With the birth of the commercial Internet many companies
realized the need to jump on the bandwagon and create a Web
site. Rather than hire a design or advertising agency to create
their site, they elected an employee or group of employees to go
for training.

In the mid-nineties these individuals would learn html
programming and perhaps some basic Adobe Photoshop techniques.
By the late nineties the training may have involved any handful
of html authoring software packages. Armed with their new
technological know-how these employees went to work creating
their company’s new Internet offering.

Some companies were quite successful at the task of designing
in-house. Most were not. There are many reasons why these Web
sites failed. Most failed because of a lack of understanding
about the nature of the Internet monster that had just arrived
and so rudely jumped into everyone’s comfort zone. Some made the
mistake of thinking that they understood it based on knowledge
of previous advertising and marketing venues. Others felt that
they could tackle it because they had the necessary technical
knowledge.

To this day a large percentage of companies have not realized
the full potential of the Internet because they assume too much
and know too little.

You need to ask yourself, “Should my company design our Web site
in-house?” This question may well be answered by considering
another question: “Do we have the resources to do so?” Obviously
those companies that tried and failed began by thinking that
they were prepared. What did they do wrong?

Where did the responsibility land? In many cases the job of
designing the site fell to the corporate Information Systems
department. It makes sense, doesn’t it? These are the people
that set up the desktop computers, configure the servers and run
the network. Many in this department know how to program html,
javascript, cgi, etc. Some may have a working knowledge of
various database programs and can design a great back-end system.

The one thing that most IS departments lack, however, is someone
that has studied psychological marketing and has a solid graphic
design background. As a result, the finished web site was
unprofessional looking, difficult to navigate and hard to
understand.

Needless to say, the task of developing the corporate web site
should not become part of the IS world. The IS department
provides the back-end systems that drive the site. They should
not design it.

Should the task of developing the web site go to the Marketing
department? The answer is, not necessarily. It is true, the
Internet is a wonderful marketing tool, but if your site is
selling products the Marketing department has no business
administering it. Their time is better spent promoting it.

In most cases it would be best to establish a separate
department made up of information architects, content developers
and graphic designers. This group (we’ll call it the Internet
Development department) works closely with the IS and Marketing
departments to accomplish their ends.

The IS or Marketing departments should not oversee the Internet
Development department. As a general rule, oil and water do not
mix. Creative and analytical minds can compliment each other and
contribute to a successful project, but there may be problems
when one controls the other. It generally results in wasted
efforts and unnecessary tension.

So, if you are a business owner, and you want your business to
be successful with in-house web site development, what should
you do?

1. Hire an information architect(s) (someone who will organize
the information that will go in your site).

2. Hire a graphic designer(s) with strong Internet design skills
(preferably with knowledge of html and other forms of Internet
programming).

3. Group these two together and let them consult with the
Marketing department for branding purposes and utilize the
services of the Information Systems department to get your site
live on the web.

4. Have everyone report to you alone.

5. Be open minded.

It’s that easy.

If your company does not have the resources to create a new
department and hire an Internet development staff, you may want
to seriously consider hiring an agency to create your site. The
cost to do so is less than paying salaries. Having a
professional, experienced agency create your Web presence will
make you more money in the long run than having an inexperienced
individual do the work.