Building a website is not a one-man show. It requires the collaboration of many different experts to achieve optimal results. The web designer is essentially the project manager and not the hands behind building your website.
You have to think of your website much like a house for your business. If you want to build a house, you need a contractor, engineers, different technicians, etc. This is exactly the case with your website. Would you trust the construction of your house in the hands of a single do-it-all technician? I guess not!
The team of experts involved in building your website work under the management and supervision of the web designer. And they are a team! No one works exclusively on their own and working as a team means top-of-the-line results!
Who is involved in building my website?
Web Designer: The person behind all website design tasks. A web designer is what the name stands for: a designer. They are the responsible person for determining what goes where, how the information of your website is laid out and suggests all possible formats for you to discuss and decide. Frequently, the web designer is the project manager of your website.
Web Developer: The hands-on person who can make your website come to life. They are the person responsible for implementing the web designer’s instructions and design plans. In many cases, the web designer is the web developer but that’s not necessarily true in all website projects. In several cases, the website project is such that it may require the assistance of several web developers. After the website is live, the web developer takes on the task of website maintenance, upgrading, spotting and fixing any mistakes, and making sure the website runs smoothly.
Host: A website is a sum of files stored in a remote computer at a datacenter. The host makes sure that the remote computer works round the clock securely and can channel all the necessary resources for your website depending on its hits. A host works by contract, which specifically lays out all the features of the datacenter and the provider’s services.
Graphic designer: A website is nothing without your business’ logo. The graphic designer is responsible for building your company’s identity. Check it yourself: all successful companies have a stand-out logo, immediately identifiable without even reading the company name. Choosing the logo, its colors, the font, and text size is an important business and it can carry your business through the marketing world. Once the website is live, its streamlining and promotion begins. The graphic designer works hand-in-hand with the social media manager in tasks such as photo processing for social media campaigns or classy emails for email marketing campaigns.
Photographer: Top-notch photos are catchy and make the user feel familiar with your product or service on the website. The photographer is a really useful expert in the team building your website, particularly if the website is for a freelancer. Users who visit these pages need some eye contact with the person they are working with or for. A good photo can make that connection happen.
Content writer: The person writing all of your website’s content and streamlining it to come up in more user searches (what we call Search Engine Optimization or SEO). Such texts can appear on your website’s front page, services page etc. Content writers aim at one thing: writing texts in an appealing manner so as to give as much accurate information as possible all the while being easy to read and motivating for the user.
Translator: It is almost the norm that websites are translated in more than one language nowadays to accommodate a growing audience all over the world. Welcoming a translator on board can only be beneficial for your website.
Lawyer: Websites are not above the law just because they are not tangible. Legal texts and documentation are necessary and the person responsible for those is a licensed lawyer.
Social Media Manager: The person taking over when everyone else is done and the website is live and handed over to you. A social media manager promotes your website on social media and search engines and they are responsible for social media content and Google ads. They also take on your promotional email marketing campaigns, respond to social media messages and handle any problem that might arise. A social media manager makes sure that your website gets as many hits as possible. To do that, they study who visits your website and what are their features. This helps draw conclusions for future business decisions and website optimization.
Each of these experts mentioned above works in a particular field and has their work and tasks laid out for them. The project manager supervises and coordinates all tasks but everybody works as a team. And although all these experts may have different tasks which rarely overlap, they work for a common goal: building your website!