After over 15 years of owning and using “walton.com”, I’m changing the domain name of this site to “waltonwebdesigner.com”. Please change your bookmarks or whatever.
http://www.waltonwebdesigner.com
Most of the searches that bring people to this site are for “web designer”. People who know this site by name or reputation, just know where to go and type it in. I think the new name will help with SEO, search engine optimization. It’s always good to get your keyword into the domain name.
SEO is not the reason for the name change, however. I’ve gotten a verbal offer to sell it and we’ve agreed on terms. The contract has to be reviewed and approved and signed. The deal may still fall apart, but I am changing the domain name anyway, regardless.
I will still be me. I’ll still be writing, and helping, and advising, and building web sites the same as I ever was.
Watch this video if you’re just not feeling it and need a little bit of motivation. As usual, let me know if it plays well for you. I tried a couple new things to make this one work a little better.
This country was started by a bunch of revolutionaries who fought against the oppression of a tyrannical government. King George was a king, so what he declared was the law. No one voted. No one was represented. There was no discussion or dissent. It was like the Executive Orders that we have today.
You probably don’t care about politics, because as long as you can get along in your everyday life, without too much hassle, too much pain, you’re cool with that. You can’t be fighting over the small injustices in life. You need to pick your battles.
Our founding fathers picked their battle. It cost some of them their lives and their fortunes. Some lost their homes and their families. They were fighting in a typical “good vs. evil” fight. It was clear the government was unfair, oppressive, and ruthless, so they fought against it and started their own government, with a new set of rules.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
The structure of our constitution, with a non-centralized government, with checks and balances, where no one branch had more power than any other, was a direct reaction to King George’s oppression. They wanted to make sure that each individual had freedom. They saw that one central government would always take more and more power, until it had total control over the people.
Thomas Jefferson said that each individual had rights, granted by God. These rights were not the result of Congress voting, or any other organization granting these rights. They are unalienable. That means God gave them to you, so they can’t be taken away from you. If any government tries to take these rights away from you, you have the right to overthrow that government.
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.
I want to draw the distinction between individual rights and group rights. He said that each individual had individual rights. He didn’t say that gays have rights, or Christians have rights, or Jews have rights, or women have rights. Each person is equal under the law and everyone has the same rights. These rights don’t include the right to health care, the right to shelter, or the right to succeed.
You only have the right to try, the right to pursue. You have the right to live. You have the right to be free and make your own choices. You have the right to fail. You have the opportunity to pursue whatever you want to pursue.
I’d like to call up a protest against our current government growing too big and reaching too far into our personal freedoms, but I’m not going to. I’m not ready to pick that battle quite yet.
I AM going to call upon YOU to do the most patriotic thing that you can do this 4th of July. I want you to live. I want you to be free. I want you to pursue your happiness.
I want you to do business. I want to you to run your own business and make money. Use your freedom while you still have it, before the government declares that your business is not in the best interests of the country and bans it.
It may sound funny that people have fought and died for your right to sell jewelry on Etsy or to sell oil pumps to garages, or doors, or real estate, but they did.
This is still the land of the free and the home of the brave, so you need to go out there and be brave.
Of course, I could be wrong; I often am. But this much I’m sure of – you’ll learn a heck of a lot more in life by failing than succeeding. Unless of course, you’re unwilling to try, in which case you’ll learn exactly nothing.
This has nothing to do with business or the Internet. I wrote the following on Easter Sunday, April 23, 2000, ten years ago today. I still remember that day.
My mom, Ruth Walton, died today, Easter Sunday, April 23, 2000.
She was comfortable, at home, in peace, surrounded by the people she loved. She was a Christian since she was a little girl and did not fear death at all, but was looking forward to seeing Jesus. Her faith never wavered and she smiled, even to the end, when she could not speak. I will miss her, but I’m confident that she’s in a better place, one where she doesn’t need her wheelchair any more, where she can walk and dance, where she’s strong and has no pain.
