What is a Webmaster?

One part programmer, one part designer, a webmaster is the person who controls and runs a website. In "the old days", that was a sufficient definition. Now with soaring costs and new internet technologies, the webmaster's role has changed.

The Old School Webmaster

During the infancy of the Internet, there was no streaming video, no CSS and definitely no Flash. Truly it was a simpler time. Back then, a single person could be called a webmaster, and could realistically create, maintain and run an entire website. Now, those same responsibilities are delegated to a multitude of people who comprise modern day web teams mainly because there are so many things that have to be done on websites! So if web sites are too big to be handled by one person nowadays, who could have the gall to call themselves a webmaster?

Tools of the Trade

Many think that the long standing definition of a webmaster is an antiquated one if for no other reason than the fact that web technology changes too rapidly for one person to attain mastery in any one facet of it, much less the entire web. Think about it. How many technologies does a large modern day website use on daily basis? HTML, CSS, XHTML, JavaScript, asp, php, sql, Flash/Actionscript, ColdFusion...and those are just on the "programming" side of the ball! What about the artistic side?...Then you're talking about Photoshop, Illustrator, and any assortment of other programs!

The Modern Day Webmaster

With so many things she or he has to be a master of, the modern day webmaster often chooses to be a jack of all trades, knowing a good bit about everything but not specializing, (per se), in any one aspect. That knowledge about so many different internet technologies comes in handy as she or he will frequently act as a liaison between different parts of the team and consequently between the team and operating heads of the company, (if applicable). Besides the actual workings of the website, the modern day webmaster is often tasked with dealing with the business side of the website too. This aspect can deal with advertising, marketing, lead generation, sources of income and various other business matters.

With everything discussed so far, you'd think we'd be coming to a close but we still have a HUGE topic to discuss!

Search Engine Optimization

Besides the aforementioned items, the biggest task facing modern day webmasters is probably search engine optimization otherwise known as "seo". Basically, seo is ensuring people can find your website through a common search engine like Google and unfortunately, it's not as easy as it sounds.

Different search engines look for different things, and a webmaster is tasked with worrying about all of them at once. Inbound links, keyword selection, meta tags, and other considerations can easily make a single person's head spin. There are so many things that go into good search engine optimization that this role is often worked by a multitude of people. On top of that, because search engines are the most common way for people to find new sites, seo work is really of paramount performance.

Technologies available on the web may have changed and evolved a lot over the past couple of years, but the webmaster is still charged with making sure everything comes together in a unique and engaging experience for the end user. If you're thinking about becoming a webmaster, be prepared to never stop tinkering, learning, and of course evolving.

Check out the next article, Make a Website, to find out how to choose what type of website to have, and actually get up on the web!