Webmaster - Website maintenance
#TBT Ad from March 17, 2018, for the Freelance digital marketing services of Services W+M. The MusicScore is the intro of an original song written by Jeff Maheux, I Think About You.
Hello,
Do you own a website? Do you program and edit the pages? I invite you to read this post about the Webmaster profession. I hope my tips will help!
MusicScore: and since webmastering is a passion, here is another passion I have: composing music. Here is my Rock&Roll Elvis song: I Think About You!
Listen to the MusicScores complete list on YouTube! Enjoy the Music At Work!
A Webmaster is the person managing and maintaining one or many websites. In French: Webmestre. Some says Web Editor, or Front-End editor.
Website Edition Experience
Graduated from College in 1997, I adopted the job of site editor. At the time, this position was in great demand with the arrival of the Internet in Quebec homes. Enterprises were looking for professionals to build their first website. The choice of the employer was wide. I acquired my experience with the development of the digital technology.
I worked in the Montreal event industry for the company Admission Network, now Live Nation—Ticketmaster. Gradually, for more than 18 years, I learned of each new application, of each social media platform creation and marketing tool.
The Evolution of Digital Tools
Today, the appearance of algorithms customizes the display of websites according to the tastes of visitors. The management tools are sophisticated, and platforms lighten the editing tasks. Many companies no longer require a full-time webmaster position without adding side tasks, like the community management, or the marketing. That explains why webmasters are versatile and flexible, always helping other departments.
In 2016, I made a change in my career and started as a freelancer to continue my profession.
Webmaster Tips
Without giving you the complete recipe of success, here are some tips to edit your site. Regardless of your environment, your professional domain, or your audience, a site must follow the same rules to be used and understood by the population. As we often must explain, we don’t make a site for ourselves, but for visitors. It’s important sometimes to forget the design and opt for a neutral and classic layout for a better comprehension, or to adjust to the search engine’s tools to make sure your site will be visible during web searches.
Words of order in the web management, whatever the trends are, will always be simplicity, logic, and verification.
A webmaster will help you manage traffic to your website and guide customer service 24h a day with clear policies and directives for client, visitors, and prospects.
Daily Website Management Actions
It’s important to visit and test your site. An organized and structured website only requires few minutes of daily management. This task that can be done by oneself or transferred to a webmaster service. In fact, a site with active programming will be more likely to be displayed in the search tool results.
It’s also by putting you in the place of your customers, during your investigation, that you will discover how to improve each page. Don’t hesitate to adjust and update the information, create your policies, use titles and guides to make the content clearer, and try to find ways to prevent questions from visitors. This is how your site will become, over the time, effective and respected by your customers, who will be able to use it without supervision.
The Verification and Testing
Usually, your site is the first glance at your business. It’s associated to your reputation. Don’t let the clients blame you for your mistakes and check yourself first.
For a visitor, a site must be functional, in order, with clickable links leading to the right pages, and with truthful and verified information. Keep in mind that a technical error on your site can be a new sale for a competitor. This is the spontaneity of digital commerce. No one likes to waste time because of an error, an erroneous link, or a page that takes forever to download. Forever in digital means more than 3 seconds.
The Administration of a Website
A webmaster must always be connected to customer service and public opinion when it concerns the site’s company. It’s important to read the customer questions, comments, and critics of the digital tools, because they can be the result of a technical error, or a misconstrued page. Resolving a problem for a client can help many others. This way you can avoid a lot of emails and responses.
Remember that Internet users want the liberty to do things by themselves, at any time of the day, and night, on a trusted site. If you learn to work with precision and organize your digital tools, you will have the best customers in town!
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The W+M Services
Websites Creation, Design and Management
I edit the content of existing sites via CMS, and I create sites with WordPress and Squarespace. I edit website pages and produces writing, visual and musical content as well. I have been a webmaster by profession since 1998 and I help companies to get their first virtual presence and improve the performance of existing sites.
I'm Mr. Analytics and my reaction time to what's new in the digital marketing is quick, which allows my clients to have optional tools and web techniques on the cutting edge of sale’s trends.
On a day-to-day basis, a webmaster does program the display of sites, e-stores and company presentations on their products and services sales tools. I compose relevant and optimised contents, usages and privacy policies. I do the layout (Front End) according to SEO techniques and visitors. I analyze performance, customer data and daily sales. I check the design and layout, perform usability tests, proofreading and translation, and publish, promote and manage visual, editorial and administrative information and updates.
