Recently the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce has embarked on a campaign to take away a website I own lakeisabellafishingderby.com as well as prohibit me from printing unique souvenir t shirts (with my domain and the business owners’ name) that are sold wholesale to local merchants for the merchants to profit.

The website I use to promote the derby itself and sell simple fishing guides for the lake with tips on catching tagged fish.

Since my development of the website and sales of the shirt, the chamber has spent money and time to restrain and/or intimidate me, Sierra Signs and the merchants that are carrying my t shirts.

While historically the nature of the derby has been to promote prosperity for all local business and the community, I would suggest actions that the chamber is currently in the practice of competing with local business by stifling free enterprise and the practice of crony capitalism.

Let’s paint a picture….

Last year, the Chamber had the largest turnout ever for the fishing derby, collecting the most money they ever had from the event.

Since that derby, the chamber had gotten itself in some trouble with some grant money they received and almost had to pay it back. I don’t have all the details as the story was suppressed by the media AKA Marsha Smith. Apparently they did not do some promotion of the valley properly to satisfy the grant. Whatever ended up happening, I guess they finally figured out a way to keep the money. The important thing is they had to backtrack as they weren’t doing part of their job, which is promoting tourism, and the news never said “boo” about it.

Next, every year the chamber has found someone willing to invest their own time and money to attend the Long Beach Outdoor Trade Show. The largest in the state. This year, nobody went, and the SHAME of the situation is that the chamber was not “willing” to pay for somebody’s fuel, food and lodging expenses to go to the show and promote the Kern River Valley.

NOW, the Chamber is taking every effort and most likely will spend money to battle me over the use of my website and production of souvenir t shirts. When the website I use I link to it in publications I write for OUTSIDE the valley. My t shirts in no way imply they are “official” shirts and the ones they say are “official” don’t say they are “official”.  Maybe they are just jealous as mine are much more attractive than the ghetto red ones they produced?

So folks… keep in mind, the chamber is very interested in SAVING money when it comes to promoting tourism for our valley but they are interested in SPENDING money to suppress any innovative business person or idea they feel is a threat to their perceived control over who gets to earn money in this valley. Especially when it makes them look lazy, cheap and stupid.

They are interested in ZERO growth for the community, only in holding on tightly to the “nickel” they think they will lose if anyone opens a new business or competes against them. They don’t like an upset in the delicate balance of poverty, yet they won’t allow individuals to innovate and  improve their financial status so there will be more money to spend at the local businesses.

Shame on our Chamber’s of Commerce!

Keep in mind that WWW stands for World Wide Web, and just about anyone with an internet connection from anywhere in the world can legally register a domain and create a website whether it is a site about popcorn, pets or the Kern River Valley.

This troubles some people. They seem to believe that since they existed locally before me (and surely others to come) and created a few regional sites that somehow nobody else is allowed to design, promote or profit from the promotion of tourism in the Kern River Valley!  As a matter of fact they have even convinced many business owners and some of our local organizations of this. Just because we live in a somewhat isolated community people, doesn’t mean we need to think that way.

Let me ask you a question. If those who have been historically promoting tourism and business here are doing such a wonderful job, how come so many businesses are hurting or closing down, and how come each year it seems we have less and less visitors on holiday weekends where the campgrounds have been historically jam packed?

I know the Forest Service keeps adding and changing fees for use of the campgrounds, but they do that all over the state, and country for that matter, not just here so it isn’t the introduction of fees necessarily causing the problem. With the economy in a depression (that’s right, a depression not a recession) the news reports that vacationers are opting for more local resources of recreation rather than exotic locations and long distance airplane trips. How come then, we don’t have historically high numbers of visitors?

Shopping for a web designer or website is no different.

There are plenty of “so called” professionals that will offer you bargain basement pricing and others that want your first born child.

Webmaster’s always have a portfolio, but I would always recommend that you not only look at the work they have done, but also contact the clients to see what kind of results they are receiving or support offered since the site has been launched.

There are other factors with websites such as sometimes hidden features for search engines to rank a site highly based on terms pertinent to your business.

For instance, you own a Bob’s Shoe Store and you have a web site built for it, just because you can go to Google and type in “Bob’s Shoe Store” and get your site to show up on the first page DOES NOT mean you have great search engine recognition.

Excellent site design and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) helps Google and other search engines to discover your web site when people are searching for “relevant” terms to your products and services.

So in the shoe store example above you would want your site to appear on first page results when someone searched for “sneakers”, “loafers”, “hiking boots” and other similar terms.

A professional knows how to do that. So don’t be snowed when someone tricks you into thinking  your website shows up well on Google when the exact name is typed into the search.

There are designers that will try just that, and offer their services on the cheap. Godaddy might even get you to believe with their site builder you can get high ranking with a site builder they offer, but don’t be fooled, I guarantee that if your business is selling shoes, Godaddy’s site builder will not turn you into a professional webmaster.

I always tell people that I may not be the cheapest solution in town, but for every $1 spent I give $5 worth of service!

My #1 product, KV411.com is a very reasonably priced promotional tool for your business, and get’s high ranking on many business related terms in the Kern River Valley. I understand that there are others on the horizon that are offering similar services for free. Please don’t confuse what I have to offer with what they have to offer!

Always remember “You get what you pay for” , especially with web services. Now while that might be true, I say with me, “You get more than what you paid for!”

Now I am not telling you to not go ahead and use the free service. In today’s tough economy, why not take advantage of such a free tool?

What I am saying is don’t use the free tool, and feel confident that it is everything you need to succeed.

If your considering creating a site, or revising your existing one, please feel  free to contact me for a free, HONEST consultation on what I can do for you!

