No matter how large or small your business or non-profit organization, your website is a most important link to the public.
A fatal mistake is to assume that once your site is created that is the last thing you should do for it.
A successful website will result in success for the business or non-profit organization.
A static, stale website with no recent changes, updates, add-ons or features is your ticket to failure.
Thus, every website deserves your attention.
In this report, discover key roles and responsibilities of those who may need to work on your website to keep it successful.
The roles and job descriptions outlined below fall into three categories. If your Web design project goes as expected, some assignments will only last as long as the project itself. These assignments are the best candidates for outsourcing. Other responsibilities are ongoing. For that reason they usually get assigned to permanent staff. Finally, some of these skill sets are probably irrelevant to you or beyond your means right now. Which roles fall into which category depends on your particular situation, but for small and mid-sized organizations the roles often divide out as follows.
Project-related roles:
For the most part, the assignments below begin and end with the redesign project, unless you have a large, complex Web presence that changes all the time. If you've hired a Web design firm, that firm will handle most of these assignments. However companies differ in terms of how many specialists they have and the emphasis they place on the different skill sets. Small, one or two person design companies won't have specialists for all the roles described below, but they might still have the full range of experience and skill. Larger companies have more specialists, but that’s often reflected in your bill.
• Web designer: Web designers often handle some or all of the roles described below, but in a narrower sense, designers focus on the creative and aesthetic aspects such as page layouts, color schemes, branding, font selection, and content navigation. They usually have some lightweight coding skills (like HTML, CSS, PHP), but they delegate the heavier programming tasks to the Web developer.
• Graphic designer: In a Web context, a graphic designer might create or select the following: logos, photographs, illustrations, color schemes, fonts, buttons, menus, and any other visual elements on the Web site.
• Web developer: A Web developer takes the plans and layouts from the Web designer and creates an actual Web site or Web-based application. Web developers usually have a strong understanding of Web server software, databases, content management systems and other Web applications. They also have experience with standard scripting languages (for example, PHP, Javascript), stylesheet languages (for example, CSS) and markup languages (for example, HTML, XML).
• Information architect: For large, complex Web sites, an information architect works with end users and content creators to develop a coherent, user-friendly content hierarchy, navigation structure and information taxonomy.
• Other roles: Larger Web design firms might have folks who specialize in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), usability testing, QA testing, Web analysis, and other areas.
Ongoing assignments:
The roles described in this second list don't usually fall to your Web design firm. In most cases you'll handle these assignments internally because someone has to address these responsibilities on a regular basis. They don't begin or end with the Web design project. If you do outsource these roles, you'll probably outsource to someone other than your Web design firm.
• Project Manager: Even a relatively small Web design project has a lot of moving parts. Assign someone to track due dates, deliverables and expenses. And no matter how much you try to outsource, someone has to choose the right contractors and evaluate their work.
• IT and tech support: If you plan to host your own Web site, someone has to buy, configure and maintain the server, create regular site backups, address security concerns, and monitor the availability and performance of the site. If you don't have an IT staff, or they're overworked, you can pay a Web hosting company to handle some of these regular tasks. For a price they'll handle monitoring, backup, site security, updates and patches, but you still have to know enough to evaluate the services you're paying for. Also, many hosting companies won't perform the initial setup and configuration of your site, and while they might help you troubleshoot some generic issues, they draw the line at anything having to do with your unique software and configuration decisions. Regardless of where you host your physical server, you should also consider hiring a full or part-time Web developer as your site grows. On solution is an out-sourced web design and maintenance specialist who can work on your behalf while keeping your budget low.
•Copywriters: Someone in your organization has to provide story ideas and story content. These experts should come from every corner of your organization, but you can also tap into the knowledge of volunteers and partner organizations. As long as you have strong editing skills on staff, your experts don't need to be world-class writers.
• Content managers, staff writers, and copy editors: Content specialists usually split their time between writing original articles and editing articles and news releases created by their colleagues (or outside experts).
• Marketing and Public Relations Specialists: A Web site redesign can be a major event that attracts a lot of attention to your organization, especially if your site now offers services and information that weren't available previously. If you have a marketing or communications team, invite them to the table early and often. Also, as pointed out previously, you have to inform your existing customers about any changes that effect their interaction with your organization.
• Public Relations support: in this age of customer-driven information, you cannot afford to live in a bubble of your own advertising. Check the various blogs where people share their opinions of your business or organization. You may discover that for every positive feedback about you may be very negative reports. A public relations specialist's role is to feed positive reports and blog posts to insure that your company or organization's public image remains untarnished.
• Web Analyst: If your site is a major part of your outreach strategy, you'll want to collect information about who's visiting your site, where they're going on the site, how long they're staying, etc. A Few Good Web Analytics Tools provides an excellent introduction to this topic.
• Social Media Specialist: Today's internet success must embrace the ever-changing social media community. This is where your next client or customer is going to be found. This person or outsourced team must be able to promulgate your content to the viral community including distribution of your video, audio or web content. To learn more about social media marketing, visit Social MediaTV where you can access a wealth of information and tips about social media marketing.
• Videographer Video is today's most important venue on the internet. No matter whether your web site is a single landing page, a weekly blog or a rich ecommerce site, you must consider utilizing video on your web site. This person or outsourced team must understand video production, lighting, sound and visual effects to give you the best results. Always ask for samples of work done. You don't need a beginner handling your business video production.
If you have a business or non-profit web site, devote your time and resources to insure your web site works for you. To many web sites are lonely orphans stored on someone's server. Left alone, collecting dust and costing your business or organization money.
Transform your web site success by paying attention to the areas that need constant updating.
Remember, it's not about working to have a successful web site. You need a web site that works for your business or organization.
If you need the support of a full-service web site design and maintenance company, contact AWS Creative Solutions for a free quote.
Ken Freeman has been building web sites for business and non-profit organizations since 1994.
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