Increase Your Value With Coding!

Coding is to digital marketing like bread is to a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.

It's not why you eat the sandwich, but it's still necessary.

As a digital marketer, it's rare you or I, will need to do extensive coding, or any coding at all. That is why your company will have an IT department or contract out an IT company to build and maintain your website. But, as a digital marketer, it is vital to communicate with the IT to layout the website with the UX you and your company has in mind.

As many of you know, dealing with IT personnel is notoriously not a pleasant experience. As a digital marketer with some coding experience, you will be able to skip a couple steps (and potentially a headache) in order to fix an issue or rearrange items on your website.

Further, it is another skill set that not many have that can make you a valuable asset to your company.

Versatility is key.

onboardly describes the "Full Stack Marketer" in brilliant words;

"They have a background in everything, but they’re an expert of nothing."

I am not sure how I feel about "an expert of nothing," as most are an expert in at least one area. When we consider "a background in everything," now we're talking.

And yes, if you scroll through the 21 items of what it takes to be a full stack marketer, number 17 is "HTML/CSS/Javascript." These three words correlate to different coding languages.

Learning A New Language

Rosetta Stone unfortunately does not offer HTML or CSS as languages you can learn, but thankfully someone does.

Code Academy is a widely accepted online school that teaches people how to code using HTML and CSS. Perhaps it has gained so much popularity because it's FREE! Yes, no amount of money is required to learn to code from Code Academy.

If you are a slow typer or brand new to coding, designate some time to learn- It may not come as second nature. Each section is broken up nicely so you do not have to do it all at once, though.

In about 2 hours, I completed about half of the "Learn HTML and CSS: Part1," which consists of 9 lessons covering all of the basics of the two languages. Below are a couple screen shots; one when I started Part 1, and where I left off just before the end of the second hour.

Overall, I am pretty impressed with the experience using Code Academy, thus far.

• Introductions- Intro's are always a nice way to preface what you are about to learn. Code Academy also states what you are about to learn is used for and why coders use that skill.
• Clear Instructions- They are clean and precise with steps to help you learn and succeed. Every so often, I had trouble with exactly where to place a line of code, which the instructions could have helped me out more, but I eventually understood the layout of the code.
• Three Panes- One for instructions, one for writing code, and one for seeing the product of the code (see screenshots above for a visual example). I REALLY liked this feature. As I was learning and writing code, I was able to see how each line I was writing was affecting a web page in real time.

If you have aspirations to learn to code, look no further. Code Academy is your solution.

Websites

There are a few website creation platforms that exist; Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace are a few. Weebly and Wix are both interesting platforms. You are able to create, and launch, a website for free. The catch, however, is that Weebly or Wix will be located in your URL. Below is an example URL from Wix.

For a monthly fee, you can launch the website without Weebly's or Wix's name in the URL.

Recently, I learned you can use Squarespace for 14 days at no charge, so I took a stab at it. In about a half hour-ish, I threw up this e-commerce website selling prints of photos I have taken.

I should note, the website is representative of the time I spent; which is both good and bad.

The Good:

• Easy to use- Editing various elements and text was a breeze. Just click or double click!
• No coding required- I did not insert one line of code to produce the website. Squarespace, like other website builders, uses a program that changes the code when the user changes an element of the website.
• Templates- Always a plus when you have no idea where to start. E-commerce, Photography, Food & Drink, Creative Services. You will find one that works for your company.
• Adding Products- Incredibly easy! Simply click a "+" sign. This brings you to a window where you choose between "Physical" "Digital" or "Service". After clicking an option, this brings you to another window where you can add a picture, adjust the price, sale price, if it's on sale, dimensions, description, URL... The list goes on. I was thoroughly impressed with how easy it was to add products and change specific attributes.

The Bad:

• Navigation is sort of challenging- Going from editing one page to another was initially challenging to figure out, notably the "Home" page of the template I used
• Things pop up- Not ads, but various edit tabs appear quite frequently when I am trying to click on something else.

Unfortunately with Squarespace, to use the site for more than 14 days, you will have to pay. They do not offer an option where they put their name in the URL. Squarespace is also the most expensive of the three platforms mentioned. Wix has a $5.00 a month option, Weebly an $8.00 per month. Squarespace's least expensive option is $12.00 for a basic website; $26.00 for e-commerce.

Before creating your website, research, and then do a little more research. Find the points of parity and difference in each website builder and find what best fits your needs.

Also, allocate time, and constant improvement to your website. They will not get built overnight, unless you stay up all night. They will surely not get perfected overnight, and likely never will. This is where A/B testing comes in handy.

Happy coding and building!