Realistically, does one have to learn PHP and HTML to really be able to succeed?

Does one HAVE to learn? I don't think so there are many IMers that don't know code, but IMO it's "to each their own" .. If you want to say " I did this ALL myself with these 2 hands" then by all means Learn and become an expert in many areas. If you just want to get it going and profit quickly, then outsource...

Just my two copper Lincolns worth

Its good to have understandment and struggled a litle bit to get experience to understand how to nest things to get it to do what you want. This so when outsourcing you are able to think webdevelopement and explain what you want. I myself have outsourced a project. But I am active in the developement and are explaining what i need in detail. Without the "basic" knowledge it would be hard. To understand how to create the site automated and connect many different services into a dynamic site.

Today you can find many people to do this for you for $5-10 bucks.
In my opinion learning all this is a waste of time, when you could use it to learn something more productive.
I was a graphic designer and i used to create landing pages and blogs for many marketers.

Well, it's useful (especially HTML) but not mandatory. You could outsource your tasks but having a basic understanding of things allows you to articulate your specifications much better to your programmer/designer,etc...

Nope, No idea about any of them. Unless, placing tracking and retargeting pixels onto a page counts.

In my experience you're better off hiring someone.

Quite frankly, you're not going to find someone who's going to write a solid program on fiverr. For $5 they'll probably fix/tweak, but to make a full app by scratch? Not for $5.

Focus on your strengths, and hire good quality people to do the stuff you can't or don't want to do.

By the time you've learned how to code, then try to code what you want to do, then find all the bugs, then try to fix all the bugs, then find more bugs, and fix the bugs. An experienced coder would have finished the program by then and you could have started making money off it, but you're still stuck in coding mode.

Too many people think they can come up with a great idea for an app with great features, but they forget to realize that you have to think of all the things that can go WRONG so you can prevent them.

It sounds like you're working on a basic script, and you're already fried. What's going to happen when it's in full use and something goes wrong, and people are wanting it fixed right away?

Simple answer that will help you decide for yourself, NO.

Ean

Won't hurt, but hardly necessary. I think you need to know enough to make some basic file edits, but that's about it. I started creating websites in AOLpress before moving to Dreamweaver. In the process, I have learned the essential HTML tags, but I use them more for filling in the blanks rather than creating an entire product from scratch. Now I use templates for almost everything. I have a couple of very basic sites that I "coded" myself, but the skill level involved is entry level.

Knowing PHP,CSS,HTML etc. is not a prequisite in IM,all you need to know is how to lure people in and make good campaigns.Altough it`s not bad if you want to learn,maybe you are a fast learner and you will get good at this and you cand twist other methods in building your website! I have friends that started to learn how to build sites from scratch and took them like 6 months to learn the basics and start building sites. You will need a domain and a host where you can practice by the time you learn.

As a full-time internet marketer, I program in PHP and JAVA every single day, not to mention HTML and CSS. Sometimes Javascript, too. I can't imagine the huge disadvantage that people without that technical knowledge have. Your problem is that you're probably starting late. There are people who've been doing this stuff for decades now. Some of us started when we were 12 or 13. So yes, it does help. But whether you can take advantage of it is up to you.

Know a modicum of code so that you can put up a message that resonates with people and allows them to take action with you. Forget fancy; the ugliest site you can ever think of will sell if the messaging is on point. Think abundance, not scarcity: there is plenty of success out there waiting for each and every one of us.

wordpress has put everything so simple so you don't HAVE to learn PHP to succeed. Give it a try

This is totally up to you, personally I took it upon myself to learn how to code and PHP and HTML are great places to start, if you can write in them and can grasp the concepts then you will go far!

Best of luck, programming is an art form and you wont pick it up overnight!

You don`t have to learn anything in the online world, if you have the money to cover whatever`s missing.

Do you have to?

No.

Does it make big huge freakin' amounts of sense to understand the mere basics?

Hell yes!!!

Online income requires, well, the use of online 'stuff'. And lots of that stuff is done in html/wordpress/etc.

Not knowing the rudiments is truly handicapping yourself online. It's merely a matter of giving yourself permission to *try*.

I taught my middleschooler how to hack WP themes by simply trying it out - you can read that at Middleschooler Hacks Personal Wordpress Theme, Makes Money Online | Barbara Ling's Official Authority Marketing Cafe .

