Most valuable programming language for online marketers?

[Oak1]

Hello everyone,

One of my goals for the next couple of months is to improve my programming skills. As an online marketer I think it’s really useful to know code and besides of that I kind a like programming . I currently know HTML, CSS and the basics of PHP.

My question for you guys is, what programming language is most valuable for an online marketer (besides the languages I already know)?

There are so many programming languages and I only want to learn one at a time.

Which one do you recommend and why?

Thanks a lot!

 

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[LightHouse]

English?

You are either a marketer or a programmer. You can suck at both or be amazing at one, which is it going to be?

 

[Oak1]

English?

You are either a marketer or a programmer. You can suck at both or be amazing at one, which is it going to be?

Thanks for your reply, but I don't agree with you. I think you are a be better marketer if you (at least) have basic
knowledge of as much aspects of online marketing as possible.

For example, when I decide to have an app made, it can be very usefull to know basic programming. It helps me to
find the right programmer and to set a realistic budget for the project.

It also makes you more flexible because you don't need to hire someone for every little task I think.

 

[healthstatus]

This will keep you busy for a while...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/learning-to-program-is-stupid.41319/

 

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[geekboy]

I would say your on the right track, stick with php and develop your skills rather than starting to learn another language. For web based stuff there isn't much you can't do with it.

Many popular open source platforms such as WordPress & Magento are written in PHP which makes them easier to customise if your already familiar with the language.

There is great documentation on php.net and wide support for 3rd party API's

I've been learning it for a few years and am now getting to grips with the Laravel framework which makes many common tasks such as form validation, database integration and sending emails much easier.

If you get to the point where you want to progress to a framework take a look at Laravel and check out http://laracasts.com

I've just signed up for this its probably the best $9 a month I've ever spent. (after this forum of course )

 

[Oak1]

This will keep you busy for a while...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/learning-to-program-is-stupid.41319/

Thanks for the tip .

I would say your on the right track, stick with php and develop your skills rather than starting to learn another language. For web based stuff there isn't much you can't do with it.

Many popular open source platforms such as WordPress & Magento are written in PHP which makes them easier to customise if your already familiar with the language.

There is great documentation on php.net and wide support for 3rd party API's

I've been learning it for a few years and am now getting to grips with the Laravel framework which makes many common tasks such as form validation, database integration and sending emails much easier.

If you get to the point where you want to progress to a framework take a look at Laravel and check out http://laracasts.com

I've just signed up for this its probably the best $9 a month I've ever spent. (after this forum of course )

Great response! Thanks.

 

[LightHouse]

Thanks for your reply, but I don't agree with you. I think you are a be better marketer if you (at least) have basic
knowledge of as much aspects of online marketing as possible.

For example, when I decide to have an app made, it can be very usefull to know basic programming. It helps me to
find the right programmer and to set a realistic budget for the project.

It also makes you more flexible because you don't need to hire someone for every little task I think.

If you decide to have an app made, yes it would help to know which technology you need to use, but it wont make it much cheaper. You said marketing, now you are talking about app development. Which is it that you are doing, marketing or developing apps?

 

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[HappyFighter]

SQL (Structured Query Language). It's the language used to query information from your back-end database. It comes in many flavors: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, etc., but there is little variation in the core language.

 

[Oak1]

If you decide to have an app made, yes it would help to know which technology you need to use, but it wont make it much cheaper. You said marketing, now you are talking about app development. Which is it that you are doing, marketing or developing apps?

Maybe I didn't phrase it the right way. The defenition of Online marketing has become really vague over the years, but what I
mean with online marketing is creating and selling my own or other peoples products online. So building an app
and then selling it is one example.

SQL (Structured Query Language). It's the language used to query information from your back-end database. It comes in many flavors: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, etc., but there is little variation in the core language.

Thanks !

 

[healthstatus]

So building an app
and then selling it is one example.

No, it is designing an app, creating the UI, building it, testing it, fixing it, testing it, submit it, sell it, user support, fix bugs, fix security issue, fix bugs, update UI, update app because of new OS, test it, fix it, test it, resubmit it, user support, fix bugs, add features......

 

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[Andy Black]

I think you have enough with html, css, and php.

That's way more than many online marketers know.