For instance, I use a lot of the terms “Kern Valley”, “Kern River Valley” and or “KV/KRV” in selecting a domain name when I am building a website related to our region. I have had word come to me that in the community another webmaster has accused me of “stealing” his name because he has used similar terms in his productions.

This entry serves to eliminate some of the myths regarding internet real estate.

MYTH # 1

There is no such thing as stealing when purchasing a domain name. All domain names are one of a kind, and if you relate it to a retail shopping experience, there is only one of each sitting on a shelf waiting for someone to come along and purchase it. If  a person is looking at an item on a shelf, saying to themselves “I want that” and they don’t buy it and a second person comes along and says “I want that” and then purchases it, then who does the item belong to?

Just because there are similarities between 2 domain names, does not imply one was stolen from the other. Go to google, and do a search on “pets” and see how many websites employ the use of the word “pets” in their domain. If that is what a site is about, then why not use pets in the name just like my use of the term Kern Valley when I am building a tourism website about the valley.

RULE OF THUMB: As soon as you have an idea you wish to pursue online, you should always purchase the domain name. You should also purchase variations of the domain name to ensure someone does not develop a website to capitalize on misspells and typos. I personally own 100’s of domains based on this premise. Purchase the domain names even if you are months or years away from developing the idea so it is available when you are ready. For  cheap source of  domain names try Go Daddy.

MYTH # 2

Just because you may have thought of it, means it belongs to you. Say for instance you were looking at a piece of real estate for sale that had a great view, and thought it would make an excellent location for a hotel, but you never went to the Realtor to inquire about purchasing it.  Then another savvy developer eyeballed the same piece of property, bought it and built a hotel on it. Would you accuse him of stealing “your” piece of property and “your” idea? There are lots of great ideas for websites out there, and often more than one person is thinking the same as you. Heck, they  might even get the idea from you, but until you take action and claim it as your own, it belongs to the first bidder.

I have had people come to me and suggest domain names to purchase, whether for me to build a site for them, or to keep someone else from buying it to exploit it.  Then when it comes time to pay for my services, they back out of the deal whether for personal or financial reasons and make an accusation of theft or unscrupulous behavior.  This is completely inaccurate and uncalled for. It is practically laughable except for the fact that the accusers like to spread rumors.

As a professional I have never purchased a business owners domain name for my own use with one exception, and that was when the said business owner was personally speaking publicly about going out of business. As they decided not to close their doors, I have since offered that business to purchase their business domain name from me at my cost. After 6 months they still have not acted on this offer. I have purchased domains based on the name of events that occur for the purpose of promoting tourism in our region and selling souvenirs, I see nothing unscrupulous about this just as I would see nothing unscrupulous about purchasing a domain about the 4th of July in effort to sell American Flags.

Everyone has a right to compete to earn a living. My business venue is the internet and business services, and I am expanding into selling promotional products on a retail basis as well as on the internet. This is my right. I had another business in town sell me a product then announce he was building a website in competition with one of my own that was under slow development. I took offense to the prospect of the vendor announcing he would compete with his client and rapidly finished development of the site. Now he spreads rumors as his project is not going so well.  So be it.

Speculative domain purchases. It is  a very common practice to purchase domains based on an upcoming event or project. If I knew that a developer was going to build a theme park in Kern County, you would be sure that I and other web professionals would swoop on domains such as KernCountyThemePark.com, BakersfieldThemePark.com and related domains for attracting search engines to their pages. As public knowledge would come about, people would be searching online for news about the theme park and this would be an opportunity for the webmaster to make money off of google clicks, advertising hotels and motels etc.  From a business perspective and being restricted regionally, I have made speculative domain purchases for the Kern River Valley.  I live here and have inside access to upcoming events so it is easiest to receive such information and make such purchases. Keep in mind I do not always have the opportunity to develop such sites as I am working on a number of projects, and I would always love to be paid to develop sites for people rather than build them for slow income through clicks or sales of merchandise.

So with all that is said, keep in mind rights to ownership in domain purchasing. Also keep in mind what rumors you might hear on the street about my activities are just that. Rumors on the street, and I don’t care how “esteemed” the person may “appear” to be in our community.  If you wish to know facts on a situation, feel free to contact me for enlightenment.

If you are looking to purchase your own domain, try using Go Daddy, they are by far the easiest and least expensive option. If you get lost or confused, I am available to help you with the process. Don’t let them make you feel empowered by their site building tools, your site will look just like a home made template site. Hire a professional!

Unfortunately, this creates a sense of empowerment to many individuals who haven’t a clue as to what they are doing. And while the finished product may look state of the art to the producer (anyone), to an actual web professional, the eyes of  Google (more on this later) and to everyone else who visits their site it is obvious the sites are built on a lame template system.

These site building tools often neglect to inform the builder about the importance of key elements such as meta tags and descriptions and how to use them properly along with incorporating their use into the actual site. This is the Google dilemma. Without proper meta tag data, linking and use of terms specific to the site, Google will not index a site properly and give top ranking to some spam site thats only purpose is to get clicks on ads.

Everyone likes to look and feel smart. These site builders may give you the impression that your site looks great, and you feel smart about yourself for figuring it out. Your clients that may look at your self built site may not think the same way you feel about it.

I can build you a custom built, state of the art site with graphics, that you can manage yourself thus maintaining the integrity of your intelligence. I am familiar with Google’s algorithm for site ranking and can educate you as to how you can personally market your site for maximum exposure on search engines.

As I always say, if you don’t hire me, hire somebody professional who knows what they are doing. Nothing bothers me more than another cheap template site full of errors and lacking proper technology.

For the few hundred dollars you might spend to hire a professional you will see triple the return in your online image and the possibility a website visitor buys something from you or visits your store. It’s all about credibility.

Please have a little patience  as I am still adding some small features to it but only for your benefit!

Shawn