Best of skill!

Nope, but basic level html can cut your learning curve down and save you a few bucks Learn some, outsource, or make friends with coders....make my blogging life easier

I spent years using Dreamweaver to create sites and it certainly helped with my grasp of html and css - can't really understand php and I'm happy to keep it that way.

When I was at school we were shown the first Commodore and BBC computers and, if I had my time again, I would have made an effort to learn programming.
I considered learning more about coding a couple of years ago but it looked like I'd have a mountain to climb and I've better things to do with my time.

Now I just use WordPress - you don't need to know much at all and you can create good looking sites in minutes. There are so many templates available, there's usually something suitable.
Now I know that doesn't solve every problem, not even with the thousands of plugins, but it's good enough for me.
It lets me get on with writing content and generating traffic, the important bits of making money online.

Let me put it this way: You won't get rich by using WP and installing a bunch of plugins. You don't have an edge. When you find yourself doing something that any guy in a Third World country can do, you should really step back and take a hard look at your business model. Maybe the early adopters and some outliers have an edge, but all of this has become so well-known and established that finding any golden nuggets is becoming increasingly harder.

When you learn new skills and become more realistic about how IM and business in general actually works, you start seeing opportunities that others don't. And that's where the real money's at.

Most critical Skill as an Internet Marketer is generating targeted traffic. Focus only on this and you will able to have enough money to hire some full time programmers so you don't need to worry about learning them.

I think it's good to know the basics of HTML, but it's not mandatory to succeed. You can always outsource.

I remember one of the most brilliant coders I knew was a REALLY POOR entrepreneur.

Other people I know can't write a LICK of code, were millionaires with second homes.

But yeah, having coding / web development skills won't hurt...

But more profitable will always be your creativity.

It's a great advantage to have, no doubt.

But consider this... If coding was everything every computer science student would be a millionaire.

Of course not!

That is why I always talk about how OptimizePress was one of the best tools I ever got.

It allowed me to not have to tackle html

And to this day I'm still not too html savvy, cause I'd rather focus on my strengths than trying to figure out html

You don't but IM is getting more and more complicated. It didn't matter as much before but I think it really gives you an advantage now.

So you want to be the President of a bank.

Do you know how to count?

So you want to run an INTERNET MARKETING COMPANY

Yet you don't think knowing the language of the net is important?

haha

haha

haha

'nuff said

why not! Its always good to know all the fundamentals of your business and (lol) knowing a little basic html will just make you better at what you do and even if you decide to outsource things in the future, by having an understanding you will do a better and more efficient job of selecting people to work with.

And to be honest, with all the tools available to us today really understanding the basics is essential enough. Back in the day you had to write code to create your pages.

It is essential though that you create your own custom landing pages to separate yourself from the crowd and competition. Either create your own or pay to have them created.

I personally like creating and optimizing landing pages for my campaigns. Its really not that hard and for me its addicting fun. Sometimes I get frusterated though of not getting the numbers I want and I say the heck with it and I outsource it but that's rare.

NO! but it will most definitely take you allot farther. If you are just starting out online understand that if you know nothing, your will spend months studying unless you buy 1 course and 1 course only, come up with 1 idea and 1 idea only and do nothing but spend the next 2/3 months working on that 1 course and 1 project. A great course is Cash Money Goldminefrom Devon Dudeman. It is the easiest course to get you up and running, you can also buy google sniper and you will learn allot from that as well. But buy one course and finish the entire thing before buying another one. Never buy more than one and not finish it.

Simple photoshop skills are great too

From my experience as a pro website developer, I'd say that you do need to know some HTML, CSS and PHP. But how much? And how easy is each of those to learn?

My answer is learn most of HTML (it is quite easy), CSS (same) and just enough PHP.

I knew HTML and CSS, but hardly any PHP back when I used to build only static websites with Adobe Dreamweaver. Eventually, I got a project request to maintain a website already built with PHP. So that was an easy way to learn. I setup the XAMP learning system and a personal server on my PC and learned only the most basic PHP stuff and that was sufficient.

When I started building WordPress sites, that bit of PHP came in handy. I now know enough to modify a WordPress theme header, page or footer design - even though few projects actually require that.