She had a stroke 2 weeks ago. After some improvement from that, they found that she could not swallow properly, so that some food might go into her lungs and she had no coughing reaction. This meant that she could not eat anything by mouth or she would get pnuemonia. They wanted to put a feeding tube into her, but she had always said she didn’t want anyhthing like that. It would 3-4 months of rehabilitation for any hope of improvement with her throat. She was very weak, had a heart problem, and now damage from the stroke.
We all talked about it and came to the decision to bring her home and work with the natural process that was happening. We asked her and she said that she was ready and that she wanted to go home. We decided that eating would be allowed, even though it was causing her some harm, because in that harm, she would have some enjoyment. She was going to die with it or without it, and we wanted her to be happy and comfortable.
On Weds, April 19th, we brought her home. The night before, we gave her a sucker. She wanted an orange one. I hadn’t seen her that happy in a long time. She smiled a big smile for a very long time. When she got home, it was like she was a little kid on her birthday. She loved her cherry applesauce. She was happy to finally be home with the people she loved and out of the hospital. She’d been in the hospital for 9 days at that point.
The process of dying slowly progressed. She slept more and more each day. Someone was always up with her, watching. We took turns staying up all night. She relaxed and seemed to be at peace. Her breathing was a little more labored on the last day. We watched and held her hand. She finally slowed her breathing. Then she stopped. She was finally free.
I alternate between crying and laughing (and sleeping). I think God waited for Easter, Resurrection Day, just to remind us that in the future, we’ll see her again. I’m glad that her wait is over, that her struggle in this world is over. It’s a good thing.
I got some advice recently that people respond better to personal stories in email and newsletters. I tried to do that in that last newsletter that got sent out. If you read it, it was actually pretty encouraging and applied to you and your business. It wasn’t frivolous. It wasn’t JUST about riding a bike. There was point.
I had 5% of everyone on the list unsubscribe.
I crashed my newsletter. My fault. It won't happen again.
OK. I get it. As of today, it will only come out when I have something interesting to say, something that I think is of some value to you.
It will not be sent more often than once a week. I promise.
I put up a poll over there in the right sidebar. I really want to know what you think. I want to make this site and this newsletter effective for you. I really don’t want to waste your time or mine.
I want to know why you came here and how I can fulfill your expectations. I’ll give you want you want if you tell me what that is.
Please leave me a comment. Tell me what you like, and more importantly, what you don’t like.
This is what I really look like. I always have a dramatic sunset behind me, all the time, where every I go. I am so awesome.
Conrad Walton Headshot
My wife took a few photos of me today, at sunset, so I can change my profile photo. I think this is the best of the bunch. The amazing sunset was just a happy accident.
My wife and I have an obligation that keeps us from leaving our immediate area for any period of time, except for one day a week. We can take one day off and let someone else deal with it. We take mini vacations. We drive as far as we can and find a great place to eat.
One of our favorite places is a remote beach named Jalama Beach, near Lompoc, CA. It’s a 14 mile drive through farmland and cattle ranches until you get to the beach. There’s nothing but green for miles in all directions. It was like being in Ireland or something.
Green hills on the way to Jalama Beach
We got there after sunset today, but the drive was amazing. The road crosses a railroad track before dropping down to the beach. As we got to that crossing, we see a train coming in the distance right then. It would be there in a matter of minutes, so I parked next to the No Parking sign and jumped out with the camera.
I have a iPhone video of the train passing by. Very exciting stuff. It brought out the 9 year old in me (which is apparently not a hard thing to do.)
Jalama Beach Train Crossing
With the dramatic sunset in the background, I asked my wife to take some photos to use here and on Facebook. She did a great job, I thought. I’m happy with it.
I put a dime on the track before the train got there. I didn’t have a penny and I didn’t want to invest a quarter. After the train went by, I looked for my dime. It was no where to be found. I did find another dime that someone else had put on the track. It was partially covered with dirt and corrosion.
You never know what you’ll get back. You just have to keep putting stuff out there.
What have you put out there recently and what did you get back when you did?
The photo has nothing to do with small business web sites, but I had to put it in here somewhere. I came home from running errands the other day and, as I approached my house, I saw this accident. My house is probably 100 yards from this scene.
