smack dab next to their competitors. I’d also point out they weren’t creating any new customers with the money, only making themselves available to people who already knew about them.

Bottom line, I told them the yellow pages is a PHONE BOOK, not an advertising medium. But all those arguments are ancient these days. Aren’t they? I certainly hope so. I hope everyone realizes those arguments don’t matter anymore ’cause of this little invention called the Internet. And this little software company called Google.

Why would I take 2-5 minutes to look up a phone number in the yellow pages when I can type a company name into my Web browser and have their number in less than one second? But take a look through a recent copy of the yellow pages. Evidently some people still think it’s a wise place to spend their dollars.

Recently a stack of yellow pages was dropped off under my neighborhood mailbox. There sat sixteen yellow pages, ready for my neighbors and I to pick up. Two days later, still there. A week later, still there, a little wet. Three weeks later, all sixteen still there.

Do you use the yellow pages? If you do, you’re in the minority.

Let your fingers do the walking? Huh uh. The fingers these days are on the keyboard.

Also in this series:

• 10 Marketing Lessons from a 12-year-old Entrepreneur
• What’s Your Passion?
• 5 Tips for Becoming an Expert at Your Craft
• 5 Ways to Stay Motivated
• Get Them in Your Gravity Well
• Grass Roots Marketing
• What is Your Product Worth?
• How to Market Your Product
• Business Card Marketing

Tags: essential marketing, HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, marketing lessons, yellow pages advertising

When the students at Middletown Area High School in Pennsylvania picked up their yearbooks, they were in for a surprise. On four of the yearbook’s 176 pages, last names of students were changed to creative new monikers:

• Max Zupanovic became “Max Supernova”
• Kathy Carbaugh became “Kathy Airbag”
• William Givler became “William Giver”
• Cameron Bendgen became “Cameron Bandage”
• Kayla Hrobak became “Kayla Throwback”
• Allesandra Ippolito became “Alexandria Impolite”

As a former high school yearbook adviser, my first inclination was to assume that some sneaky yearbook staff members played a practical joke. Not so. Turns out it was Taylor Publishing Company’s fault.

Apparently, an automated spell-checker at the yearbook publishing giant ran amok, randomly changing unfamiliar last names to names its built-in dictionary recognized.

Misspelling names in any document is the kiss of death. If you apply for a job and misspell the hiring manager’s name on your cover letter, you can forget about landing that job. One author I know discovered that his name had been misspelled on the cover of his first book. Ouch!

My co-blogger, Jim Rubart, has been referred to as “Jim Rhubarb” more than once. My maiden name (Hutchison) and my married name (Christianson) are routinely misspelled. When people carelessly turn “Hutchison” into “Hutchinson” or “Christianson” into “Christensen,” “Christian,” “Christenson,” or myriad other permutations, it makes me lose a bit of respect for the speller, whom I suspect didn’t care enough to do a simple double-check.

In the case of the yearbook “spell checker gone wild,” human intervention would have (hopefully) rectified the error before the yearbooks went to press.

The lesson here is: Spell-check your spell checker.

Don’t assume that your computer has all the answers. Double- and triple-check the spelling of all names…after your computer’s had a crack at them.

Readers: In what creative ways does your name get mangled…either by humans or computers?

Tags: HeBlogsSheBlogs.com, spelling, Writing