Iowa Webmaster Services
I’ll help you
I Help Iowa Businesses With Their Websites
Webmaster /web·mas·ter/
noun [job title]
The person who maintains a website. | web admin
Website jack of all trades.
These days, the “webmaster” is often overshadowed by teams of developers at web agencies. As the internet has shifted, predominately larger brands have traded in a single individual website expert for teams of developers that excel at graphic design, marketing, user experience, software engineering, and web development at agencies and in-house.
Let’s say you’re a cake decorate in small town Iowa with a simple website, though?
You want to have a web presence, but it probably isn’t justified to employ a huge team to make it happen. That’s where hiring a local webmaster as a website administrator makes sense!
In general, managing the registration of a domain, altering DNS records, overseeing backups, and updating PHP versions are relatively simple tasks for an individual with experience to manage, but small businesses often don’t have the time to learn these concepts nor the budget to bring someone on full time. That’s where having a local Iowa website administrator becomes valuable. You can delegate the tasks involved with keeping your website running smoothly.
With WordPress Help, Monthly Website Maintenance plans, web hosting, and web design services available, 515Hosting makes for a very convenient one stop shop for all your Iowa webmaster needs.
Keeping Des Moines businesses online.
Delegate
your
business
website
tasks.
Domains are like the name of your site while the IP address is like the physical address of the server hosting your website. To ensure visitors find the right address when looking you up online, domain registrars use an address book system called Name Servers. Each domain has Domain Name Server (DNS) records that specify that information. Generally, DNS records do not change very often – if ever. However, if you’re changing email providers, migrating your website to a new hosting account, adding a feature like an email API to your WordPress website or some other change you may need to add or modify an existing DNS records. Entrusting these changes to a DNS administrator can save a lot of headaches
As your business grows, you might realize you need more email accounts for new employees, new departments or just to organize your inboxes. You’ll need to login to your email server, add an account, and then setup the accounts. If you want to access them on a device, you’ll also need to setup Outlook or other email software with the IMAP & SMTP credentials. A webmaster can take care of that for you!
There’s many reasons you might need to move a website. Maybe your current web hosting provider is shutting down or maybe you’ve realized you can save money transferring a more affordable web hosting company in Iowa.
A reputable webmaster can migrate your website with little to no downtime even if you’re changing domain names.
As your website changes, deleted content and changes to your URLs can result in 404 errors and missing pages that lead visitors to dead ends if they find old links. If you delete web pages or change your URL structure, you’ll likely need to setup 301 redirects. A proficient webmaster can do this for you.
I’ve found many small business owners overlook the importance of backups until they suddenly realize they desperately need a backup. Webmasters can create a backup plan that makes sense for your website including automated backups directly on the server, remote backups that download files and folders to a completely separate location as well as restoration of backups to get you back up and running fast.
With experience in the field, a webmaster is often able to find efficiencies in your website bill. That doesn’t necessarily mean finding you cheaper web hosting (although that could be), but it could also mean reviewing your current provider services. Recently, I helped a small business owner consolidate their separate websites on two separate web hosting account onto one single web hosting plan.
Does your web host use cPanel?
I have experience with cPanel, Plesk, Hepsia, CentOS Web Panel, & can familiarize myself with your web hosts control panel as well.
Helping Iowa entrepreneurs grow.
Grow
brands
outside of
the living
room.
As your business grows, you’ll likely find yourself working with professionals in a variety of industries that tie in with your website. Maybe you have an advertising agency running Google Ads, a photographer taking beautiful photos that need to be added to the website, a writer creating blog content and a social media manager uploading new posts routinely.
It can be tiresome to be the glue that holds it all together.
More importantly, you may find yourself with requests for access, changes to URLs, creation of redirects, the need to add a countdown, or any other number of technical tasks different services might request that having a webmaster available to delegate communication and execution to would be beneficial.
The idea that time is money becomes increasingly important for growing brands. As friendly and helpful as your web hosting provider customer support might be, you don’t always have the time to wait around on the phone to diagnose issues. Maybe you have a WordPress website requesting an updated version of PHP, but you’re not sure how to navigate cPanel so you end up calling in to request it instead.
Even if you’re not using 515Hosting web hosting services, I offer third party web hosting support and consultations, allowing you to focus more on your business and less being on hold.
Whether you’re selling supplements, make up, or fitness plans, network marketing offers a variety of ways to increase your income. A webmaster can help you increase your business credibility by thinking outside of the box with how you present your sales pages or communicate with customers.
Even if you don’t need an entire website and are selling through the company’s website, a webmaster can help you get a beautiful domain name to use in lieu of the subdomain the company provides, a branded email address that can even forward to your personal email, and other tools to give you an edge against the competition.
Even if you don’t need an entire eCommerce website built, a competent webmaster can help guide you with how to sell online by incorporating payment processors into an existing website or explain different options for charging customers online.
As Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies have increased in popularity, you might be curious how to send, receive, store, or otherwise use them in your brand. 515Hosting offers crypto-currency consultations and can even implement options for Bitcoin and other crypto payment processing solutions.
Webmasters may not be experts in online or social media marketing, but if you just want to run some simple ads, having a webmaster to work with is a great way to get started.
Are webmasters still a thing?
Absolutely…but the title not so much.
While the title “webmaster” isn’t thrown around as often these days and you’re far more likely to hear terms like “web developer” or “server/network technician”, the reality is freelance webmasters are an important component for many small and mid-size companies in Iowa and around the world.
These businesses typically aren’t in a position to have a full fledged in house web development team on staff and may not even be able to justify employing a full time website editor. At the same time, these businesses often realize the benefit of outsourcing their website needs to a capable individual that can keep them online and their website running smoothly.
Operating as an individual freelancer, the term webmaster seems fitting in that I help Iowa businesses that need to delegate some of their website and WordPress maintenance tasks beyond web design and web hosting services.
A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
What makes a good webmaster?
Delegation.
With all of the experience I’ve gained, many client requirements can be performed directly by me. However, websites and the way brands leverage the Internet has changed dramatically over the years and being a webmaster is no longer one service fits all.
In the past, growing your paid marketing campaign conversions might have been a task a webmaster could have been comfortable performing and achieved great results with. These days, the complexities of different aspects of online marketing often means hiring a specialized advertising marketing agency is probably the best approach.
That’s why when you hire a webmaster, knowing you’re working with an individual or team that’s capable of saying “no” and referring you elsewhere is important. As a webmaster, I have an incredible amount of experience to pull from to help Iowa small businesses with their websites. More importantly, I have an a wealth of dedicated experts and agencies I can work with when necessary.
Installations
A webmaster can help you install a CMS or install a PHP module onto the server in addition to enabling certain features of a web hosting account.
Integrations
Webmasters can help you learn ways to integrate things like CRM systems and add social media widgets or Like Buttons to your website.
Automations
From chat bots to automatic backups, an experienced webmaster can help you automate tasks that might be taking up time from growing your business.
