Your web site is out there and you are busy running your business dealing with payroll and customer orders. One day you wonder about updating your web site with a new product that you just got into the store. So, you call up your webmaster to let him know you need some new things on the site. Opps! The phone is busy. You could try again later or you could send an email.

Most webmasters live on the internet and email is the type of food they eat on a regular basis. It's true! Ask any one of them.

Email is probably the most efficient way to give orders to your web master. He or she is probably on the computer this very instant and will eventually see your email even while they are on the phone. Your email will have instructions on what to change on the web site and will be sitting in your webmaster's inbox waiting to be handled next.

Good webmasters will tell you when the updates have been made.

Make sure that in your email message you give the exact instructions. Helpful details like the actual html file name or image name. You can find out by right clicking on a blank area of the web page or directly on an image and selecting "Properties". This will give the whole directory path and the file name in a continuous string of text. Select it and copy it, then past it in your email. It doesn't get any more accurate than that. You can indicate text changes by using special characters like quotes and dots to show about where a text change needs to be. For example: ".....at this point in the sentance..." change it to ".....at this point the sentance should be changed to this....".

You could type blocks of text in MicroSoft's Word or use WordPad in Windows and save the file and send as an attachment.

Some people have trouble expressing themselves in an email perhaps because they can't type or they think it takes too much time. That's OK... you can always use the phone.

Don't worry about terminology, that is why you have a webmaster who speaks internet. You've got better things to do than to cifer through html code and optimize graphics. It's a headache best left to the experts. Now remember this when a stranger comes up to you and speaks internet. Just refer them over to your handy dandy webmaster.

This works great when someone emails you requesting to cross-link with another website. Just forward the email to your webmaster. You don't even have to type!

Your webmaster is knowledgable about all things internet. Ask about how to get more traffic to your site. The answers will generally be the same from all webmasters but, special webmasters will have some aces up their sleeves. Find out how to make the signature file work in your emails or get an autoreponder turned on. It's simple when you just ask your webmaster.

Most of all, use your webmaster to keep your site fresh. Some of the work falls on you because you have to provide content but, anything worth having is worth working for and your webmaster is ready for you. Consider giving your web site a make-over once a year.

When you have had a webmaster for a period of time you form a relationship much like that of your doctor. Your webmaster knows secret passwords and how you arrived at the web site you have now. As you change your company's mission statement from year to year your webmaster is there with you typing things in and adjusting photos. A history developes. You can trust your webmaster. If you can't, then you need to find another one.

Karl Knelson - Site Mechanix, LLC
Web Development and Web Consulting