Webmaster training
An iNterGine webmaster runs a small business of their own: you find people who need a website, iNterGine builds it from your work order, and you look after the customer. This course teaches you everything you need, from your first conversation to your first paid invoice, honestly and legally.
What an iNterGine webmaster does
You are an independent webmaster: you work for yourself, on your own schedule, from home or around your town. You are not an employee of iNterGine and nobody manages you.
- You: find customers, collect what they want, send the work order, show them the finished site, make small changes, hand it over or keep caring for it, and charge your own fee.
- iNterGine: builds each website from your work order, free, in 2 to 3 business days, and runs the hosting, security, speed and updates.
- Your customer: gets a fast, full-featured website and pays iNterGine's one flat subscription on the site itself (or you pay it and include it in your price).
Do now: join free if you have not yet, and bookmark the Work Order page.
Finding customers
Where they are
- Search Google Maps for your town plus "plumber", "salon", "restaurant": every business with no "Website" button is a possible customer.
- Businesses with only a Facebook page, or an old site that looks broken on a phone.
- People you know: friends, family, neighbours, your hairdresser, your mechanic, your church or club.
- Local events, markets and business groups.
How to ask
- Be brief and friendly. Say who you are and what you offer: a new website they can look at before paying anything.
- Listen: what do they want customers to do? Call, book, buy, find them?
- Show examples: the latest websites made on iNterGine.
- Ask for a yes to send a work order, and their permission to send their details.
The Toolkit has ready-made messages for in person, phone, text, e-mail and social media.
Do now: write down 10 local businesses that need a better website.
A great work order
The work order is your instructions to the iNterGine builders. The better it is, the closer the first version is to what your customer wants.
- Screenshots: 1 to 3 websites the customer likes, with what they like about each one (colours, layout, photos, feel). Phone: open the site and take a screenshot. Windows: the Snipping Tool or the Print Screen key. Mac: Shift-Command-4.
- Their current website and social links: we gather their words, photos, opening hours and reviews from there.
- Pages and features: tick what they need. A store, booking, gallery, forms, a members area.
- Their content: logo, their own photos (not pictures from other websites), and any words they want.
- Instructions: plain words. "Big phone number at the top", "show the menu with prices", "booking for haircuts, 30 minutes each".
Do now: open the Work Order form and read every question, so you know what to ask your customer.
Your first site: the admin
When the site is ready you get an e-mail with its address and your login. Log in at the site's address + /login with your e-mail address. Once logged in, every page has edit buttons and you have an admin menu.
The things you will use most
- Edit a page: open the page and use the pencil on any section to change words and pictures, then save.
- Photos and videos: Upload Media, then pick them in the editor.
- Menu: rename, reorder or hide pages.
- Blog: add news and posts for the customer.
- Contact Forms: see every message visitors send (Results), and where they are e-mailed.
- Template Kit: colours, fonts and the overall look.
- SEO: the title and description Google shows.
- The Webmaster AI (the purple button): ask it in plain words to make changes for you.
The 30-second how-to videos show each of these on screen.
Do now: watch three how-to videos: editing a page, uploading photos and the menu.
Handing over and looking after sites
Before you show it
- Check every page on a phone and a computer: names, phone numbers, addresses, prices and opening hours must be right.
- Send yourself a message through the contact form to see that it arrives.
Two ways to work
- Hand it over: change the login e-mail (in your profile) and the password to the customer's, and show them how to edit. You charge a one-time fee.
- Keep caring for it: you stay the webmaster: updates, new photos, posts, offers. You charge a monthly care fee. This is how one-off sales become steady income.
The Toolkit has a monthly care checklist and a hand-over checklist.
Pricing and getting paid
- Your price is yours. Common ways: a one-time setup fee, a monthly care fee, or both. Work out your hours, then decide what your time is worth. The Toolkit's price worksheet helps.
- The site's subscription is separate: one flat iNterGine price, paid on the site's own subscribe screen. Tell your customer about it openly. If you prefer, pay it yourself and include it in your own price.
- Get it in writing: a short agreement saying what you deliver, your price, and that the site subscription is paid to iNterGine. The Toolkit has one to copy.
- Get paid safely: a deposit before you start is normal. Use an invoice (the Toolkit has one) and a payment method you trust.
- Trial: every new site is a 30-day trial. If nobody subscribes, it closes by itself; subscribing opens it again.
Doing it legally and honestly
- You run your own business. Check whether your city or state needs a business licence for this kind of work, and keep simple records of what you earn and spend.
- Taxes: income from this work is usually taxable where you live. Set some aside and ask a tax adviser if you are unsure.
- Permission: only send a customer's details with their OK, and only use words and photos the customer owns or may use.
- Honesty: never promise Google rankings, sales or results nobody can guarantee. Never say you are iNterGine staff.
- No spam: contact businesses one by one, personally. Do not send mass e-mails or messages.
This training is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ by country, state and city: check the ones where you live and work.
You finished the training. Open the Toolkit and send your first work order.