On a typical project (mostly WordPress these days), I do a lot of customizing themes, posts and pages with both CSS theme edits and HTML/CSS inline code inside posts and pages. Once in a while I need to hack a theme with PHP (typically by editing WordPress files in my FTP program).

I feel that knowing HTML and CSS lets me make better looking WordPress posts and pages and exercise more creativity than just accepting the default theme settings.

WordPress is sold as a platform anyone can use without programming knowledge - and that's true. But WordPress plus programming skills lead to better looking and more usable websites.

It is beneficial to know PHP, HTML, CSS etc..

but you do not need it to be successful

No, not really.

There are way too many good tools out there that will do a lot of what you need/want.

Unless you're building some highly custom, heavy transaction oriented system, just stick with Wordpress and the zillion plug-ins and themes you can find.

it depend what business that you want to enter. if you decide to enter design & writing industry you do not need to learn php, just install wordpress website for portfolio.

The more you know in life, better are the alternatives at your disposal. You should study everything you can because everything helps you achieve your goals, but make a plan.

Decide what you will study and follow a method until you will have positive results.

When I was freelancing I did a TON of work for people who didnt want to learn HTML or learn how to code. If you have cash than you dont need skill. If you have skill then you dont need cash. Its the same as most any business.

no basic knowledge helps but you can always high someone

I didn't read the 41 replies before mine and will just tell you what I tell my students.

You don't have to learn php to any great extent. You do need to be familiar with it, and you do need to know html.

Why because you will be nickled to dime to death if you don't.

You will have an abundance of html to change, and you will want to change a little php from now and then. It's not hard and comes with the territory.

Html is very easy, php not so easy but knowing not to mess with a semicolon when you have php mixed with html helps a great deal.

Learning php is skill definitely worth having, as you can do a lot of cool stuff with it.
On the other hand you can create a killer site yourself using WordPress with zero coding knowledge, and of course there are thousands of HTML templates about.

You haven't actually said what your goal is though, to make a living with 'internet marketing' or something else.
If you intend to go IM route, I would suggest you set aside an hour or two and continue learning php because it will be very useful to you.

Some HTML is essential for IM, you can learn this as you go along, start with links and common text tags.

Nope. Just make a simple 1-page site with something like OptimizePress, drive traffic... and ask someone from fiverr to check your HTML. Then never touch it again.... just drive traffic.

No, you either want to VERY VERY good at this or find somebody who is. You won't build the type of functionality expected by a modern audience with a few days training.

On the other hand, hiring developers can be a little hit and miss .. most are VERY VERY bad at what they do having little experience and then creating messes for the rest of us to clean up

read this article
How I Learned to Code
How I Learned to Code | Vinicius Vacanti


i would imagine it really appears on what your goal is. if you are just doing marketing,
niches, elists, blogging small sites. then maybe dont need to do it. but if you are doing the full tech start up, big scale up, learning to code will be necessary. Me, I have been the eternal noob. Fooling around with drupal and wordpress but not learning anything very well. I finally admitted to myself I am going to have to learn to code because there are some serious projects I want to build in the future and you cant do it without knowing how to code. Hiring someone if out of the question since it would cost thousands of dollars. finding a tech co-founder is next to impossible if you have nothing to offer.
Based on research, I have concluded that NODE.JS with be the most powerful language in the near future. at least its a good candidate. So my plan is to learn HTML5, CSS3 and only enough php to put up my Drupal and Wordpress sites. which are in the present. Also Graphic, Marketing and Content making skills right now. by the end of the spring my goal is to learn Node.js well enough to build projects. I was told you would also have to learn about Git, databases, security.

In this day and age you don't need to know any of that stuff. If you want to be a marketer then be a marketer and pay others to do the technical stuff for you. But if you try to do everything yourself then you'll find progress very slow.

I do suggest knowing very basic html just so you can make simple edits to websites, squeeze pages, etc but beyond that I would just outsource it and stick to the marketing side of things. Much more money to be made by marketing than providing those services.

