One of the things that can get confusing when one thinks about it is the defintive tasks of a webmaster. Basically because the web is evolving in a frenzy, truly because true blue webmasters with the requisite varied skillsets are very less, wholly because the challenges that he will face have doubled in the face of time. In toto though, the webmaster in today scenario is expected to do a lot of things.

Down below is a small treatise on what I feel a webmaster should be a master of, a basic listing of the roles he will be expected to play. A few points might seem repeated or similar but this should give a snapshot of a typical webmaster roles.

Webmaster’s Driving philosophy

Ensure that the website is a global medium that connects all partners, prospects, clients and constituents in a symbiotic relationship that accentuates the corporate strategic business objectives.

His Creative roles

>> Site Design / Redesign in conjunction with company’s brand image
>> Branding components - Brochures, PDF’s, White Papers, Newsletters
>> Relevant copy
>> SEO Friendly Layout
>> SEO Copywriting
>> Content Syndication
>> Technology Blogs
>> Online Journals
>> Email Campaigns
>> Podcasts
>> Press Releases
>> Company Stationery
>> Internet Marketing
>> Marketing Collaterals

Technical Roles

>> Web server Administration
>> Database Integration for dynamic sites
>> Url Rewriting
>> Server Load vis a vis concurrent connections
>> Email functions
>> Site Search functions
>> RSS Feeds
>> Content Management Systems
>> Website Maintenance
>> Site Backups / Archives
>> CVS / Source code versioning
>> Website Usability
>> Cross browser compatibility
>> Faster Page Loads
>> Website Accessibility
>> Mobile/ PDA Reach
>> Screen Readers
>> Search engine optimization
>> Keyword Research
>> On Page Factors
>> Off Page Factors
>> Link Building
>> Log Analytics

Number One, Mahalo by itself a dmoz clone whose goal is to human-write the top 20,000 search terms does’nt have the scalability that Google has. They simply cant capture the loooong tail of search and to know that more that a quarter of Google queries are completely new just shows where Mahalo is going to go kaput.

Number 2, his waft at Google’s algorithm being stuck in cement is just a no-brainer. Any SEO would tell you that Google changes its algo spots frequently in a constant effort to bring the perfect search results.

Number 3 Techmeme ‘fresh meat’ content listings gives you no option to hunt for old content. For older content, one just have to get back to good ol’ google. Techmeme might just give Digg, a dig in the ribs so to say.

Number 4 Scoble backing of facebook falls flat in the face when you consider that Google can use their own Orkut to integrate social networking in search results.
Is Scoble’s far fetched theories just pure linkbait in toto? Ironic for someone who does’nt think much of SEO.

Here biggie Danny Sullivan’s take on the issue.

Coming close on the heels of Yahoo Inc launching portals in seven Indian languages, it serves as a pointer to the fact that the major search engines find the burgeoning Asian markets, especially populous India and China, an apt destination to expand and monetize their services in the long run. Google Labs for India would hit the nail on products that serve the Indian market, though not necessarily developed in India.

Under the spotlight are two technologies which sit on the testing hammer at the Google Labs website namely the Indic On-Screen Keyboard iGoogle Gadget and Google Indic Transliteration.

The Indic On-Screen Keyboard iGoogle Gadget facilitates search in 14 Indian languages through the use of an on-screen keyboard. What comes in really handy is the option for users to add their chosen language gadget to their personalized iGoogle home page.

Google Indic Transliteration goes a step further allowing users to key in Hindi using phonetically equivalent English text through an English keyboard. This was launched in Blogger earlier and would encourage vernacular users to use email and like without the handicap of not knowing English.

The Indian focus by major companies is not a recent phenomenon. IBM in fact has already developed speech recognition software that would enable Hindi speaking people to use emails as also operate ATM’s and IVR systems. Yahoo of course had introduced plug-in modules to its Instant messenger, a real panacea to those with an English handicap.

It’s a no-brainer really to expect more of Internet growth and penetration in areas outside of the major Indian cities. The icing on the cake would be the exponential growth of content in more of the local languages. Information in its entirety now is on the fast track to becoming universally accessible as the latest trends on the information highway aptly show.

New words germinate and hatch as the web takes over. The ninth edition of the Collins English dictionary plans to include words like ‘me-media’, a term for personal content websites such as Facebook, and ‘godcast’, a religious service which has been converted to an MP3 format. The way things are, web lingo and web slang march on unfettered and there is the frightening prospect of a new language called Web-lish that would bury English for good on the web…

Google’s takeover of online ad firm DoubleClick raised a few ruckus along the way. Very recently, there was a lot of serious concerns about Google Maps ‘Street View’ that it is a direct violation of people’s need for anonymity.  The biggest fear is the possibility that security vulnerabilities might result in information falling in the wrong hands. What does Google’s privacy policy has to say? Tim O’Reilly has lots more to say on Google and Privacy stakes

#   A fascinating peep into the Google Search Engine Labs by New York Times’s Saul Hansel shows why Google is way on top on search engine stakes

#   Much awaited Search Marketing Expo (SMX) rolled out at Seattle(June 4th to 5th). To get closer to the action, you can chew on the SMX Diaries at SeoMoz