You don't need complicated software or sites to fulfil needs and make money doing so.

I'd love to be good at those three, but can't justify spending time to get to a decent level, when I can just pay someone to build simple stuff for me.

I like lighthouse's response of 'English'. You already know enough programming IMO, unless you want to be programmer.

 

[Andy Black]

Edit: Maybe get really really good at either AdWords or Facebook advertising? And MS-Excel. The best AdWords guys I know also have the best Excel skills...

I am ex-IT, and if I could do it over, would love to have picked up html, css, and php, and then focus on learning to build businesses.

 

[DaRK9]

English?

I second this.

I also second Andy's Excel tip. I'm getting into the more advanced Excel stuff right now. I never realized how powerful it truly is.

 

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[Neil Mayfield]

I think it is good to have a general knowledge of programming, but in my opinion probably isnt the best use of your time when you can outsource something like that easily. If you have a general knowledge of it, you can better manage the people that you outsource to and scale easier.

 

[Gale4rc]

I would suggest all front end languages

HTML/CSS/JS

Perfect for marketers and also becoming the new standard for growth hackers.

Whoever says you can't be good at both is being silly.

 

[Boo Blizzi]

I would suggest all front end languages

HTML/CSS/JS

Perfect for marketers and also becoming the new standard for growth hackers.

Whoever says you can't be good at both is being silly.

^^^THIS...

The guy that said you have to be one or the other is bugging. The most successful independent marketers I know online can whip up code for whatever they need without waiting for a coder from elance, odesk, etc to do it for them.

I saw a webinar last year about a programmer turned marketer that made close to $100 million from whipping up a script to do programmatic media buying. It was his first campaign btw.

 

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[geekboy]

X3....

There's no reason you can't be good at marketing and also be able to write code.

You dont need to to spend years becoming a programming genius but being able to quickly knock up a landing page or implement an idea without having to go through the hassle of explaining it to someone else and waiting for them to do it is invaluable IMO

 

[bernieshawn]

Psychology.

 

[sle3pyguii]

I would suggest all front end languages

HTML/CSS/JS

Perfect for marketers and also becoming the new standard for growth hackers.

Whoever says you can't be good at both is being silly.

I second this.

 

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[Tom.V]

X3....

There's no reason you can't be good at marketing and also be able to write code.

You dont need to to spend years becoming a programming genius but being able to quickly knock up a landing page or implement an idea without having to go through the hassle of explaining it to someone else and waiting for them to do it is invaluable IMO

I agree, to an extent. (This is becoming "Learning to program is stupid..")

Having the basic understanding of web development markups and languages is ALMOST a necessity. HTML/CSS are absolute staples, PHP is next in line given its widespread use in the average CMS, and JavaScript for when you need those oh so pertinent extras added on. Being a marketer myself, I've thought long and hard about whether or not I should go about learning any other languages, and to be honest, the answer is no.

Why? I KNOW what I'm good at and I have stuck with what I'm good at for a reason. To get better. Sure I'll run through some JavaScript and PHP tutorials from time to time just to makes things less arduous when trying to implement a new idea, or to better communicate with hired programmers, but you won't see me regurgitating code day in and day out. I've got bigger fish to fry.

 

[BlokeInProgress]

Which is it that you are doing, marketing or developing apps?

Just like LightHouse asked, are you in the market to develop or gonna do marketing?

 

[Unknown]

Add JavaScript and learn more PHP.

 

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[Oak1]

Thanks for all the great answers .

 

[Andy Black]

The more I think about this, the more I think the answer is MS-Excel.

As a PPC guy, I use Excel to create daily trading reports. Costs in one tab, revenue in another, link them up and pivot-table to your hearts content. (@TheSilverSpoon ... do you want to comment on this?)

I even download AdWords data to slice-and-dice it in ways people using the GUI can't. Then I can use Excel to act on insights I spot... by generating large and highly targeted campaigns that I can upload.

A few years ago I worked in a team of 35 AdWords specialists ran campaigns like a trading floor, using just Excel as their tool. No products, no funnels, but still €30k to €50k profit a day on the back of their PPC skills. (DON'T copy their model though... it was built on sand.) I said in a post earlier in this thread that the guys making the most coin were the ones best at Excel. Hands down.

