Spicy Web Designer Interview with Shayne Yestal from Mocoda Interactive

Shayne Yestal is one half of the husband and wife team behind Mocoda a Ontario-based web design firm. For Shayne it all started back in 1995 when he was leading a team developing a web-based Learning Management System and he became interested in web design for other companies. Mocoda has been in business ever since. Shayne is the Director of Design and Technology while his wife oversees the business development in her role as Director of Business Development for the company. They’ve implemented and use a technology they developed called “Web Control” to control their website.

1. How did both get started in web design and why did you decide to do this as a husband and wife team?

It started as more of a hobby, back in 1995 Shayne was leading a team developing a web-based Learning Management System for a large corporation. Keep in mind this was in the very early days of the web. Coming from a technical background, he was curious about how web development actually worked, so we built a few personal sites. Friends quickly started asking if we could build sites for them and it seemed as though our pool of friends was growing out of control. We had a choice, get rid of some friends or actually start charging for the work.

We are very open about the fact that we are a husband and wife team, we actually see it as an advantage. We are a small company that has low overhead and can keep prices down. We both have very different backgrounds, which are complimentary. From a design perspective the two different viewpoints help in revisions or polishing designs, we have learned to truly listen to each other’s opinions. Over time it has just become natural and we try hard to keep our work/life balance.

2. Its impressive that you’ve been in business since 1996. How do you keep things fresh with your web designs for your clients?

We try to keep pace with the latest trends and styles, but believe that it is really our approach; we try to bring the client’s personality into every design. As we work, almost exclusively, with small businesses we have the opportunity to work directly with the decision makers, which gives us real insight into what they are looking for and how they approach their business. Our clients partner with us in the design process.

4. How do you usually price your web design projects?

Over time we have learned how much we need to charge on a project based on time and effort, so all of our pricing is fixed. This is based on the design, features and scope of content. We actually have a ‘quote calculator’ that helps standardize the pricing for any type of project, so it becomes very easy to revise and set new standards. So as we find issues with pricing or learn new things on a project, we can quickly resolve the problem.

5. Can potential clients come and sit down and talk to you if they are interested in your company designing a website?

We actually insist on a meeting before we quote a project, this could be in person or virtual. We have worked with clients as far away as the US and Mexico, budgets don’t always allow for travel, so web meetings and conference calls are used. We are truly interested in helping companies succeed and like to share our experiences, we end our first meetings with potential clients inviting them to call us for advice, even if they don’t end up working with us.

The other benefit is that we want to meet potential clients to see if we can work with them. Sometimes personalities or other issues may make us take a pass on the work. We have learned from past experiences that sometimes its really not worth any amount of money.

6. How do your clients usually find you? Through word of mouth? Agencies? Or something else?

Our focus is on building relationships and early on we didn’t want to grow too quickly, so we relied on word of mouth. Other than our website, we don’t do a lot of advertising, but we reward our existing clients for referrals, credits to apply to hosting, domain renewals, or redesigns/enhancements.

7. How would you define good Search Engine Optimization in relation to web design?

It all starts with a good foundation, in the code, the content, and in the user interface. Well structured, standards based code provides the foundation for which well written content can sit. But all of the keyword and search engine tricks/secrets used in the SEO world don’t mean much if visitors end up at a site that they can’t use or find what they are looking for, you will just end up with frustrated visitors.

We work with the client to provide focus on their target markets, keywords, etc. but these need to be incorporated into the written content for the site. If the client doesn’t have the skills internally we recommend hiring a good copywriter.

8. What is WebControl? Can you show us some screenshots of this?

We developed the WebControl brand when we made the switch from static to content managed sites a number of years ago. WebControl itself is a marketing term that we wrap our web design service around. We did this primarily as we were early adopters of content management for small business and as systems were evolving we didn’t want lock ourselves into promoting a specific system.

We prefer to use Open Source Content Management/Blog/Ecommerce Systems, as it does not lock our clients into our services, something they have asked for. If the client chooses to work with another company, they can find the skills in the market place. It also gives us quite a bit of freedom and the ability to choose the right system for the situation.