Breaking into the web

jimmydangles · Oct 28, 2009

Speedbump said:

Create a "web presence" on WordPress. It's so darn easy, it makes you look like an online rockstar. (You won't even need HTML or CSS, although if you know it, it will allow you to enhance what you have going. But remember, you can often find what you need, HTML-wise at least, by just googling HTML generators and typing in what you are looking for.)

Because it is a blog format, it is much more appealing for SEO than a standard web site. Way cheaper and far less of a headache, too. You can also direct it toward a domain name of your choice. So instead of yourname.wordpress.com, for a small fee, you can have yourname.com but use Wordpress as your CMS.

Community colleges and university extension programs can offer courses of interest, but be careful. You don't need to be bogged down with tons of technical details -- I always tell people learning enough Flash to make a jumping elephant may make you a hit at parties, but is mostly useless in journalism circles. You need to only know how it would apply to you as a media professional, so don't waste money/time messing with other stuff. So of it is so darn technical, you'll either get frustrated or bogged down in stuff that won't help you now.

Great tutorials on all things digital media can be found at lynda.com. It is a subscription site, but so worth it.
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Great post. WordPress rocks. So easy to use.

FWIW, I got my gig on the web by being a reporter/blogger/videographer with some coding/graphic design skill, as well as a capable writer. They were looking for a do-it-all guy. Some shops are different.

The best thing about the web right now is that except for maybe the major companies (ESPN, NYT, Yahoo, etc etc) people are basically making it up as they go along. If you have the basics (HTML/CSS/Photoshop/InDesign/Illustrator/and some content management experience) down, and you maybe have some specialty in one or two other areas, I think you can find a niche somewhere. Versatility is key.

mustangj17 · Oct 29, 2009

Hustle said:

Speedbump said:

Great tutorials on all things digital media can be found at lynda.com. It is a subscription site, but so worth it.
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Agreed. I've made it through HTML/XHTML, CSS and the holy-shit-I-know-absolutely-nothing-about-Flash course. I'm currently on SEO, which is a full nine hours.
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Cool.

I'm going to check out the SEO course for sure. And I should probably brush up on CSS and HTML. If that goes well, maybe Flash. Flash scares me though.

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Breaking into the web

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