WebMocha.com Launched!

WebMocha We’ve launched! Our website, at least. We’ve been in operation since July 2008. It’s been one of those cases where we’ve been so busy we haven’t had time for our website until now.

What we do

WebMocha is a California-based web development and technology services company that builds optimized, high-performance, enterprise-level web applications.

We are a team of web development professionals with years of experience from large and small companies such as Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Scient, Ernst & Young, Simply Hired, Food Network (SNI), HGTV (SNI), and CBS (CBS). This experience has taught us how to develop for massive audiences on a painfully large variety of web browsers and mobile microbrowsers. It wasn’t easy, but we loved doing it. And that’s how we can help you.

We offer development services in XHTML/HTML, CSS, JavaScript/AJAX, SEO, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), Ruby on Rails, Flash, Flex, ActionScript, XSLT/XML, WML/WAP, Objective-C & iPhone application development, and Java & Android application development.

Okay, enough of the pitch. Now for the nitty gritty.

How we funded it

Along with fellow ex-Yahoos George Diaz and Barney Mok (both of whom are incredibly talented), we started this company with only a few hundred bucks to incorporate it. We funded the design, logo, and other supporting materials as we made more money. Bootstrapping at its best!

How we came up with the name

One of the questions most friends ask first is: “Where did you come up with the name?” We tossed around countless names before choosing WebMocha, from Web 2.0 sounding names to made-up words to names with missing vowels. Barney and I were chilling in Satura Cakes in Palo Alto, CA, when “WebMocha” struck me. I was looking around the store and pre-pending “Web” to everything. Then I saw a mocha cake of some sort. I happen to love mochas (white chocolate mochas, to be exact), we all work late hours & drink lots of coffee, and we’re all about the web. It was perfect. Thus, our name was born.

Why we started a service company

Another question some friends ask is: “Why a service company?” Shoot, why not? Service companies have their pros and cons. One of the major cons is the work involved. Providing a service – and providing it with excellence – can require a lot of time. Especially for fledgling service companies. The major pro is the money made. Profits can generally be made immediately. That’s why we chose a service business model first. In this economy, profits rule.

That’s not to say we aren’t thinking about making products later, however. Let me just say it’s nice to make an actual income and build enough capital to self-fund product development projects. Wink wink.

How we are doing

Another question I often get: “How are you guys doing?” To be honest, pretty darn good, despite the tough economic times. In fact, we’re hiring! All of our clients so far have come to us from word-of-mouth. Our developers come from Yahoo!, Google, eBay, and personal referrals. Not all of them are local; they’re all over the country. And that’s the beauty of our model. We find the clients. We find the developers, wherever they are. Then we match our clients with some of the best, most talented developers around the world. Everybody wins!

How we differ from offshore developers

A common follow-up concern to this is: “How can you different than offshore developers then?” Our core model is similar to an offshore firm in that you work with a project & account manager like me, who coordinates with a team of developers to get the work done. We differ in that we’re in the same time zone and speak the same language. Also, we’ll think critically about the work & your goals, we’ll ask insightful questions & challenge you, we’ll communicate & over-communicate, we’ll apply our proven technical experience to build you a high-quality system, we’ll go that extra mile, and most importantly, we’ll help you to do the right thing for your business & customers.

Let us know what we can do for you!

Get Your Name Before Somebody Else Does

This Way to Monnette If you don’t get your name now, someone else might get it later. Username, I mean. And on a social media site like Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg, Flickr (which uses Yahoo!’s (YHOO) ID system), or YouTube (which can use Google’s (GOOG) ID system).

A friend recommended this to me a few months ago. (Thanks Eric!)

In other words, if you can come up with a fairly catchy and unique username, you could make it your consistent identity on every social media site that you use – or may use in the future.

For example, say you like the username MrMediaMuppet. You already have MrMediaMuppet@gmail.com and www.MrMediaMuppet.com. You also use this username on YouTube too, giving you youtube.com/user/MrMediaMuppet as your profile URL. What you should do next – especially if you are a social media marketer – is to reserve this name on other social media sites as well. This means getting twitter.com/MrMediaMuppet, friendfeed.com/MrMediaMuppet, and flickr.com/photos/MrMediaMuppet too, even if you don’t regularly use these services yet.

