I started doing “this” back in 1997.
“This” means creating websites, promoting them and monetizing on the traffic (as opposed to creating websites for other people’s business need). It’s a pretty common business model for most of us.
The Age of Webmasters
Back then, we were called webmasters.
As a webmaster, you were expected to have a variety of skills, including:
- Web Design
- HTML coding
- “Advanced” coding skills (or at least how to hack away at javascript)
- Search engine optimization know-how (it was pretty basic back then)
- Social media skills (at the time, it was participation in online forums mostly)
We were jacks of all trades. We had to know how to work with Photoshop, flash, HTML editors (or the code itself), run newsletters and much more.
Oh, and we had “websites” – remember those? 
Just good ole’ HTML web pages, where you had to change the HTML code and re-upload files via FTP to keep them up-to-date.
The Age of Bloggers
Things sure have changed!
Websites today are complexed dynamic creatures, relying on a variety of technologies to deliver unique customized pages to each visitor. They do a lot of clever things. One of them is that they allow users to interact and leave their own key-print.
What’s more, design standards have changed. You can no longer get away with cheesy web pages with animated gif’s for a background (thankfully, I may add!) Visitors expect a higher level of usability and an overall sleek look. To a great extent, design has become the realm of professional web designers and coding these smart sites has become the domain of professional coders.
These changes brought along the CMS’s, or Content Management Systems. And these beget WordPress – a fully customizable and relatively easy-to-use CMS.
So, what’s left for us, content publishers? Well, mostly, but not only, creating content.
We write, we promote, we interact with the net. We have the ability to quickly and easily update our websites.
In fact, our websites are now called blogs, and we call ourselves bloggers.
So, How About You?
I still consider myself a webmaster first, and a blogger second. I still enjoy tweaking code and design and I still create static web pages too.
I think the title I prefer the most is a web publisher.
How about you? Are you a blogger? a webmaster? something else?
I would have to say that I consider myself both
Only because back 10 years ago the title was “Webmaster” as you said, nowa days I guess I am a blogger.
.-= Extreme John´s last blog post ..Links for 2010-02-23 [del.icio.us] =-.
I am slipping in that direction myself… Easier in some places to just say I’m a blogger.
I am still a webmaster because i master a web — a blog exactly. Hem … or may be i am a blogmaster indeed.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog post ..6 Benefits of Guest Blogging =-.
I consider myself a webmaster first. I have since the 90′s. I do blog also, but that’s not the extent of my experience. I create sites from scratch and customize HTML templates that I buy or find for free. Sometimes I make sites based around PHP scripts that do useful things. I also have a couple of blogs.
I guess you’re an old timer too then
Great question Anne
I used to produce html sites using CSS divs and then spend days trying to get them to work in Internet Explorer 6… yes some of my clients used IE6!
I also spent a lot of time manipulating and optimising images using Photoshop and Fireworks.
I still do some of that and the CSS skills I learnt then are useful for styling WordPress themes.
But mostly now I buy great looking wordpress themes, find free graphics on Flickr and write posts.
So what am I? Not sure really.
.-= Keith Davis´s last blog post ..Practice, practice, practice… =-.
Twitter: Invesp
says:
I have gone through that same pain, however the lessons learned always give you an edge since there are times you need to get your hands dirty in code.
@J Smith too true!
Imagine trying to add a bit more of a margin to a graphic and not having any CSS skills!
The html and CSS will always be there but for me… no more struggling with Internet Explorer.
.-= Keith Davis´s last blog post ..Practice, practice, practice… =-.
@ Keith, Just like me there. Maybe we should have a title like blogger (webmaster ret.)?
@ j.smith – thanks for dropping by and commenting. Sorry, but I had to edit out the keywords in your username. Please take a minute to read the commenting policy – thank you!
Sounds good to me Anne. LOL
.-= Keith Davis´s last blog post ..Practice, practice, practice… =-.
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Twitter: Ileane
says:
Hi Anne, this is a fun question. I’m so totally a blogger it ain’t even funny. I know maybe 1 or 2 things about HTML, so I totally suck at it.
At least I’m not afraid to admit it;)
.-= Ileane´s last blog post ..Guest Bloggers Lend A Helping Hand =-.
Twitter: DennisEdell
says:
Blogger over the other. I do learn as I go, but outsource most design…just not my thing.
Knowing your limitations is huge.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog post ..$100 – 10 Winners – Comment Contest! ‘Till Months End… =-.
I’m the same when it comes to producing blogs. I still produce static sites every once in a while, so I’m hanging on to my webmaster title too!
Twitter: netchunks
says:
Well I am trying to learn to be a webmaster while right now I am a blogger. I am awaiting graduation to the webmaster level..
Twitter: woody79_06
says:
I guess I still consider myself a webmaster. Even though I do have my own personal blog, there are still situations where a html design page has advantages over using a web application like wordpress, Joomla, drupal, and other mysql + php based solutions.
I personally don’t find updating html/xhtml pages hard once the template is done. If you have a high traffic site, its much easier to serve html pages vs calling php and msql functions. This means you can get by serving the same amount of traffic with a much smaller server.
One last thing to consider is there really is no vulnerabilities in html pages. A person just needs to keep their server patched. In wordpress for example, not only must you keep your server patched but also wordpress updated as well.
I guess I am still a webmaster, but I blog too. I just choose to use the right tool for the job.
.-= Ron´s last blog post ..Get Indexed and Ranked in the Ask.com Search Engine =-.
Twitter: AlisonMSmith
says:
I’m both because, well, I really am both. I own multiple websites, some that are blogs (and some of those on which I actually do blog) and some that aren’t.
I setup new sites for those who don’t have the technical expertise to do so and don’t want to climb the learning curve to do it themselves — they just want to disseminate information (which can be time consuming enough itself). Some of my clients’ sites are blogs, some aren’t. Depends on their needs and intended use.
The two can be mutually exclusive. You can be a blogger who’s never done webmastering and you can be a webmaster who’s never blogged. Or, like me, you can do both.
.-= Alison Moore Smith´s last blog post ..Start a New Blog in 1 Week =-.
Twitter: JayceOoi
says:
A webmaster before… Now a blogger. Why? Because people use to call my website as blog. So I am a blogger now.
.-= Jayce´s last blog post ..Top 10 T-Mobile HTC HD2 Tweaks and Hacks =-.
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