Why Learning a Little Coding (Especially HTML!) is a Must for Marketers Today

Let’s talk about a skill every modern marketer should at least dabble in: coding. And if you’re brand new to it, don’t worry—I’ve got you! HTML, for example, stands for HyperText Markup Language, and it’s basically the backbone of every website. Think of it as the language that tells your browser how to display content. So when you see bold text, paragraphs, images, or embedded YouTube videos on a webpage, that’s all HTML doing its thing. For marketers, understanding a bit of HTML can be super valuable, especially if you’re working with platforms like WordPress, where you can make quick tweaks to your website without waiting on a developer.

HTML also plays a huge role in SEO (search engine optimization), which is key to getting your website or content noticed online. Using HTML tags like <title>, <meta>, and <alt> helps search engines understand what your content is about, making it more likely to rank higher in search results. For example, the <title> tag sets the title of the page, which shows up in search results, while <meta> tags provide keywords and descriptions that help search engines categorize your content. Even image <alt> tags are crucial since they describe your images to search engines, helping with both SEO and accessibility. So, knowing a bit of HTML means you can better control how search engines interpret your content—pretty powerful, right?

AI makes learning and using HTML and other coding languages way easier, even if you’re a complete beginner. Platforms like GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT can generate snippets of HTML, CSS, or even Python code based on what you need. So, if you’re trying to add a custom button to your website, embed a YouTube video (a feature that makes content way more interactive and engaging), or optimize SEO tags, AI tools can guide you through the coding steps or even write parts of the code for you. These tools take away the intimidation factor and make it possible to get hands-on with code without being an expert.

Getting comfortable with HTML can make managing content on WordPress way less overwhelming. Embedding YouTube videos, for example, is as simple as copying the “embed” code from YouTube and pasting it into your HTML editor in WordPress—no advanced coding needed! This small skill boost makes you much more independent and efficient when building pages or creating email templates. For any marketer looking to level up, having a basic understanding of HTML, plus some AI support, can make your work more dynamic and give you a competitive edge. So, if you haven’t yet, give coding a try and see how much you can do with just a few new skills!