(BTW, MrMediaMuppet is an available username, if you want it!)

Dave Evans, a social media consultant, recommends this not only to individual users, but to corporate marketers as well. For instance, say you’re a marketer for Apple’s (AAPL) new product, the iCar. You decide that iCar and AppleiCar will be your social media usernames. The next thing you should do is reserve these names on various social media sites before someone else does. Hopefully soon thereafter, you’ll be able to use them actively; after all, that’s why you’re reserving them, right?

Not only will you be able to lock in a social media marketing venue, but you may prevent an unscrupulous detractor from potentially damaging your brand image. For any professional internet marketer, this should be a must.

UPDATE 2/12/2009 noon: Eric just pointed me to this cool service – UserNameCheck.com. Nice!

UPDATE 6/11/2009: Another cool service – namechk.

Bathroom Advertising Forgot the Girls

Hong Kong Museum of Art - Chinglish I noticed something odd the other day. You know how some unisex cafe and restaurant restrooms have ads hanging in them?

Usually, the ads are right above the toilet bowl. This means a guy going Number One will see the ad nice and clear.

However, there are rarely any ads on the opposite wall. Meaning a guy going Number Two – or a girl going Number One – doesn’t get to see an ad.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying everyone needs to have a face full of ad while doing one of life’s most basic necessities. Definitely not saying that.

I just couldn’t help but wonder why these cafe and restaurant proprietors thought enough to put ads for guys to see, but no ads for the girls.

Yes, it is frightening where my mind can wander if I let it.

Photo by: srbyug

The New Amazon Kindle 2

Amazon Kindle 2 I’m salivating right now. Could be because someone’s eating a plate of French fries next to me. Or could be because Amazon (AMZN) just released the new Kindle 2. Either way, both are equally scrumptious.

A ton has been written about the Kindle already, so I’m not going to copy-and-paste everything. What I’ll say instead is that I’m particularly excited about:

Author Spencer Ante also made an interesting comment about the Kindle today:

I am in talks with my publisher Harvard Business School Press to create a Kindle version of my book. The main challenge is over the rights issue. Depending on what rights you have negotiated, authors and publishers may need to renegotiate permissions to receive rights to publish certain photos and text for the digital world.

So here’s the deal. Thanks to Amazon and the Kindle, e-books have gone from the “can afford to ignore” category to the “I am looking into it” category, and now are entering “I have to have it” bucket.

I think this should be good for readers and the publishing industry as a whole because it represents another outlet and market. But the transition may be a little bumpy as business models could be disrupted, and publishers become concerned that they are getting dis-intermediated out of their core business by technology companies.

I think it’s a positive sign that some authors and publishers are buying into the idea of e-books. Not all authors are sold though. Stephen King cautions that, “yes, MP3s and iTunes destroyed the CD industry. Nobody’s going to buy the whole if you can just buy a slice. But that doesn’t apply to books.”

His thoughts echo what many others have said, making for an interesting debate.

Ultimately, it will have to be the readers who decide if e-book devices are worth having. So far, I think there’s a definite niche market here. I’m craving one and lots of people already love it. That doesn’t mean there’s a mass market for e-books though; it just means there’s a niche for them.

Personally, I still think this device will be a success – provided that Bezos and team can properly market this. And I’m rootin’ for them!

Original Design Gangsta

Now for some Friday fun.

Kyle Webster, an illustrator from North Carolina, put together this wacky video. Funny stuff! A pretty good job of self promotion through social media marketing too.

Not a bad idea if you’re trying to make a name for yourself. Charles Lewis also did it through the Poetic Prophet viral video he made.

And now, the lyrics to “Original Design Gangsta” (though admittedly, the lyrics are all in the video already…)

Yeah.

What up, Winston?

Yeah.

Press check!

Keep those guides locked.

