EPR Creations LLC

The Internet Presence Manager (The New Webmaster)

I started EPR Creations a little over 3 years ago and so much has changed in that time. It used to be that you could do a little bit of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website and get high rankings immediately. Google would consider a few items to determine your ranking. Now, there are 200+ features that are considered when ranking a website in the search engines.

Most large companies have on-site webmasters. These are the guys who run the website. Most big companies also have their own social media departments to control Facebook, Twitter and other platforms. But what about the small- and medium-sized businesses?

My prediction is that small- and medium-sized businesses will begin hiring webmasters, only the title won’t be webmaster. It will be a position that will encompass much more than a traditional webmaster. I think the title of the position will be more along the lines of an “Internet Presence Manager.” This will include big ticket items like the website, SEO, social media, and online advertising. However, the Internet Presence Manager will also be in charge tasks like these:

• Online Reputation Management
• Domain Name Purchase Strategy
• Surf Engine Optimization (optimizing the path the user takes through the website)
• Training of all Employees regarding online communications about the company
• Coordination of blogs, tweets, and other messages from employees
• Deep understanding of user analytics and the communication of these results to respective management

Additionally, I see this Internet Presence Manager being deeply involved in the marketing strategy of the company. This manager will be required at all marketing and company strategy meetings. All major company announcements, updates, or mea culpa’s need to be run through the Internet Presence Manager for the most effective presentation of the content.

This job position will not only be imperative for companies, it will also be required for major organizations and major public officials. Also, boutique hotels and single-location restaurants will also be highly interested in the online reputation management part of this job.

My advice to those seeking a job in this arena is to become knowledgeable about the tasks listed above. Designing and developing websites is not enough. At your core, you are a marketer and you live in the world where advertising now takes place. Practice communicating about online strategy and become familiar with case studies of how companies have failed. Even brilliant companies like Google and Netflix have made big blunders in product or pricing launches.

The days of the Yellow Pages and TV advertising are over. A single negative tweet or review can have tragic results for a company. These negative items don’t happen over the period of weeks or months. They don’t allow for extended thinking time on how to reply and maintain clients. These things happen in real time. The lack of a real time response or overall strategy signals arrogance or aloofness, neither of which will help in a negative situation. As companies, organizations and major public personalities realize this, they will take the position of the Internet Presence Manager seriously. I would not be surprised to see this position morph into a C-level position at some of the major companies. A Chief Internet Presence Officer (CIPO).

The State of Website Development

As a website designer and developer, I enjoy keeping an eye on trends in the marketplace and watching patters with my clients. The process of creating and maintaining a website has undergone dramatic changes in just the last few years, not to mention the last decade.

In the not so distant past, website design for a company was about creating static pages of information. What I mean by static is that the design and content lived on the same HTML page that was usually too complicated to be updated by the client. So, website designers would create a website and then be called upon for each small copy or image update.

What has happened recently is that a separation has occurred between the design and the content. The design is on one side of the development process, but the content doesn’t live on the same file (or website page) as the design. Within the design, code is used that calls the content (ex. biography, photo, links) to be loaded onto the page from a Database. Thus, the information doesn’t reside with the website designer, but is now placed in the hands of the client who can update and maintain their own content.

A website page that calls the content from a database is called a dynamic page. We have moved from static website pages to pages that are dynamically driven and able to be updated by the client via computer or mobile device. The page will look the same to the end user.

The main shift here is that the client has become the owner and editor of their own content.

This may seem like an added task to the client. Something they want to outsource anyway. But, here’s the key feature. If you set up a dynamically driven site for your client, you are empowering them. They now have a database of their own information that they will keep forever. Think of it this way. If you purchase an iPhone, you can load, update, and maintain all of the information on that iPhone. Maybe you want to update the case around the iPhone every few years to the latest design trends, but that iPhone will be yours and you will be in charge of what it contains.

Here is an image that shows this process in a very basic way. The client now has their own user interface where they can add, remove, and archive information in their database without knowing the first thing about database management. Those changes take place in a website Admin area and are reflected in the database. The front end of the website (what the user sees on his/her computer) then pulls this updated information from the database.

Similarly, as a website designer and developer, you can maintain working relationships with your clients by updating the look and feel of their website every few years. You can incorporate the new standards and abilities available. But that database will remain the same for that client.

This is a very exciting shift. As your clients continue to see the importance of their website in gaining new clients, making new sales, or promoting their idea, they will want to maintain a closer relationship to that content and will have the ability by maintaining their own content.