Not sure what happened, but the Toyota was fishtailing, a witness said, and hit the side of the parked white Isuzu. I’m still trying to figure out the skid marks. The driver’s side wasn’t scratched, but why would roll over on the passenger side? Can we blame it on the floor mat?
Completely off topic, but I just saw this and thought it was great. The repentant former KKK leader Johnny Lee Clary explains how Reverend Wade Watts, an NAACP leader, disarmed him.
This has nothing to do with anything important to any of you, but we went to Sea World yesterday and I had my new iPhone 3Gs with me. It takes video. The best camera is the one you have with you, so here’s a short video of Shamu Rocks!, the “Summer Nights” version of the killer whale show. I uploaded it to YouTube while I was walking to the truck in the parking lot. Yeah, I did.
I saw District 9 over the weekend. I loved it. I love the “shaky cam” effect. I loved the story telling. The fact that it was told in a different way than most sci-fi movies are told. The political implications of the segregation of people was subtle, but important. The ease at which people devalued and inflicted horror on other beings because they were different was shocking to see because I understand how it works in real life. Overall, I loved the movie.
I saw District 9 over the weekend. I loved it.
I did what any normal person would do in that situation, I changed my status on Facebook to reflect that. What happened next surprised and delighted me. Yes, I said “delighted”.
I got more replies than any other status I’ve had up there. People either loved it or really hated it. The shaky cam was horrible. There was only one “smart” alien. There was no one to relate to because all the decisions were stupid. It went on and on. There was love and hate all rolled up in one big, flaming ball of controversy.
It was fun to watch.
Yesterday, I got an email from a “make millions from blogging” guy who had a big secret to get 25% more traffic to your blog. The big secret is “write about something controversial”. There, now you know. You can Paypal me part of the millions you make off that idea.
Controversy does, in fact, generate traffic. Some of the fall out from that traffic is that you might make a bit more money, but probably not.
The trick to controversy is that you have to make it real. Make it true about something and people will love you. Controversy for the sake of controversy will not build long term traffic or fans of your site. Stating something that’s true, that provides value, and also happens to be controversial, will build long term traffic and fans of your site.
Controversy is fun to watch, but be careful. Use it for good and not for evil.
If you want to leave a comment, telling me how much D9 sucked, feel free. I love comments.
I have a few people that are subscribed to this site, at www.walton.com/blog. I’ve been meaning to start up writing emails to the mailing list, where a few people are signed up.
I’m very curious about what you want to know from me. I have a lot of experience and knowledge to share, but where should I start?
Do you want to know about making money on the Internet? Do you own a small business and want to know how to build more traffic to it, that is, SEO? How about information about building web sites?
What are you interested in? What can I do for you?
Please send me an email, either directly or on the web site. I’ll try to cover anything that you ask me for.
It’s always nice to have happy clients. I’ve really enjoyed working with Deborah on her project. She’s so excited to learn new things that it’s really fun to help her along. I’m proud of the work we did on her site, including the ecommerce pages. She’s one of the “good clients” that I enjoy so much.
Thank you Deborah, for the kind words.
-c
PS – No, I didn’t ask her to write this. She’s just that kind of a person.
Mermaid and the Wizard
Sea Glass is my passion and he gets it.
Being a total mermaid at heart I love all things coastal, beautiful, ethereal, shipwrecks, pirates and most of all Sea Glass. That’s what my business is all about. Bringing all this into focus in a practical, business like manner took some doing.
I have had sage advice from key people but the most help has come from my Wizard. Who is he you ask. His name is Conrad Walton. Wizard Conrad is responsible for getting my website off the ground. Prior to our meeting I could send emails and do a little on Publisher, that’s it. With Conrad’s help I’m making my way into a Techno Babe.
Not only is Conrad masterful at web building he is also brilliant and very savvy in building business. Sea Glass is my passion and he gets it.
Have you thought about starting a business and don’t know how to begin? Is building a website just way too much to even think about? Get in touch with the Wizard.
Last year, I rented a Corvette from Hertz. It’s cheaper to rent from a nearby hotel than to get it at LAX, so I went to the LAX Marriot. I reserved it for 10am and arrived a few minutes early. They weren’t ready. They said it was currently being washed. I went out side and waited, only to see the guy go out, get in the dirty Corvette and drive it away to be washed.
