How do I become a web master?
Being a web master is one of the coolest jobs in the world but how do you become a web master in the first place and what training should your get before applying for the job?
First off, what does a web master do? They’re the glue that holds a website development team together, a jack-of-all-trades who knows how to create graphics and code for the website but they’re also often responsible for writing content, developing marketing strategies, testing the quality of the website and building everything from buttons to business relationships. In short, a web master is the heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears behind a website.
To be a good web master, you’ll need to learn how to be good at not only the creative side of the art but also the technical side. There’s no use having a great looking website if you’re not capable of fixing the bugs in the code as well. Furthermore, you’ll need to understand the business side of the site and how to deal with hosting companies, review analytics data and meet marketing objectives just like a store manager would need to do.
Of course, there’s various degrees of being a web master just like in any other field so if you’re more comfortable building HTML code, you might want to focus more on being a web publisher or for people who love Adobe Photoshop, the role of being a web designer may be more suitable but for those who like running websites there’s only one job .. the web master.
As for education, the industry is one that’s always changing. There’s no use spending four years and $40,000 learning to do something that’s going to be outdated by the time you’re done so don’t focus your education on technologies. In 2005 for example, Java was the big thing and many websites used ASP as their primary language, if they used a scripting language at all. Today, I’d venture to guess most websites use PHP but tomorrow they might be Python, Ruby or any language we’d yet to hear of. So don’t base your choice to learn to be a web master on the language instead, choose a skill that’ll never go out of fashion and supplement it with a thirst for technology knowledge.
If I was going to start over today and hope to be a great web master? I’d go to community college or university to study Marketing or Business, possibly Communications or Commerce with a minor in Computers for any of these degrees. Then, I’d buy a copy of the Adobe Master Collection and spend at least as many hours a week learning Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Fireworks as I spend in class and homework. With these skills, your education will naturally help you become a great web master.
What if you can’t afford or don’t want to go to school? A lot of people make a mistake when they’re young and go to college (I know somewhere out there your parents just convulsed) but the truth is, college isn’t about school it’s about learning and some people are not ready to learn when they’re young. For those people, becoming a web master is just as easy. Pick up the same software as your college bound buddies (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator etc) and put in 1,000 hours of hard work and determination. Becoming a great web master is a little like leveling up in Warcraft, it takes time but eventually you’ll be great at it.
Remember, being a web master isn’t really about being the master of the web it’s about being able to bring an expert knowledge of design, programming, marketing or business to the yet unbridled technology industry.
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