Though my career, I’ve often been asked what the role of the Web Master really is. I’ve always struggled with the answer because a Web Master isn’t really a programmer (although your Web Master should be able to program) and they’re normally not a Web Designer, but have all the skills of a Web Designer. They’re also not quite in the world of marketing professionals and they’re not really in the IT department either, although in both cases they need to know the trades in depth.

This is where I also got stuck before today. They’re not designers, they’re not programmers, they’re not marketers and they’re not IT people yet, a good web master needs to know how to design, how to program, how to market and how to deal with technology issues.

My friend Daniel once told me that he spent years as a Stage Manager for theaters throughout Canada. I thought this was pretty cool, so one day I asked him what a stage manager did, he told me that he had no idea but without one, the theater fell apart. In my career I’ve often retold that story to explain what a Web Master does but these days I’ve finally figured out what separates a Web Master from everybody else … to be a Web Master is to be an Evangelist within our industry.

What do you think?