I waited for 2 and a half hours before I got the car. I wasn’t happy at all. I wanted something. This was supposed to be the big driving birthday and they stole 2 and half hours of it from me. They called a manager in from another location to resolve it. We talked. He gave me a certificate for $100 credit, good for a year. I was happy.
That's what a Corvette is, driving down by the beach in Southern California. It's not just steel and fiberglass. It's the dream, the feeling, the ideal.
It’s now almost a year later. I wanted to rent a Corvette again, but before my birthday, to make sure the certificate worked. I rented from the Hilton this time. They actually pick you up from your house, which was nice. They got me to the hotel on time and we did the paperwork. The car was ready and they pulled it around front for me. Bam! Done. I was happy.
As we finished the paperwork, I told the guy that this experience was so much better than last year and I really appreciated it. He said yes, he remembered. He was the manager who gave me the certificate. Ah, yes. It came back to me. This was the guy. He was totally reasonable and made me happy. THIS is great customer service. He took an angry customer and turned him into a satisfied, happy customer, who came back a year later and was happy again.
Hertz rocks. Rent cars from them. I endorse them. If you want a car in LA, rent from the LAX Hilton.
And the day with the Corvette? We went down the 405 to Ortega Highway, a twisty mountain road in Orange County. We drove over that to Lake Elsinore and then back again. Down to the beach, in San Juan Capistrano, and turned right on PCH. We drove north on PCH through the length of Orange County, up to Long Beach, where we had dinner, then home on the freeway again. Over that whole trip, we averaged 20mpg. That includes the few short runs down by my local beach with blasts from 0 to 100. I think I went faster than 100mph a couple times, but I was too busy watching the road to look down and check.
Those short blasts made me laugh out loud. The sounds of the engine, getting pressed back into the seat, the road coming at you faster. I love that. That’s what a Corvette is, driving down by the beach in Southern California. It’s not just steel and fiberglass. It’s the dream, the feeling, the ideal. Laughing out loud in pure joy.
And it’s all yours for only $180 a day, 100 free miles included.
When I was younger, I was paying a high interest rate. I was a short term, high risk kind of guy back then. Lots of pain and hearthache. Now, I’ve been in for the long haul for a long time. I’m older and more dependable.
Last Friday night, we were driving down PCH and passed a bus going the other way. It was half full of older people, mostly with gray hair. The destination at the top of the front of the bus read “NOWHERE”. I hope it was a party bus and not a comment on their lives.
On a day trip, we drove by the Lake Casitas Campground. Inside the fence of the campground, located next to the lake, was a “water park”, complete with water slide. Let’s get closer to nature by sliding down a fiberglass tube in chlorinated water.
On Main Street in my small town, there’s been a vegetarian restaurant open for a few years. There was never very many people in it. We drove by last night and it’s got a new owner who serves BBQ. There were a ton of people. Give the people what they want and you’ll make money.
This has nothing to do with small business web sites or SEO, except for finding the hotel we stayed at and using Yelp to find places to eat and maybe, well, maybe this does have to do with small business web sites.
The Hotel
Who could use toilet paper like this?
Last Sunday was our 23rd wedding anniversary. We drove up to Santa Barbara for a romantic interlude. I picked the hotel from Google maps, based on ratings. I’ve never liked going to new hotels because they never quite meet your expectations. This one had 4.5 stars so I hoped for the best. Their web site looked good and I’ve been known to disregard a business strictly base on their web site design.
We stayed 2 blocks from the beach, at Harbor House Inn which looked like it was built as a bunch of studio apartments in the 20′s. It could have gone either way, but when we walked into our room, we were surprised to see it had 10 foot ceilings, fresh paint, a full kitchen and a great bathroom. This place was great. We completely recommend it with no reservations, I mean, you should get a reservation if you’re coming here, but we really loved the place. We have a new favorite place to stay. The little folded ends on the toilet paper deserved a photo. We were going to save it, but in the middle of the night, I, um, didn’t.