From my personal experience, IT DOES HELP learning HTML/CSS & PHP/MySql and JAVA-Script too.
But You don't have to be a PRO. just the basics so You'd manage yourself, there are a lot of programs that can help you in the process and many courses too, so if You are a quick learner, that's an easy task
My advice : Test what You learn, ASAP , and have fun doing it

Is it essential to learn HTML, CSS and PHP to succeed? Probably not, but my experience is that until I went back to university and did 4 years (part time) of Multimedia Computing and Web Development I really didn't make much progress. Since I attended to my education in this area the whole "doing business online" has become much easier, and much more lucrative for me.

BTW this is my main area of business now. I'm not a web developer as such, but I describe myself as a "web publisher" - I major in websites, and what can be done with them to create income!

Here are 3 things you should note - all from my own experience.

1. If you do business online outsourcing your website development is literally handing over the keys of your business to someone you hardly know.

I know an internet business owner who had all the payment links on his websites changed over to the web developers own payment processor. This meant that when a customers made a payment to this business owner's sites, the payment actually went instead to the web developer, not to the internet marketer who was promoting the sites.

This "punishment" was engineered by the web developer after a dispute regarding a payment for work done by him! The web developer said that all the payment links would be restored after he had "been paid what he was due." Plus he was going to take an undisclosed amount for his time and trouble to change the payment links over, and a further undisclosed amount for "compensation".

Astonishingly, there was nothing the internet entrepreneur could do. His web guy lived and worked in another country. There was no way he had the resources to start any kind of international law suit! Besides which, he really didn't have the will or time to dedicate to a long drawn-out legal challenge. He just had to try and settle the matter as best he could, while his web business earned night and day for his website developer. His whole income from 5 websites had just been turned off!

Want to know what the outcome of all this was? After it was all resolved this entrepreneur firstly, sacked his web guy (no surprise there). Then came to me and asked me to teach him a couple of things.

He asked me to teach him how to take personal control of his own websites. He also wanted me to teach him how to put up simple sales websites for himself. Sites which he controlled personally by himself!

2. The ability to create your own simple web pages and websites will do more for your earning ability online, than all the big "make money" courses put together. I would say this one simple skill is absolutely vital if you ever want to make any real money online.

All the internet marketing manuals, systems, strategies, tactics, or techniques in the world, wont make any income for you, if you don't have a website online where people can give you their money!

I see this big mistake almost every day - people buying into some internet marketing course or another - but they don't have anywhere to send their web traffic! What a pointless waste of time, energy and money! Amazing, but true! Or they have a blog but nothing on it to take any money!

If you don't have a website you don't have a web business! This is the truth! Even if you have the most basic, ugly, clunky, outdated, website online, but it sells something, you're already in a position to build your web business.

3. The other big advantage is being able to test offers, build lists, etc. literally at the drop of a hat. In fact, I did just that a couple of weeks ago.

I created a webpage in a market I hadn't been in before as a test. I drove traffic to it, and in 24hrs I had built a list of 56 people who were interested in that offer. All in, it cost me slightly less than $25 (mainly for the traffic). That's about 44 cents for each name on the list.

I had a backend offer in place, and made 2 sales of $37 each. That gave me a profit of $49 in 24 hrs, practically on autopilot, and all for less than an hours actual work!

As you can clearly see, I can create, and throw up, a webpage in a few minutes. I can test a landing page or offer in a few hours. By the end of the day I can have an idea whether my offer is going to fly or flop. Then I can move on, or invest more time and effort, as required.

This process might take weeks if I had to contact my web guy; wait for him to get back to me; discuss what I wanted; wait till he has time; wait till he completes his current rush job; wait till he deals with his family crisis; contact him again to see how he's doing; email back and forth; look over his preliminary designs; wait till he gets back from holiday, negotiate over his advice... and on, and on, and on! Well, you know how it goes!

This is no way to run a business! You need to move quickly! On the internet speed of execution means success! You need to know if your ideas or products will stand or sink! And you need to know now! Otherwise, you're just hanging around waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and wasting precious time.

In conclusion...

I think you will never regret attending to your education. Coding is the language of the internet. If you wanted to do business in another country you would do much better if you could at least make yourself understood in the language of that country.

The other thing to remember is that most "make money online" junkies are just too lazy to stick in, buckle down and learn anything new. By learning a useful skill like coding you will be way ahead of most everyone who wants to do business online. AND you will have a very marketable skill to sell in the real world as well!

I think you know where I stand now! :-)

All the best!