A webmaster will know the content and SEO tricks to build your website pages with effective effect on the web search tools.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In recent years, it has been difficult to separate website editing and SEO techniques. We can define SEO as ways of setting up content in web pages to allow search tools to understand and cite our pages as a result of Internet users' searches.
There are two forms of referencing; one is the manual adaptation of the content of a website, called SEO for Search Engine Optimisation, and paid promotions on search tools, which is called paid referencing.
Let's take a closer look at SEO by customizing the items on each page according to the required criteria. It doesn't cost anything, just a search for your keywords, which are the terms people use to find your site, and an edition of each page. Here are some examples of how to improve your site's performance in search tool results:
Customize the page link between 50 and 100 characters
Display titles using Feature 1, 2, 3 text settings
Use the main keywords in your titles and information at the top of the page
Set the page description in the administrative settings and provide the sharing visuals and definitions for SEO
Provide a description for each image on your page, a corresponding file name, and alt text
Insert secondary keywords into the texts and slogans of the page
These are just a few methods, which have become essential in the smooth running of a current website. You can find more details and other SEO tips in the article on the subject:
Of course, the use of other marketing tools and paid advertisements will always be necessary. Also, you may want to review your SEO operations after a few weeks of use to adjust. We suggest the first check after 2 months of going live.
It is also possible to speed up the process of proofreading your newly updated web pages in the search link indexing tools. It's free and anyone can do it. A search will tell you more. Note that there is a maximum of indexing requests per day, don't be surprised. In my day-to-day life, I usually make a maximum of 4 requests for one or two domains per day and I don't have any problems.
If you have new store season to schedule, consider indexing your most popular items first. I never index a link whose page is not active, or the item is not yet for sale. At your own risk, I don't take any chances like this.
A website must be functional, organized, and in order with verified content for visitors to use it as they want, 24h a day, on all devices, meaning laptops and mobile. It is important for webmasters to review the content once a year and keep all information updated.
The Policies and Privacy Sections
Since 2018, we heard about many failures and cybersecurity is very important. The instruction for merchant is to show you are in good standing, by explaining your needs for access to personal data and posting privacy policies and regulations. Also, privacy must also comply with the laws (cookie warning, law 25, etc.).
Your website's policies
Policies are agreements between you and Internet users to define the behaviours to be adopted when accessing and using our site. Policies should also include legal attributes, purchase, return and refund instructions and warranties, as well as product and service descriptions and disclaimers. This is usually referred to as the Terms of Use. In our policies, A privacy policy section should be added when collecting subscriber information and a mention of third-party services (e-mail distribution system, e-store, affiliate system, monetarization system, etc.) should be part of it.
It will always be a good thing for a merchant to indicate the guidelines and policies of his site and his company tools. In addition to serving as a guide for the public, employees and customers, writing and continuously updating policies involves reflecting on the company's responsibilities and working methods and applying laws and legal obligations. All of this generally reassures our customers who, if we think about it, must trust us and provide their personal and confidential information.
The law tells us that a collection of personal information implies compliance with the law and the posting of a privacy policy. Although many examples are available on the web, are you sure you know your responsibilities and, above all, that they are respected? If necessary, don't hesitate and consult a professional who will guide you and, above all, help you sleep well by preventing forgetfulness.
Terms of Use
Any good professional site offering a product or service with a commenting option system involving management or moderation, must have a user policy. It must include the legal concepts and the instructions for use (and non-compliance with these instructions) of each service offered and must be visible and easily found on your site, as well as on each version (computer, tablet and mobile).
Return & Refund
Have you noticed that your return/refund information page always gets a certain percentage of clicks? This is completely normal and logical, as many people want to know these details before making a purchase. Make sure that this policy is visible, that a clickable link is present in your purchase sequence, and in your transaction confirmation information.
You can find more explanation in the web policy reports, depending on the type of signage and e-commerce you use:
Conclusion
And like any good webmaster, I go back to visit all the versions of the sites I manage (screen, tablet and mobile) looking for improvement. You can ask yourself the following questions during your daily check-ins: Is the information on your site up to date? Is there a waste of time that feels like you're going around in circles before you find the information? Is there a good reading rate or are there too many instructions or details that make you lose the momentum? Does product research give you too much choice, or are there groupings of topics that would make it easier to search?
In conclusion, we must make the lives of visitors easy if we want them to use our service or buy our products online. Yes, the digital world is rude and often lacks delicacy, but so enjoyable when everything works perfectly.
I wish you the best of luck in editing your site. And of course, contact me for more information. Are we working together soon?
Best,
Jeff Maheux
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