Places To Eat
Joe's Cafe after dark
We had lunch at our favorite place in Santa Barbara, Stella Mares. It’s so romantic, we drove here for Valentines Day. If you are ever near Santa Barbara, you need to eat at this place. It’s casual and romantic and has great food and it’s the first place I had absinthe.
For dinner, we threw the dice and picked Joe’s Cafe. Notice how they don’t have a web site that comes up on the first page when you search for them? Why is that? The food was pretty good and the service was pretty good. I’d agree with the 4 star rating. Nothing to complain about and we had a good time. Cool sign any way.
Drive
We went for a drive, ended up down some cool roads outside of Lompoc. We love Lompoc. It’s a strange little city that grows flowers and has weird shops. It’s also home to the best food ever. Jalama Beach Cafe has the best hamburger in the world. Kobe beef and bacon. What else do you need? I can not say enough good things about this place. Great wine, great staff, great food. Nothing is bad here. You should take the time to drive here to eat. It’s that good. We’ve done a day drive just for this place. Yeah, it’s 2 and a half hours from home, but it’s worth it.
The best roads are like this.
We explored the roads outside of town and found some very cool places. One road was one lane wide and had flowers six feet high on both sides. There were some crazy birds flying in the sky with 3 foot wingspans. We sat and watched them for a while, looking over the flowers and listening to their calls. Life is good.
We stopped at Gaviota State Beach on the way back. Very cool little hidden away beach. Also worth a visit. There’s a creek that empties out into the ocean here, under the railroad bridge, high above.
Antiques
Getting wet at Gaviota State Beach
We all know that the only reason to go anywhere, is to look at and acquire antiques. Victoria did her share of that while I sat in the truck and watched videos on my iPhone about SEO and I learned a bunch of cool new tips to try out. She had one more antique store to go check out and when we got there it was closed. Did I mention that we live in an Arts and Crafts house built in 1916? and that we love old fixtures and stuff for the house?
As we drove around the corner, there was a long, white kitchen sink laying in the street, on a hand cart, next to a white plumber’s van.
We wanted that sink.
I pulled over and Victoria went to find the owner to see if they would part with it. We’ve paid good money in the past for stuff like this.
As I was waiting for her, I slowly realized that this was not a sink, but a urinal. Hmmm… I figure it’s at least worth something for scrap metal… Victoria found the guy, but she didn’t want a urinal. I’ve had a much closer personal relationship with urinals, so I urged her to get it. The guy was going to throw it away.
Dargen's Irish Pub in Santa Barbara
It came out of an Irish pub where they wanted to get rid of it because too many people were throwing up in it and clogging it up. The plumber suggested a garbage disposal in the bottom to fix that, but now it was laying in the street, awaiting its fate. I backed the truck up and in a few minutes, it was ours. You have to admit, this was a huge romantic gesture.
If anyone wants to buy an old, used, 6 foot long urinal from an Irish Pub, send me an email. If not, then it’s going to end up as a potting table in our backyard, or a sink in our backyard, or a fishpond in our backyard, or maybe as a urinal in our backyard. Who knows?
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Rhonda commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
Great idea! I have a lot of digital products I can give away. My question is, if I have a product that I wanted feedback on, is it appropriate to email it for free and ask people to give feedback? Not sure I would get many who would bother to write back.
nancy monsebroten commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
Nancy the potter here. In answer to your request for what things we want to hear from you...I just want to have you keep doing what you do! Your posts spark me to forge on! You bring up things that are in the back of my head but I had forgotten!
I
Conrad Walton commented on How To Use Email To Make Money, Without Being A Jerk:
The easiest, most obvious is a digital document of some sort.
It has to be useful, something that tempts me to want it.
I would suggest a PDF file that's a special report of some sort.
Maybe "10 things to look for when buying handmade jewelry". "Buyers Guide to Handmade Jewelry". "8 reasons Handmade Jewelry
Mike Korner commented on I’m a unicorn!:
You are definitely a unicorn Conrad!
I like "my homies" but "Freedom Partners" might be better. What I mean is, by partnering, all parties get closer to freedom.
