These days I spend a lot of time looking at job postings around the Internet, it’s a tough place to be especially since most recruiters have no idea what web people do and those who are aware of the industry are often completely unaware of the ridiculous nature of their requests. The other day I saw a posting on Monster for:
a Senior Web Developer with 6+ years Adobe Flex experience and a working knowledge of Word, office printers and networks.
First … Flex was only invented in 2004. Second, it’s a specialty … Flex experts are like dessert chefs, asking them to be good at washing dishes in addition to making authentic French meringues will not get you qualified candidates, it will get you dish washers. Here’s a quick look at what I believe are accurate descriptions of jobs in my industry:
Web Designers
A web designer is a pixel pusher, they use Adobe Photoshop or similar tools to create Graphical User Interfaces to be converted to Hypertext Markup Language. Ideal web designers sway to one of two sub specialties, they are either functionally capable Usability Specialists or entry level Web Developers in addition to being a designer. Web Designers are artists, akin to Graphic Designers and photographers and rarely have a university degree, though most go to college.
Multimedia Specialists
There are sadly, dozens of areas of Specialists in the Web field from those who specialize in Flash or Flex to QuickTime, Shockwave, 3D artists and those who work in the video or audio production fields. Often these Specialists will have backgrounds in design as well as their media specialization. Few in the industry have degrees, and only a handful have college diplomas since the work is profitable from an early age.
Web Developers
A web developer programs websites using the Hypertext Markup Language to convert a designer’s artwork into a language compatible with web browser technology. They are also capable of programming the interactivity of a website using PHP or ASP based languages, JavaScript or other languages. Web Developers are coders, similar in nature to C++ or Java computer programmers.
Usability Specialists
The web is a marketing platform, the job of a Usability Specialist is to ensure the average user can successfully navigate a website and achieve the business objective, regardless of what the object may be. Often the Usability Specialist is also the Project Manager and has an obsessive nature geared towards Quality Control and meeting objectives.
Web Publishers
A Web Publisher is a data entry person, they’re job is to convert information from print or electronic form into web based content following strict document structure guidelines. After the designer and developer have put together the skeleton of a website, the Web Publisher works with Copyrighters and the Marketing team to ensure all content is placed in the right places before launching a website.
SEO Specialists
Unique to the Web, an SEO Specialist is an Organic Marketing professional who’s sole purpose is to increase the traffic rate of a web property through non paid advertising means. Often the SEO Specialist will also manage online advertising programs, purchasing and real world marketing but his/her real goal is to broaden the success of a website without paid placement.
Web Managers
The Web Manager is the business brains of a website. They’re job is to manage timelines, budgets, analyze Analytics and convert web traffic to measurable business. In many smaller organizations they’re also Web Generalists capable of lending a hand in all other areas of the puzzle, those who have mastered multiple ares of expertise are often called Web Masters. This is a tough job, it involves managing the egos of artists and the surly nature of programmers while meeting tough deadlines.
Network Administrators
I like to call NA’s the Backend Boys but for some reason they don’t like that title. A Network Administrator is a specialist which every Web person needs, they don’t get a lot of glory and they’re often (rightfully so) the first to get blamed with things go wrong but a Network Administrator’s job is to run the hardware (physical computers) the Web teams software (the website) operates on. They spend long hours ensuring email, servers, data streams and corporate software work.
Director of Technology
These days, our companies have become technology saturated. The role of a Director of Technology is to understand the business objectives of the organization and utilize cost savings methodologies to deliver the best computer solutions possible. Simply put, they’re job is to always do more with less while ensuring the best people are capable of delivering timely solutions and the rest of the organization sees technology as a friendly resource, not an aggravation.
Chief Technology Officer
The CTO title always interests me, there’re rarely a Vice President of Technology in an organization so I’m not sure if the title is a silent salute to Star Trek. The job of the CTO is two fold, first they have to keep the technology of a whole organization flowing smoothly and they also have to plan for future technologies by knowing where the company needs to be down the road. Their job in short is to lead the whole technology team for the management team and to solve the problems of the business through new, innovated methods.
WordPress allowed me to use a super easy content management tool without needed to program a complex tool from scratch, it allow allows this talented young artist to focus on what she knows best, photography. To make the most of the site, it’s also integrated into Google applications for Analytics and Webmaster Tools.
Mar
2009
25 Things to Do to Increase Your Website Traffic Right Now
Everybody wants to be successful on the Internet right? Of course we do, nobody want’s to be sitting at home on prom night especially when there’s money involved so how do we do it? Well, here’s a list of 25 things you can do right now to increase your website traffic …
Make Your Content Accessible
Use the SEO Checker I built to see what Google can see. This tool will also help you understand what visually impaired people in your community can see … they make up almost 10% of the population, so can you really afford to only appeal to 90% of the market?
