Daniel Watrous

Back in 2008 I was feverishly trying to turn a few small websites of mine into something more than just a waste of time. I had invested as many as seven years into some of them. I worked through countless iterations. I change features and logos and colors and anything else that I could think [...]

Oh the lure and luster of good sales copy. It’s like anticipating an inheritance or buying a lottery ticket that just ‘has to win’. I’m sure that someone is about to head straight to the comments and tell me that writing good sales copy is scientific and not at all like the lottery. If you [...]

Pearl S. Buck wrote of a young man Wang Lung, a pre-revolutionary Chinese farmer.  The story begins on his wedding day, but unlike the opulent weddings that our prosperous culture is accustomed to, he woke in a three room stone house where he lived with his aging father.  A small curtain separated his bed from the rest of [...]

I just finished reading Tribes by Seth Godin last night. I learned a lot from it, but I think I could have learned a lot more. The book felt disjointed. In my opinion, the last third of the book provided the most value. What I most liked about this book was that it encouraged me [...]

I know this post is a bit off topic, but there are some folks that would like to know a little bit more about my background.  As it turns out I’ve been programming computers since about 1997 (although some of my first programs date back to the late 1980′s). Engineering vs. Programming By the time [...]

The video below is a recording of a session I presented on the campus of Boise State University as a presenter at the 2010 Boise code camp.  It covers the entire process for building a membership website, including how to make a plan that will maximize your conversion rate, even before you spend a minute [...]

A few weeks ago I posted a PDF and a write up about how to create a two level membership website.  Tomorrow I’ll be presenting a live one hour session at Boise State University as part of this years Code Camp.  The focus will be membership websites and will extend much of what I wrote [...]

In the spring of 2000 I cut my teeth in web “programming” when I built intel.com. At the time I was working for a prestigious ad agency in Salt Lake City (DSW or EURO RSCG DSW Partners). I began working under another developer since it was the first time I had ever written any software [...]

Hello Ed Dale, Since you are so into the good old USA, I wanted to sing you the National Anthem. I really hope you like it. I’m looking forward to talking with you on the phone soon. Daniel

One skill in which I’ve always felt horribly deficient is sketching.  In fact, for years I thought I wasn’t creative because most people say creative in reference to artistic ability, not other forms of creativity.  Turns out I can be creative from time to time, but not artistically. That’s really too bad since one of the projects [...]