@csalvato just linked to a great article in his post here: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-should-run-to-gain-immediate-traction.53901/

There's a great quote in the article: "Raising Money with Excel is easier than Raising Money with Powerpoint".

Maan, that is such a good quote. The number of times I've had to endure stupidly-long over-produced powerpoint visions of what will happen, when a quick PPC campaign and one page spreadsheet could have been done in a fraction of the time, and would then tell you whether to spend any more time on it.

I just use Wordpress and Optimizepress to lash up quick landing pages. Buy data, plug it into an Excel model, then you can justify getting something better built.

Just my 2c.


Maybe I should do a series of Excel tutorials or something...

 

[csalvato]

Which one do you recommend and why?

English?

I was going to say oDesk.

I got a 5 year education as a computer engineer, and spent my first year as an "entrepreneur" hustling for web design and development jobs. I can code. But I will likely never code again. IMHO it's just not practical if your goal is making money.

I'd rather be really good at making and raising money, and hire brilliant programmers to work for me, than be a brilliant programmer and have no idea how to turn my ideas/visions into cash.

That's me.

I do think a cursory knowledge of PHP/HTML/CSS/jQuery will help you save some bucks here and there if you just need to move some things around or something. It's also good to know the features of mobile apps, etc. when talking to your team about development.

But if I ever needed to hire a dev team like that, I would bring one on as a partner who really loves coding and making amazing, bug free software. As a marketer, that's just not me.

 

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[TheSilverSpoon]

The more I think about this, the more I think the answer is MS-Excel.

Andy is right on the money with this one.

Marketing is ultimately a data-driven game. And the faster you are able to analyze your raw numbers into actionable data the better off you will be. There isn't anything out there that can match the speed, ease of use, and versatility of Excel (except for maybe Tableau... but thats a bit much more most people).

Awhile back I was spending a LOT of time building up a SQL / PHP analysis engine for my marketing stuff. Only to hop on a call with Andy and get a chance to take a peek behind the curtain and see how the pros do stuff. It was truly eye opening. I realized that he was doing exactly what I was trying to do, in a fraction of the time, and with exponentially more flexibility via his Excel wizardry. Needless to say, that part of my project died that day. Excel is almost a must. If you are clever with it you can also pull many more insights from the same set of data than the average person will be able to.

Some basic HTML / CSS / PHP is necessary, but that's something you will pick up as you go. If you were to out and actively learn something I'd recommend Excel as well. Specifically pivot tables and some of the other goodies. @LibertyForMe has some great introductory Excel tutorials floating around somewhere. Search around a bit.

 

[Knuffix]

^^^THIS...

The guy that said you have to be one or the other is bugging. The most successful independent marketers I know online can whip up code for whatever they need without waiting for a coder from elance, odesk, etc to do it for them.

I saw a webinar last year about a programmer turned marketer that made close to $100 million from whipping up a script to do programmatic media buying. It was his first campaign btw.

You wouldn't have a link to that webinar, would you?

 

[RogueInnovation]

Probably ruby on rails or something like that.
Ideally you want it to look good and work with very low investment of time.
Ror is just ruby leveraged and automated to make stuff quicker.
Twitter was started with it and got to about 10million customers before they built it out with a proper engineering team.

You really can do a viable first release on it, with the least time investment of probably any language. And it'll help you penetrate through the beginner phase.

Full on ruby or python etc, is high end professional stuff that allows you to tweak it.


I cannot say my answer is definative or anywhere near close, but, after having looked through things myself and studying some background regarding companies who used different languages, I am starting to lean towards that as the smartist startup choice until you want to build it out.

On the other hand, if you don't get the results you need or are looking for, and you have to hire guys, hopefully you can use your prototype to help steer the conversation and get things right.

 

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[healthstatus]

please go back and ask all the people that have asked this question over the last 3 years how their programming is coming along...

 

[Boo Blizzi]

You wouldn't have a link to that webinar, would you?

It was by Scott Rewick. He was selling a Media Buying program. I think it was called Traffic Bandits

I dont have a copy of the webinar, but here's an old video I found on Youtube

Here's a review of the program: http://www.trafficplusconversion.com/traffic-bandits-review/