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Why do I need a webmaster?
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By John Colascione
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Being involved in an Internet business for quite sometime, Ihave had many instances where I need to explain to a client whyexactly it is that they require a webmaster or web maintenanceand I'd like to put it into simple terms which are easy tounderstand.
I get this question so often, "Why do I need a webmaster?"
If you are running an online business there are a few things youneed to understand. Once you begin to add functionality to awebsite, it becomes more of a responsibility and a worry thanyour ordinary website in HTML. As soon as you start addingprogramming to your site in php, asp, etc, you begin to createwhat I like to call "doors". Once these doors are installed youmust always make sure that these doors remain locked. Peoplewill try to unlock these doors, or "break in". In most casesthey do this to access your server to send spam email. Sometimesthey just do it for fun. They are "hackers" and they really justwant to break your things. These programming systems which aresometimes classifieds, forums, shopping carts, etc, become aproblem only because of hackers.... Each manufacturer mustupdate their versions of software when new hacks orvulnerabilities are discovered.... Sometimes vulnerabilityrequires an upgrade. Sometimes your modifications need to bedone over. It's never a put it there and it's there foreverdeal. Once you add functionality to a website, you must pay moreattention to what is happening on the servers and always makingsure no-one is opening the doors.
Another point that seems to be misunderstood is the fact thatdata is valuable. One of my clients whom I built a shopping cartfor didn't realize that it was important to have a webmasterkeeping an eye on things. This particular client thought that aweb site was similar to the digital voice recorder he bought atRadioShack a few months back. He thought that whenever he neededhis website, that it would be right there where he left itmonths ago. "Why do I need to watch it?" He thought, "I boughtit and put it on the shelf so I can use it next time I need it?"
Well this client in particular thought he did not need awebmaster. "I'll just send the orders out when they come in." Hesaid. So one day the orders stop coming. This sparks a phonecall to my office. "I'm not getting any orders and I looked formy website and it isn't there." A little checking into thingsand I discovered that his credit card was expired, he wasn'tchecking his email, and his entire website including hisdatabase was gone! The hosting account was past 60 days and theMySql database was erased.
Here is where we begin to understand the value of data.
Every order that was placed, email that was saved, and productthat was photographed, was gone. Now you may be thinking thatsurely he had backups, where are the backups? If he had awebmaster, more than likely they would have been saving hardcopy backups periodically, just in case, but no, all he had waswhat was backed up at the hosting company and after 60 days ofnot paying your bill or answering your emails you can kiss themgood-bye.
The point that I would really like to make here is that once youdecide to go into business on the Internet, it is important totake it seriously. Like anything else, what you put into thebusiness, is what you will get out.
I had to explain to him again, why it is that he needs awebmaster. This time he listened with a bit more understanding.
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