Your Web Team

Obviously a Golden Website does not happen accidentally. It takes planning, work and tracking to assure its success. And unless you are very talented it takes a web team.

So who is on your web team?

You, the business owner, are an important part of the web team. You are the person who sets the direction. And you ensure that direction is followed. Just because you are not technical does not mean you should compromise your vision. Stick by your guns and have the technical staff set it up to your standards.

Your Web Designer. He or she is a professional who combines both artistic and technical skills. They may choose to outsource the graphics or the programming, but their specialty is ensuring that your site looks good and functions properly. Your web designer may only create your site, then leave the maintenance to someone else in the organization or they may stay on for the maintenance role. You definitely need someone who can create new pages, add links, and respond to the changing environment of your online business.

Most web designers are not Internet marketing experts. You or the Internet Strategist need to tell the web designer how you want the pages created. You are the manager of the process. The designer works for you. Even if they think a fancy graphic would look good, you should ask them to refrain, unless you know it will enhance sales.

Your WebMaster. This person makes sure your server is running properly and that all of the backend services that your web designer depends are operating properly. Your webmaster may be the same as your web host, depending on the complexity of your site. In some cases your web designer may also be your webmaster.

Your Internet Marketing Strategist. This person understands how business is done online. She understands your business goals and sets out a plan to ensure you are able to achieve those goals online with your website and the marketing activities prescribed. The strategist looks at every aspect of your information assets that can be turned into information products or free offers, as well as your website. The strategist may be a one-time investment or it may be someone you work with regularly.

Your Internet Marketing Team. These are the people who do the activities included in your strategic plan. These activities may include registering your site, marketing your articles, creating link exchanges, and running your pay-per-click advertising campaigns. This role may be done in-house or outsourced. But it is one that is ongoing.

What roles should you play?

One of the phenomena's of the Web is that it all looks so easy. After all, it just takes some typing, a few graphics and a link here or there to create a web page, right?

But creating web pages is like any other profession. You can do it on an amateur basis or you can hire a professional.

In your business, do you do all of your own taxes or do you hire an accountant? Do you write all of your own contracts or do you hire a lawyer? Do you create all of your marketing materials or do you hire a professional designer? The same thinking applies to designing, maintaining and marketing your website.

Do you want to spend the time and effort it takes to learn web design? Some will say "yes" and learn a new hobby. Others will say "no way" and hire a professional. Others will say "I have no choice at this time" and do the best they can. Some will hire a professional to set up the site, then do the maintenance themselves.

The important thing is to recognize that when you decide to do it yourself, you need to be willing to spend time and effort learning to do it.

If you do make that choice, one of the best tools you can invest in, both monetarily and in learning time, is the Mini Site Toolbox. It contains everything you need to get a solid foundation in designing profitable sites.

Remember what business you are in. Unless you have a strong desire to learn the intricacies of HTML (the code for web pages), don't bother to spend your time learning web design.

Become a good manager of your website. Most business owners are better served learning the what's and why's of good online business and leaving the how's to the professionals.

Regardless of the approach you take, we strongly recommend you invest in a Brain Dump Special with Dr. Jeanette Cates. She will give the benefit of years of expertise - and reinforce the best actions for you at this time.