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Web Site Roles and Responsibilities

Michael V. Mahoney,
DuPont GSB Information Design and Development
Initial post date: 09/22/1997
Last modified date: 10/05/1999

Abstract
The Internet offers many opportunities, but it is unlike other communications media we are used to dealing with. One of the better models that have been developed to explain it is an analogy with an automated radio station broadcasting 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. The roles of station owner/manager, business manager, engineer, and disk jockey have equivalents in the web development environment as web editor, infomaster, webmaster, and content developer.

Overview
A World Wide Web site has been compared to an automated radio station broadcasting 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. There are four major roles in such a station: 1) the station owner/manager, 2) the business manager, 3) the engineer, and 4) the content developers.

For a web site, some of these roles must be provided by the business.

  1. A person in the business must be the owner/manager. Usually this person is in marketing or marketing communications. He/she is responsible for deciding the format, business objectives, and content for the station. Will it be talk radio? Golden oldies? Grunge rock? Country/Western? Is the primary purpose to sell advertising? Provide public service messages? Get people to watch your TV station? We call this person the "Web Editor". He/she must be fully engaged and paying attention. It's not like print media where once it's published, the job is done.
    • The design of the site reflects the business objectives of the web site. Is its purpose to provide after-sales technical support, reducing the load on your technical staff? Is it to provide assistance to potential customers to select the appropriate product or grade for different applications? Is it to make it easier to place orders and do business with you?
    • Two years ago, businesses wanted to just create neon signs in cyberspace. Now, there is so much content available on the web that merely putting your business on the web just adds to the confusion. People must be guided to your site through coordinated efforts with other media/marketing/sales efforts. Salesmen must encourage customers to go to the web site for specific information helpful in making buying decisions. You must include the URL on all print literature. Trade show materials must push the web address. Press releases and articles for trade journals must direct people to the web site. The major web search engines must be notified that your site is available so readers can find you easily. You must have a deliberate keyword search strategy in place. And once readers view your site, you must provide information there that is of value to them, information that they cannot get elsewhere or information that is easier to get off the web or more timely than they would get by calling someone and asking for a fax or to have something mailed to them.

  2. The business must provide someone to be like the radio station's business manager. This person answers the phones, tells the station owner about complaints/requests from listeners. He/she is in touch with the audience, and reports on the success/failure of the strategy on a day-to-day basis. What songs are hits? Which ones are dogs? Does the playlist change frequently enough to keep listeners tuning in regularly? What features do they grow accustomed to and tune in everyday for? Someone has to open the mail and manage promotions and special programs. We call this person the "InfoMaster".
    • This role is provided by the business. It may be a leveraged resource, say at the Corporate Telecontact Center, or it may be a technician in a Technical Services group. This person must be articulate, prompt, and experienced in dealing with the customers or product end-users. They be familiar with your business organization and know who handles which types of customers requests. In some respects, they are like a switchboard operator, directing calls to tech support, sales, customer service, or the complaints department.

  3. The station engineer is a sticky point. Our objective is to have each business staff this role, but because the technical skills involved are so new and so much in demand, few businesses have been able to supply their own. This is the "WebMaster".

    • Performance Lubricants, Antron, StainMaster, and Ag are lucky - they have skilled people in their businesses. Engineering Polymers has two IS guys from CSC who share the role, along with other duties like supporting Lotus Notes. Some businesses use a leveraged resource in my group, External Affairs Information Design and Development.
    • The demands on a webmaster vary with the volume and complexity of information on your web site. If you have only a few pages of text and graphics, like Bob Schact (Glycolic Acid), you only need someone who can transfer files to the external server (that means: a) they know how, they have the proper software/hardware, and b) they have the appropriate security passwords and SecurID card to access the server.) If you have frequently-changing press releases, Java or JavaScript, animations, or CGI/Perl scripts, you need someone with more experience.
    • Neither CSC nor Anderson Consulting currently offer support in this area, and the external server runs Unix, an operating system rarely found in DuPont outside of instrumentation in labs at the Experimental Station. This role is critical however, because a broken web site hurts your business just like a TV station broadcasting a continual "Please stand by..." message.

  4. Finally, the content developers. In a radio station, they take the owner/manager's strategy and implement it. They decide the initial playlist once the decision has been made on a specific format.
    • The web content developers take your current print ads, technical data sheets, MSDS, product selection guides, application guides, safety and handling brochures, TV ads, and so forth and weave them into a coherent web site that is navigable, visually attractive, and usable to satisfy your chosen audience in a way that meets your business objectives for the site.
    • Only one or two businesses have ever developed their own content, and even those few wound up using advertising/design agencies to create their graphics. This is where we have seen the most variation among businesses.
    • Most businesses with with industrial or highly-technical business-to-business products have hired my group to design their content. "EA Information Design and Development" has worked with Glycolic Acid, Nylon Intermediates and Specialties, Fluorochemicals (Dymel, Zyron, Vertrel, and coming soon, Fire Extinguishants and Fluoroadditives), the Aerospace Enterprise, Micro Circuit Materials, Printed Circuit Materials, Printing and Publishing, Engineering Polymers, and DuPont-Dow Elastomers.
    • Businesses that have more visibility with consumers and the general public usually involve their advertising agencies in their web content creation. Agencies know what the theme of current print campaign is, they know the image their client most wants to convey, they have stock artwork and photographs at hand, and they are astute visual designers. But even so, they may not be extremely familiar with web technology and tools. My group has worked with CoolMax, ThermaStat, Supplex, and other businesses in cooperation with their ad agencies. Usually the agency creates the design, and we code the HTML and produce the actual files. As agencies gain more experience, we expect them to be more independent.

There is a lot going on here, and the business must have some resources available. Otherwise, delay your web site plans until you have the resources. A dull, static web hurts your business image. One that is clearly out-of-date and neglected sends customers a message that you don't care. They can find your competitors' web sites easily enough, and they will if yours doesn't provide them with some business value.