Use Valid xHTML Markup
xHTML is the language web pages should be built in. If you write your page in sloppy code, it’ll be harder for web browsers to display it properly so just like a Word document, you have to save it in the right format for your audience to read it.
Translate Your Content
thisismyurl.com is available in 20 languages, 40% of my traffic comes from outside the US and Canada and is viewed in a language other than English using a free online translation service, I know it’s flawed but it’s the best I can offer and people learn from my postings.
Understand Keywords
Keywords are the heart and soul of the Internet, they’re like fresh pasta in Italian cooking or eye shadow to drag queens … if you don’t understand the value and application of keywords, get off the Internet.
Build Relationships with Other Websites
Almost half my traffic comes from Google, the other half? Came from other websites and referrals from great people that I taught something to and in turn taught me a lot.
Add a Google Sitemap
Google want’s nothing more than to know about you, it’s the companies only goal in the universe, so help them to help you.
Help People
Speaking of helping, help people. When you see a website with an error or run into a problem on a site, let them know. If you can fix a glitch, tell them how … I’ve picked up countless readers and sources of inspiration by simply being supportive.
Use Analytics
Back to Google for a second, they have a tool called Google Analytics. It’s free, it’s powerful and it’ll help you understand your audience.
Join Social Networking Sites
Websites like LinkedIn and Facebook are powerful tools to help people. Helping people leads to trust, trust leads to prospects and prospects lead to clients.
Add Fresh Content
Ask yourself, why do people come back to your boring old stale content? They don’t. If you ran a restaurant you’d have daily specials right? Well I think running a restaurant is easier than running a website, so make sure you have fresh content served daily.
Know Who’s Better Than You
There are a lot of web sites out there that are better than me:
Know who’s better than you and read them every day. The best way to learn is to know you need to learn. (btw, if you didn’t make the list don’t be sad I have hundreds of sites I read every week, these are just the first ones I though of)
Respond to Criticism
There’s a lot of things that I write on my blog that are not as well researched as they could be, and when I’m corrected I love it. You’ll notice if you pan through my comments that I don’t remove the negative … in fact I relish them. If people take the time to point out your flaws, thank them and you’ll grow.
Write Good Content
The best way to build traffic to your website? Make people want to come back. It’s harder to get new visitors than to keep your old ones.
Be Timely
Write about things that you know will be timely but don’t chase trends, it’s not relevant what others are writing about … only what your readers are reading about.
Get to Know Yourself
The past five months of blogging have taught me a lot about myself, I look back at some of the early pieces I wrote and know that I’ve changed. That’s part of what blogging is, it’s about growing not only as a business but also as a person and learning new things.
Make your Title Tag Valuable
Your title tag is a critical piece of the organic marketing puzzle, if you don’t understand how or why to use it properly … excuse my french but vous êtes vissé.
Add an RSS Feed
I don’t care what type of business you are … if you can add an RSS feed to your web site do it! Let people know what you’re up to if they want to know. Same goes for Twitter, use it to exploit your interests.
Give Stuff Away For Free
I love giving things away for free. I have website templates, plugins and artwork people can download for free as well as over 600 pages of advice here on my website. Guess what? It cost me nothing and it put me on Alexa’s radar without having to do anything complicated.
Respect Your Audience
There’s only one thing more important then you on your website, your audience. Take time to get to know them and help them.
Know Your Goals
Why do you own a website? You’d be surprised how many people have no idea why they want to run a website … it’s a little sad really.
Use a Content Manager
Websites that are build on a content management system (I use WordPress) make it easier for people to update their websites. Websites that are updated more often get more traffic.
Read Matt’s Articles
Matt Cutts is Google. Actually he’s not but he’s the face of Google, the man who talks to all of us and tells us what Google is thinking, explains what they’re up to and helps lowly web masters to interact better. His job … to help the public make the most of Google, so why don’t you read his blog?
Join Forums
Forums are a great place to generate free traffic to your blog. They help you build relationships with other bloggers, build respect in the community and get into endless conversations about topics that interest you.
Comment on Other Websites
One of the most overlooked methods for building traffic to your website is to simply comment on other peoples websites. Remember my point about helping others? Point out flaws or add to the conversation and you’ll be generating great traffic back to your website.
Analyze and Adapt
Finally … the most important point … look at your analytics often and improve your website to help your audience make the most of your content.
Tags: advice, analytics, blog, building, comment, content management system, content manager, Facebook, forums, google analytics, html, Learning, lorelle, matt cutts, organic marketing, Plugins, search, templates, translate, web browsers, web master, web masters, WordPress
Posted in Marketing Advice