Customer Spotlight:
Doug Van Wolde
On improving the efficiencies of businesses while providing modern-day, branded websites.
Doug van Wolde has been designing and developing websites for almost as long as commercial websites have existed. In fact, he’s been in the website business since around 1995.
Founder and owner of WeGo.ca, an all-inclusive website design, development, marketing, maintenance, and hosting solution, Doug got his start in this business during the 1990s while working in marketing for a large corporation.
“I like to improve the efficiencies of businesses while providing a modern-day branded website.”
As he explains,
“I was in the marketing department and was involved in web design and development early on for that organization. Then I decided to go out and do it on my own. I had a couple of clients that weren’t clients at the time, I was just doing free stuff for them, because, well, I knew computers. So I began doing websites. Then I did a few more, and it started to turn into a business.”
The Early Days of Website Development
Of course, this was back in the early days of website development, which was driven by HTML, Dreamweaver, and Perl. And Doug describes this time of developing websites as “horrible days” compared to the WordPress website development days that he eventually moved into.
“I moved to WordPress design and development about ten years ago. And it’s probably been the best tool I can imagine to enable me to help my customers.”
“Solid Central is really a good way to stay on top of most of the sites that you manage, and make changes without any hassle.”
Doug’s customers at WeGo.ca are generally small- to medium-sized businesses in the agriculture field, along with several nonprofit organizations. And it’s become a niche for him throughout the years, where people now view him as an expert in those specific areas of website management.
And WordPress is the tool he trusts to deliver the results that his customers demand.
“In the past, I was using Joomla (for web development). And I was doing a whole bunch of other things too. Basically, whatever the popular website-building platform was at the time. But the winner is now clear. And now it’s just about building the right toolset (within the WordPress platform).
Because he manages so many client websites (his company now has over 50 clients who rely on him for all of their website needs), Doug is a big fan of Solid Central. In fact, he says that it’s the one tool he’s found that has most boosted his overall productivity.
“I tried the standard WordPress multisite set-up, and, for me, it’s a nightmare that introduces so many more problems than it’s worth. But Solid Central is really a good way to stay on top of most of the sites that you manage, and make changes without any hassle.”
While 50 current clients under his belt is definitely a big achievement, Doug is looking to grow the business to nearly double its current size. He says that business has been steadily growing lately, especially since the pandemic began. But if he could build his client list up to around 100, he’d be really happy.
“I kind of slowed down for a number of years. You really have to be dedicated to the business, and more to the work on a daily basis than playing golf. So for a few years, my golf scores were really good,” Doug jokes.
But today, he is focused on further building out the business and bringing in a slew of new clients.
Why Website Design and Development?
Doug’s initial attraction to website design and development came because he really liked the “geeky aspect of it.” Before getting into marketing with the corporation he was working for in the 1990s, he was a trained database analyst. He genuinely enjoyed being able to provide his supervisors with the data-driven answers they were looking for.
And that’s what really interested him about website design and development.
“And it’s kind of a similar feeling, providing solutions for people with a website. It’s the same kind of feeling: A way to provide answers.”
Beyond that, Doug’s marketing background has significantly contributed to the success of WeGo.ca. In fact, the company he worked for paid for all of his marketing courses, which he says provided him with all of the marketing knowledge he needed to branch out on his own.
“If I have to bid against somebody (for a contract), that’s what makes me different from the competition. I have that strong marketing background, I have the knowledge of how this is all supposed to come together and work.”
“I have that strong marketing background, I have the knowledge of how this is all supposed to come together and work.”
What’s interesting is that Doug operates his business on an island, so to speak. Living in Canada, north of Toronto, he’s really living in the “middle of nowhere” and doesn’t have any peers in the industry that live near him.
And that makes it difficult when he wants to explore new processes or have someone to bounce ideas off of.
Even worse, there’s often been no one to turn to when he finds himself immersed in a problem that seems to have no solution.
As Doug explains,
“Of course, you can join groups on Facebook and things like that. But it’s definitely not the same kind of connection as you get when you meet with the same people on a regular basis. I came across the SolidWP sessions and I actually got reliable information. And it’s all credible, because you know the credentials are there and they’re doing something very similar to what I do. I really trust the solutions I’ve gotten from SolidWP. Until I got involved in the group, there was nothing like that for me out there on the Internet.”
The Benefits of Being Self-Employed
Doug explained to us how, for him, the difference between working for someone else and working for himself is that he can focus on the work that most interests him. Additionally, he can pick and choose the clients that he wants to work with.
“If there’s something that turns me off about a job, I just don’t take it. I simply don’t have to anymore.”
In the past, he would take on every client that came to him because he needed the money. But today, he is much pickier about the jobs he takes.
“If there’s something that turns me off about a job, I just don’t take it. I simply don’t have to anymore.”
Of course, being self-employed also means that he can set his own hours and coordinate his life around family time a bit better.
“If my wife and I want to go on a vacation, I get my personal assistant to help me out when I’m away. And away we go.”
But being self-employed in this business isn’t all sunshine and roses. Like so many other professionals in the field, it’s often been difficult for Doug to get that elusive content from clients that he needs to complete his jobs.
“I used to struggle with (getting client content) a lot. And it used to slow down my projects. That was the number one reason why a project would be delayed: Waiting for the client to provide the content.”
However, in the last two years, he has been paying a lot of attention to the guest speakers on SolidWP who have been talking a lot about this exact issue. He’s also been attending the virtual work camps where several presenters have given him some great ideas as it relates to client content.
“That was the number one reason why a project would be delayed: Waiting for the client to provide the content.”
Today, Doug uses a content guide for his clients. It’s a set template that he provides to every client that is incredibly simple for them to follow. It gives them proper directions, rules, who’s responsible for what, and when each piece of content will be needed.
“Sometimes they fill it out perfectly and send it back to me. Sometimes it’s got holes in it, but it’s better than what they probably would have done (on their own). But that’s my secret weapon. I don’t send it out until we’re locked in and I’ve got a check in the bank. And, really, that’s what’s giving them the tools they need to get me the content I need, when I need it.”
Client Feedback
Of course, no business will stay in business very long without satisfied clients. And when asked what kind of feedback he normally gets from clients, he tells us:
“I’d say 80% of clients don’t know what goes on the backend. They just want their website to run. And when they want something done, they want it done now. So I tell them, ‘I have a four hour turnaround time for most requests.’ Then I give my hours of operation. ‘Unless it’s an emergency, it’ll get done, and it’ll get done within four hours.’ I think they’re all pretty happy with that.”
Most of the new business coming into WeGo.ca is referral-based. In fact, about 95% of the business comes from referrals. Doug rarely gets an out-of-the-blue customer that he doesn’t know, because his business is almost all word-of-mouth.
“Hopefully, I must be doing something right because I’m getting referrals. Of course, that happens after a client’s site has been developed and I know that the customer is happy, and they’ve told me they’re happy. From there, we maintain quarterly contact. So unless there’s something wrong, and that’s when I hear from them, I think my clients are all pretty happy.”
And it seems like Doug is, as well.
Learn more about Doug and WeGo.ca
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