Web Master Dark T-shirt
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The nation is going through a recession with record doubled digit unemployment in many parts of the country. People have lost their homes and their jobs. Businesses have moved off shore and left families starving and in desperation. The number of homeless in America has increased. People are suffering. They need jobs. If they have a business they need more people to buy their products or services instead of those made in China, India or other third world nations where people are working for slave labor wages. On top of this, America has become in debt to China and other countries. Millions of Americans have even lost their homes to German banks! America is in a crisis.
Given the success of recent Internet enterprises, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, people are asking if they can utilize the Internet to somehow magically get back on their feet? People are seeing and hearing about these new, successful Internet businesses, and wondering if the Internet is the answer to all their problems. People are hungry and desperate for answers and in desperation are seeking answers? They want to know if the Internet is the magic wand which will solve all their problems in one wizardry sweep. Why some are even saying, "Join my get rich quick program! Then get a domain and a site on the Internet, and presto, all you problems will be solved. You will be a millionaire!
Well, as a webmaster and product developer, I'm sorry to tell you it just ain't that easy. You can't just open up a site on the Internet like a can of spam, and bingo, get rich overnight. It takes a great deal of time, effort, work and yes, EDUCATION, to produce a successful Internet business. Even if you already have a successful business down on Main Street in your local city or town, to open up a shop online and turn a profit is a risky business. It is even more risky if you don't know anything about the Internet or computers and try to do it yourself. In fact, you could end up losing much more money than you make in the process.
One of the biggest mistake that novices can make is to try to open up a business on the Internet and think they can do it for themselves without any education, knowledge or experience as relates to the Internet or computer science and information technology. The reason this is true is because your competition, those who are going to put your out of business, from China, India or wherever, are not going to make the same mistake you are proposing to make. In sheer numbers the China and India are such a large and represent such a great economic threat, that if you try to compete in the global market place which is the Internet, there is no room for uncorrected mistakes, and especially no room for ignorance. It is this very fact, a matter of numbers related to the world population explosion and competition on a global scale, which is going to result in the failure of businesses which think they can make it online without utilizing the best minds possible and the best resources possible in the process.
As a webmaster with a degree in Art and Physics and significance experience designing products which have been marketed online, it is my opinion that a canned website is not worth the bits and bytes it is made out of. Although it is true that programs and applications exist which enable the production of websites relatively easily and economically, there is so much more that goes into a successful website than just getting a domain name and posting a canned website. Considerations like security, search engine optimization (SEO), social networking, effective email campaigns, etc., can make or break an online business. And because China and India have so many more people than we do in America, and may even greatly subsidize their entrepreneurs, it is extremely risky, if not utterly foolish, to think you can start a website with no website master skills, and beat your off shore competition. You see, this is even more true because just based upon numbers the Chinese and Indians have more people who are tech suave than does America and Europe combined. And as the rest of the world becomes computer and Internet literate, the competition is going to get worse.
I learned many years ago that what can make or break a business is expressing a Unique Selling Proposition through all forms of advertising! When you get right down to it, a site on the Internet which offers a product or service is simply a form of advertising. The same basic principles and truths which apply to other forms of commercial advertising apply to using the Internet to market a product or service. Hence you need a webmaster to build a website that utilizes all the fundamental principles of effective advertising and incorporates multimedia resources to stimulate customers to buy your product or to generate new clients to employ you to provide a service.
There is no "magic" to it; producing a successful online business involves a tremendous amount of hard work, effort, knowledge, experience and down right elbow grease -- by which I mean actual time spent hacking away at the keyboard to produce original content, making product videos and advertising, planning and producing online advertising campaigns that utilize and tie in with traditional advertising via print media, radio, television and/or special mailings, events, etc! The advantage of employing a webmaster is that they have already been there and done that; a good webmaster has learned the trick of the trade and already knows what an Internet novice does not know. Therefore the one best thing anyone who is starting an online business or Internet enterprise needs to do is hire a webmaster or use the services of a company that specialized in website production and online marketing.
When you consider that the Internet is a global community, a global marketplace, it represents tremendous potential for any business. But you still have to function doing all those things any other business does. You still have to have and promote a Unique Selling Proposition. You still have to have a staff of technical experts to do each and every task that your business requires; i.e., employees that work for a fair wage and are your company's greatest asset. Given you get these ducks in a row, if you then open an online business and apply the same good business sense to your Internet business that your would apply to running a shop or store on Main Street USA, you have a good probability that your online business may make a profit over time and may succeed.
Understanding this, that you need a good webmaster and will benefit tremendously, that having a good webmaster is like having a good doctor, your online business will be primed and ready for success. But if you skimp on the essentials you will be setting yourself up for failure when it comes to any business, be it a shop on Main Street USA or an online business.
This does not mean that someone can ignore everything I'm preaching and still succeed. There are always exceptions to the rule. But what I'm telling you will stack the deck in your favor. Of course you can be your own webmaster. Just remember, that's like being your own doctor or trying to fix your automobile if you know nothing about cars. In the case of the Internet you may not hear the radling or knocking of your engine as it begins to fell, you may not see warning lights go on when you forget to add oil or coolant, you may not be warned when your break fluid is low, but there are disasters waiting to happen if you try to be your own webmaster without the foggiest idea of what that involves.
For example you could spend thousands of hours producing a website. Then just because you did not have good security or use sound practices in administrating your system, you could lose everything instantly! All your work could just vanish! When that happens it isn't going to do any good to say you should have backed up all your data files. They will be gone and you will have lost thousands of hours of work and the money that equates to, plus double as it will be costly to restore what is gone. Webmaster already know this and know how to prevent loss of data due to security and other threats. Webmasters have good computer operating skills and good account management skills. Some webmasters are better in these respects than others. But generally all webmasters are a light years ahead of the novice who may think they can just start an online business out of a can and make a fortune.
The competition is going to run you over as quickly online as they would off line if you sloppy in how you run your online business. Those who are going to succeed creating and operating online businesses are going to be the ones who pay attention to this good advice: USE THE SERVICES OF A GOOD WEBMASTER.
Sometimes simple is best. This page features the popular "Web Master" design by Terry Lynch as well as the patriotic red, white and blue "Made in America" design which are available upon T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, cups and other gifts and apparel. These make great promotional and fund raising items. Also the "Magnolia Graphics" logo is featured. If you are going to get a Web Master you may want someone who is both a professional graphic artist and designer as well as an expert in web site design. That's because although "Simple may be better," some of the time, web site design, production, maintenance and security is a complex task that takes knowledge, skill, ability and experience -- the same mastery of information technology that a doctor or surgeon may have in their respective disciplines. If you are a novice and want to be a web master you can buy a T-shirt that says "Web Master." But that does not any more make you a web master than putting on a white coat makes you a doctor.
