What does a webmaster do? A webmaster keeps a website running day to day. They update content, add pages, fix what breaks, manage the domain and hosting, look after forms, and watch the analytics so the site keeps doing its job.
For most small businesses, that is the gap between “we have a website” and “our website works for us.” I’ve done this job for more than 100 sites, mostly at digital marketing agencies, and the tasks are the same whatever the size of the business.
What a webmaster does day to day
Content updates
Changing prices, opening hours, staff photos and service descriptions. Adding new pages, blog posts and landing pages for campaigns.
Technical upkeep
Updating WordPress, plugins and themes, taking backups, and fixing errors and broken layouts. My WordPress maintenance checklist lists these tasks by how often they need doing.
Forms and enquiries
Making sure contact and booking forms work, the emails arrive, and spam is filtered out.
Domain, hosting and email
Renewing the domain, changing DNS records, setting up business email, and moving the site to a better host when needed.
Analytics and search
Setting up Google Analytics and Google Search Console, fixing the errors they report, and keeping page titles and descriptions in order.
Speed and security
Running security scans, keeping logins secure, and investigating when the site slows down. See why a WordPress site gets slow for the usual causes.
Webmaster vs web developer vs web designer
The roles overlap, and one person often covers more than one. The difference is when they work on the site.
| Role | Main job | When |
|---|---|---|
| Web designer | How the site looks and how people move through it | Before and during the build |
| Web developer | Builds the site and new features | During the build and for bigger changes |
| Webmaster | Runs the site: content, updates, forms, domain, hosting, analytics | Every week after launch |
For a small business, the ideal is one person who can do all three, so whoever built the site also looks after it.
Signs your business needs a webmaster
- Your website still shows last year’s prices, hours or promotions.
- Small changes wait weeks because nobody has time or knows how.
- You don’t know when the site was last updated or backed up.
- Enquiries dropped and nobody checked whether the form still works.
- You aren’t sure who controls your domain name.
If two or more of these sound familiar, the site is costing you enquiries.
In-house or outsourced?
A full-time webmaster makes sense for large sites that change daily. Most small business sites need a few hours a month, so a freelancer or a webmaster service is usually the better value.
Either way, insist on two things:
- Keep ownership in your name. The domain, hosting and analytics accounts should belong to the business, with the webmaster added as a user.
- Get changes in writing. A short monthly summary of what was updated, fixed and backed up keeps everyone honest.
What to ask before hiring a webmaster
- How do I send you changes, and how quickly are they done?
- How often do you update and back up the site, and where are backups stored?
- What happens if an update breaks something?
- Will everything stay in my name if we stop working together?
- Do you follow Google’s SEO Starter Guide for titles, sitemaps and Search Console?
If you’d like someone to take this off your plate, my webmaster services cover content, forms, domains, hosting and analytics, and support and maintenance keeps the technical side healthy. Tell me what your site needs.
Frequently asked questions
Is a webmaster the same as a web developer?
No. A web developer builds a site or new features. A webmaster runs the site after launch: content, updates, forms, domains, hosting and analytics. Many freelancers do both.
Does a small business need a full-time webmaster?
Rarely. Most small business sites need a few hours of webmaster work a month, which is why most businesses outsource it instead of hiring.
What access does a webmaster need?
Usually an administrator account on WordPress, access to the hosting panel and, for domain or email changes, the domain registrar. Give each person their own login so access can be removed later.
Does a webmaster do SEO?
A webmaster handles the technical basics: Search Console, sitemaps, page titles, meta descriptions and fixing errors. Ongoing content strategy and link building are usually separate SEO work.
About the author
Vincent Earl Panoncial is a WordPress developer and the founder of VEP Studio. He has built and maintained 100+ WordPress websites, most of them at digital marketing agencies, and now works directly with businesses on development, maintenance and webmaster services.
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Featured photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash.