The Web Content Editor is today for companies the digital professional able to communicate on the web addressing a specific target in the best way. This is essential in a market that increasingly requires companies to get involved online as well.
The Web Content Editor stands out as a figure halfway between the humanistic and the technical, with a curriculum of studies that can go from the Digital Coach web content editor course to the real Master: plan a content strategy aimed at creating content that aims to enrich a company’s offer and, at the same time, use the most suitable technical tools to place them online and enhance their message. If this job, together with that of the Content Manager, has already developed its vital dimension at the big brands, it is within the small and medium-sized enterprises that one can bet on a working future full of opportunities.
Interview with a Web Content Editor
Today, for the section Jobs and Digital Professions, we interviewed Alessandro Scuratti, Web Content Editor, as well as a digital content specialist and business blogger. Author of the volume “ Writing for Web 2.0. How to do content marketing that works ” and supporter of the “basic vocabulary” shares his knowledge on the beauty and functionality of “communicating on the web” in the blog of the same name.
Who is Web Content Editor?
There are many terms to define this profession: “Web Content Editor” is one of the most used. The web content editor does one very specific thing: it creates quality content, that is, original, relevant content of great value for a specific target. Once produced, it is always up to the web content editor to insert this content into a platform which can be a blog, a site, or any online project. So we can say, on the one hand, a skill certainly linked to the creation of content, on the other a slightly more technical one, is linked to their layout and uploading onto a platform.
Web Content Editor: job descriptions
Definitely along the lines of what I told you, we could define it like this: the Web Content Editor is an intermediate figure between communication and information technology, which allows you to create valuable content but is also capable of knowing how to do content marketing in a truly effective and at the same time possesses those technical masteries that allow you to achieve secondary objectives.
We are talking about secondary objectives concerning the creation of content, which constitutes the thing that is upstream of the downstream objectives, or those technical skills that allow you to master rather than SEO, a little usability, and all that is needed for the web content editor to optimize his work.
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What skills should web content editor have?
The Web Content Editor must know how to communicate very well in writing, he must have the best knowledge of the dynamics of the web because it is a job that is done online, therefore everything that is web 2.0, social media in particular, must be mastered by the web content editor.
Alongside these skills come the technical ones, so he must know at least the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization, find out more in the advanced SEO course), something about the usability of online texts, the main CMS (Content Management System), WordPress above all: these are small technical things that remain in this area and allow it to complete the figure of being effective and self-sufficient in the work.
Which tools should you know how to use?
I would say that this varies depending on what specific skills the company requires from the Web Content Editor. We could divide your question in two: on the one hand tools for the layout of texts online on websites, therefore WordPress and Joomla (to name the most popular); on the other hand, knowledge of social networks is essential, because many of these contents will be shared on social platforms, therefore in principle, we say from Facebook to Twitter to Google Plus to Pinterest.
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What kind of companies are looking for him?
Broadly speaking, I don’t see a privileged sector. It is understood that it is easier for big brands, I can answer your question by saying that all companies, regardless of size and sector, have understood the importance of the web, have specifically understood the importance of content marketing, and therefore they turn to the Web Content Editor to create content in the right form to get the maximum possible result. It is the most advanced company in terms of technology that require this professionalism.
How you can become a web content editor?
The Web Content Editor is a profession halfway between the humanistic and the technical, therefore the basic path can be the humanistic one (Sciences of Communication, Literature, or Philosophy), however, it is essential to integrate a path with technical bases, i.e. the knowledge of what are the basics of SEO and the most used platforms in content management (CMS), such as WordPress. It is therefore necessary to integrate a study curriculum aimed at the humanities with more technical training.
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What experiences can help you take this path?
I advise all those who are starting to open a blog, because a blog allows you to test your skills and aptitudes concretely, starting from yourself, from a space that you create in the first person. Therefore, for the professional who wants to become a Web Content Editor, the personal blog is a fundamental step because it allows you to test everything inherent to the profession starting from the personal project.
Which professionals do you interact with?
The Web Content Editor is generally classified in the marketing division, so basically with all marketing professionals, let’s say web marketers, and social media marketers but also SEO specialists precisely because content and SEO are very connected. Sometimes we also interact with web designers, because texts on the web become graphical interfaces.
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how does your role change according to the different contexts in which you operate?
The answer can develop along two tracks. On the one hand, there are large companies, where the profession of Web Content Editor is starting to be appreciated – this is the case of the big brands – and therefore this certainly stands out as a preferential track. On the other hand, however, there is a lot to do for small and medium-sized companies that do not yet know the profession: in such a context, it would be possible to work almost with greater satisfaction.
In the case of the big brand, the risk is that of being reduced to a figure purely responsible for the creation of content, while with SMEs, small and medium-sized enterprises, in addition to creating the content, are encouraged to address a whole series of subsequent issues that complete the figure and certainly make it more mature in less time.
I am thinking, for example, of SEO and usability: they are all activities that in the big brand generally compete with a specific figure, instead in the small-medium business those who do a bit of everything, including web content editing, take care of them, and it is better for reach professional maturity.
What is Web Content Editor average salary?
This is a good question. Here, rather than a numerical indication which is very difficult to give, I advise all the guys who are listening to us and that is not to start the profession of Web Content Editor by selling out. Many people do this job at really bargain prices, it’s a custom for those who are starting. This is because the price you give to your work is the price that the other side will give to your professionalism, so selling out means starting on the wrong foot. I despise it.
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