Coming to you from the South
with the mutha-kernin’ skills
take a look inside my mouth
I even letterpressed my grill

Paula Scher on speed dial
Sagmeister’s my man
I got Mok on lock
Done time with Paul Rand

Wearing black on black
Designer rims ’round my eyes
Yo my clients call me ‘Snoop’
‘Cuz my concepts is so high

Don’t use PhotoShop filters
Lens flare is for prankstas

Holla back at K-dubs
Number One Design Gangsta

What? What?

Got the key commands down
And my fingers is my tools
Never use command ‘Z’
‘Cuz I don’t make mistakes fool

My mechanicals is fresh
I’ll mock ’em up in your face
And you know my work is clean
‘Cuz I’m using white space

AIGA,
Print, How and Graphis
I’m the best in the show
When I enter my piece

I pass on swipe
‘Cuz whack stock is fa’ prankstas
O.D.G.
Original Design Gangsta

O.D.G.

You know my rulers are long
And my type is strong
Spinning hot concepts
‘Til the break of dawn
Just my M-A-C and me
I’m so Design Gangsta

Yeah. Yeah.

PMS 187 runs deep in my veins
Metallic 8643 in my gold chains
I’m a classic font hustla’
Pimpin’ Mrs. Eaves

Trade Gothic, got Futura up my sleeve
Surfstation
K10k in my faves
Playas at Newstoday

Always giving me raves
I’m a FreeHand man
Not an InDesign pranksta
Multi-page layout
Is for true Design Gangstas

Yeah yeah…

Multi-paaaaage

And my messenger bag hangs low
And my Cooper’s riding high on 24s
On the weekend I be spending mad dough
At the North Cackalack Apple Sto’

Got the RAM for the ladies
In my G5 tower
When it comes to logos
Homies call me ‘Jack Bauer’

‘Cuz I kill ’em
With one click of the mouse
K-dubs,
No. 1 Design Gangsta in the house

One Two

Yeah

Press check it

You know my rulers are long
And my type is strong
Spinning hot concepts
‘Til the break of dawn
Just my M-A-C and me
I’m so Design Gangsta

Yeah

CMYK

Turn those guides on son
No widows, you heard?

Dynamic URLs vs Static URLs for SEO

Google Has this ever happened to you? Someone looks you in the eye. Takes a deep breath. Then tells you how dynamic URLs are bad for SEO on Google (GOOG).

That’s happened to me a few times. Sometimes without the deep breath and a little less drama, but the message has been the same. So I just wanted to offer some clarification, straight from Google’s Webmaster Central Blog (emphasis theirs):

Myth: “Dynamic URLs cannot be crawled.”
Fact: We can crawl dynamic URLs and interpret the different parameters. We might have problems crawling and ranking your dynamic URLs if you try to make your urls look static and in the process hide parameters which offer the Googlebot valuable information. One recommendation is to avoid reformatting a dynamic URL to make it look static. It’s always advisable to use static content with static URLs as much as possible, but in cases where you decide to use dynamic content, you should give us the possibility to analyze your URL structure and not remove information by hiding parameters and making them look static.

Myth: “Dynamic URLs are okay if you use fewer than three parameters.”
Fact: There is no limit on the number of parameters, but a good rule of thumb would be to keep your URLs short (this applies to all URLs, whether static or dynamic). You may be able to remove some parameters which aren’t essential for Googlebot and offer your users a nice looking dynamic URL. If you are not able to figure out which parameters to remove, we’d advise you to serve us all the parameters in your dynamic URL and our system will figure out which ones do not matter. Hiding your parameters keeps us from analyzing your URLs properly and we won’t be able to recognize the parameters as such, which could cause a loss of valuable information.

John Mueller, a Googler, added this bit in the comments:

In general, we would prefer to see a “messy” dynamic URL instead of an incompletely or incorrectly implemented static-looking URL scheme.

Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land’s News Editor, added this to the discussion:

You shouldn’t start changing what works for you now. Just because Google says things are fine when using dynamic URLs, it may not be fine in your case. When I told two of my developers about this Google post, they asked me what they should do. I said, keep developing using rewrites on pages you want Google think are static. If you want Google to know that certain pages are dynamic, like filtering products based on colors or size, then maybe in those cases I would leave the dynamic URLs. Again, it really depends on your situation and the site at hand.

So there you have it:

  • If you’ve already rewritten your URLs, keep them as is.
  • If you haven’t yet, dynamic URLs are fine.
  • Static URLs can sometimes have a slightly higher CTR.
  • If you don’t know how to rewrite your dynamic URLs into static ones, don’t, because a poorly rewritten static URL is worse than a dynamic URL.
  • If you can remove some of the unnecessary parameters from your URL, then do so; if not, don’t worry about it.
  • If you are using WordPress, their custom permalinks feature generally rewrites URLs just fine.
  • No direct guidance has been given about other CMS systems, but I would assume that the more popular ones are fine.

I hope this helps!

Web Design in Two Minutes

Now for some Friday fun.

Guess how quickly you can design a website? Two minutes! No kidding! Watch:

No, just kidding. This video was created by the design firm Wevio as what I’m guessing is a clever piece of social media marketing. On the video’s YouTube page Wevio says that:

This is a time-lapse video of what was originally about 2 hours.

This video doesn’t portray how a website is really made. It takes hours upon hours of researching, designing, developing and testing in different browsers as well as platforms.

Too true. And too bad, ‘cuz having a professionally made web design in two minutes would be awesome.

How to Follow Your Dreams

Photo of Jimmy Byrum Want to hear an amazing story?

I had coffee with a good buddy from Yahoo! (YHOO) this weekend, Jimmy Byrum. I tell you his name because he’s one of those guys who you just know will be famous one day. Then I can look back and say, “See, I called it!”

Jimmy was a rock star developer at Yahoo!. He wrote most of the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code for a previous version of Yahoo!’s home page. The code was so well-written and optimized that an outside reviewer claimed it must have been written by a machine. (I wish I could find the article that stated that… anyone know the URL?)

A quick aside – code should never be prematurely optimized. It should be optimized for developers first (using good programming practices), then users second (using automated tools). Jimmy just happened to be one of those rare people who could optimize his own code better than the automated tools at the time.

But that isn’t the amazing story. The amazing story is that he dropped all that – a rising career, highly-desired technical skills, and a growing reputation – to travel throughout South America and teach English. He could easily be a recognized technical leader right now. Or working at a fantastic start-up. Or starting his own company. Instead, he chose to drop all that.

Why?

Because he chose to follow his dreams.

How many of us can say we’re ready to drop everything and follow our dreams? Yes, it is hard to turn your back on everything you’ve worked for. It’s scary as hell. But what if all that stuff wasn’t really what you wanted? What if your true dreams lie elsewhere? On your deathbed, are you going to look back at your life and say, “Boy, I’m glad I worked so many hours at the office and didn’t start a band like I always wanted”? Probably not. So what’s holding you back?

Why People Don’t Follow Their Dreams

There are three major reasons why people don’t follow their dreams:

  1. Too scared to drop everything for their dreams
  2. Don’t have the ability to follow their dreams (e.g. family obligations, health issues, physical limitations, etc)
  3. Don’t know how to follow their dreams

If you’re too scared to follow your dreams, then you have my sincerest condolences. You’ll probably be trapped in the rat race and either learn to accept your chosen lot in life, or end up a bitter old person.

If you don’t have the ability to follow your dreams, you also have my sincerest condolences. Sometimes there are situations beyond our control that limit our abilities. However, I’d like to introduce you to six-year-old Cody McCasland and former race car driver Alex Zanardi – both of whom are legless, yet still ran 26-mile marathons. They are proof that when you put your mind to something, anything can happen.

(By the way, if money is your limitation, that’s a lame excuse. Jimmy’s example below will prove that money isn’t a true limitation.)

If you don’t know how to drop everything and follow your dreams, let me tell you how:

  1. Determine your end goal
  2. Build a plan
  3. Take each step one at a time
  4. Stay focused
  5. Continuously revise your plan as situations change
  6. Reach your goal

Jimmy’s Example: Traveling the World

Sounds easy enough, right? Maybe too easy. Let me use Jimmy as an example.

  1. Determine your end goal

    Jimmy knew he wanted to travel the world and have new experiences.

