Webmaster

As webmaster for certain clients, EMG takes care of the heavy lifting required to maintain a site once it is built and published. Sites simply do not take care of themselves, and there are considerations beyond just updating a blog, moderating comments, or uploading a new video. Certain clients prefer to spend more time on their core business site content vs. maintaining their website.

For example: if you had a traditional business, you might hire someone to clean the building at the end of the day, or on a weekly basis. The same concept holds when hiring a webmaster to clean up your site and keep it in working order so you don’t have to worry about it.

As a client’s webmaster, EMG handles all those pesky little tasks they don’t have time for, including:

In order to have a successful business, your website needs to be fully operational at all times. That’s what a webmaster does; keeps your site working for you, and fixes it when it breaks.

EMG is very familiar with languages like HTML, XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP. Another key skill is knowing and managing SQL databases – the heart and soul of many websites. Optimizing for search engines is also important. As webmaster, our job requires we possess several skills to bear the responsibility of maintaining the smooth flow of our client’s Internet operations.  But perhaps the most important skill is security to combat today’s increased attacks from hackers and bad bots.

What most site owners do not understand is that hackers don’t attack your site just to steal sensitive data (which you may not even have), but they merely attack to wreak havoc because they can. Unlike cybercriminals, hackers are not necessary after someone’s money or secrets, so what drives them to be what they are?  There are several reasons…

1. To use your computer:
* as an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server – hackers don’t want to discuss their activities on their ‘own’ servers
* as Storage for Illicit Material (ex. pirated software, pirated music, pornography, hacking tools etc)
* as part of a DDoS Attack – where many computers are controlled by hackers in an attempt to cause resource starvation on a victim’s computers or networks
2. To steal services and/or valuable files
3. For the thrill and excitement – because they can
4. To get even – perhaps IT staff you terminated, or other parties you’ve ‘wronged’
5. As a publicity stunt, just to get attention
6. Knowledge/Experiment/Ethical – some hackers probe to find security vulnerabilities and then inform their company system administrator to help improve their own security
7. Curiosity
8. To spy on friends, family members – or business rivals
9. Prestige – bragging rights in their hacker social circle
10. Intellectual Challenges – to see if they can
11. Money – but most hackers are not motivated by financial gain; however many professional criminals make money by using hacking techniques either to
* set up fake e-commerce sites to collect credit card details
* gain entry to servers that contain credit cards details
* engage in other forms of credit card fraud

So who is at risk?  ANYONE WITH A WEBSITE.

Anyone connecting to the Internet is vulnerable to being hacked, infiltrated by a Trojan horse or attacked by a virus or worm – and e-commerce sites are far more attractive to hackers than community pages.  Thus, there is a need to be proactive when it comes to protecting your system from such attacks.

As webmaster to most of our clients, EMG partners with clients to brainstorm new ideas, security and technologies – being truly invested in the success of the client’s website and online marketing – especially because they are hosted on our own servers.  Not all sites are winners, no matter to how much quality work goes into them, and security measures are not 100% hack-proof – but as webmaster, we do our best to help clients come out looking good to stay ahead of the pack – and keep from getting hacked!

Webmaster services can be obtained on a project-basis, monthly plan, or monthly retainer for continual support.