  2. Build a plan

    Determining his end goal was easy enough. Building a realistic plan was much tougher. He didn’t sit down and type out a formal plan of any kind though; he followed his heart and his plan revealed itself to him. But if writing out a formal plan helps you, then you should definitely do it.

    Traveling the world requires time, money, and guts. So years in advance, Jimmy began saving up. He lived frugally and taught himself how to maintain a strict budget. This required a lot of financial discipline, but he stuck to it.

    To build up his comfort level, he took baby steps. He read vigorously and moved from the East Coast to the West Coast. This may not sound like much, but some people never leave their home towns. Moving across the country is a huge step.

    Living on a budget and moving across the country gave him money and guts. And if he did this fast enough, he’d have time too, while he’s still young and healthy.

  3. Take each step one at a time

    Then he took his next step – he transferred to the London office. This still kept him within familiar boundaries: a steady paycheck, doing a job he knew, and an English speaking environment.

    From there, he took his next series of steps and did what any North American in London would do – weekend excursions all over Europe, baby! Traveling around Europe and being in non-English speaking cultures further emboldened him to continue forward.

  4. Stay focused

    Many times, he was tempted with raises and offers at other great companies. But he stayed focused. He politely turned down each offer and continued saving his money.

  5. Continuously revise your plan as situations change

    Every once in a while, he adjusted his plans. Instead of traveling the world like Caine, he thought about other, more realistic alternatives. Friends taught him Spanish. Then somewhere along the way, he heard about a program teaching English in South America. That became his next step.

    This way, he could maintain his financial capital, have room and board, learn the Spanish language and culture, and most importantly, contribute meaningfully to the world. And that’s just what he did.

  6. Reach your goal

    What’s he going to do next? You’ll just have to ask him. But you can bet it will be another step closer to his goal!

My Example: Becoming an Entrepreneur

You may be wondering what’s this got to do with business and entrepreneurship? Well, it has everything to do with business and entrepreneurship. Do you dream of being an entrepreneur one day? Of owning your own company? Of being your own boss? I did. So let me close with my example of how I’m following my dreams.

  1. Determine your end goal

    One of my end goals is to start my own business. Those who know me know I have many goals in life. This is just one of them.

  2. Build a plan

    I knew that being an entrepreneur involved a lot of risk and a wide range of knowledge. My specialty is the internet, so I knew I needed experience in technology, UI design, marketing, sales, business fundamentals, finance, project management, people management, leadership, etc.

    My nature is to be conservative and risk-adverse, so I structured my career path to lead me to this goal. I applaud those who jump right into their own companies – I totally admire you guys. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my approach; it’s just where my comfort level lies.

  3. Take each step one at a time

    My resume kind of reads like my plan. One of my first jobs was doing web design. Then web development. Then a technical management. Then a product management. Each pushed me outside my comfort zone and into new skills and experiences.

  4. Stay focused

    It would have been easy to stay in a particular role and become specialized. Changing roles didn’t always give me the highest salary. In fact, some role switches bumped me down in salary. But I did it anyways because it put me closer to my end goal.

  5. Continuously revise your plan as situations change

    Plans didn’t always go as smoothly as I liked. Originally, I wanted to start a company early this millennium, like every other dot-com hopeful. Then the dot-com bombed and I changed plans. I decided to grow my skills in a stable corporate environment that provided a steady paycheck.

    This gave me time to build up my capital, as well as some other side benefits – growing my network, meeting some amazing people, and giving me invaluable knowledge and experience.

  6. Reach your goal

    Ultimately, I knew that starting my own company couldn’t happen while I had a steady paycheck. The hunger & fear of working without a safety net is a strong teacher. So I finally took the biggest step. I quit my job and became an entrepreneur. After a few false starts, I now have a profitable business (to be announced shortly, once we finish our website).

Dropping everything and following your dreams is scary. But it is possible. Very possible. Just look at Jimmy. He’s now gallivanting around the world with a big smile on his face. And look at me, owning a business and learning a great deal about entrepreneurship. What are you doing?

Photo by: James Byrum