What to expect when you're expecting...a website

A guide for companies thinking about creating a website.
By John Rossitter of www.rossitterconsulting.com, a Shreveport webdesign company

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 |  Part 4 |  Part 5 |  Part 6 |  Part 7 |  Part 8 |  Part 9 |  Part 10 |  Glossary

Part 3

Who is who |  Client |  End User |  Project Manager |  Web Developer |  Application Programmer |  Graphic Designer |  Database Administrator |  System Administrator |  SEO Professional |  Web Host

Who is who?

This section will give a brief description of who is who in the big picture of designing your website. Not all of these roles are mutually exclusive. Depending on the size of your business and your web project all of these roles can be shared by one person.

Client

This is you!

End User

This is a composite of your typical website visitor. Every End user composite will be a different demographic and should be accounted for. When designing a website, the most common blunder it to design it to your tastes, when instead you should be designing it to the tastes of your end user or visitor.

Project Manager

This person will be the one who orchestrates everything in your project. They will be the main contact for everyone else, and will make sure that the project is going smoothly, and milestones are met on time.

Web Developer

Your web developer will be the person responsible tying all of the technical aspects of the project together. The web developer will take the graphics and copy and turn them into HTML.

Application Programmer

Often mistaken as the Web Developer, the Application Programmer is the one who makes your website work as an application. They are the ones who write what's called the back end code for a web site that performs all database transactions and e-commerce payments.

Graphic Designer

The Graphics Designer is the one who you will work with on making your site look and feel how you want it. They are usually very talented individuals with creative vision. They will be the one to provide the image files that the web developer will transform into HTML.

Database Administrator

The Database Administrator is the person who makes sure that your business critical information is available to your website. They create application databases that your website will communicate with to retrieve information on customers, orders, invoices, vendors etc…

Systems/Network Administrator

The Systems/Network Administrator is the person or group responsible for making sure that the internet connection and security protocols are in place to protect your website. This is often a role shared with the ISP and Web host.

SEO Professional

The Search Engine Optimization professional is the person who will take your marketing demands and translate those into internet marketing campaigns. They will be responsible for cross promoting your site, elevating brand awareness and protecting your overall online business identity. SEO professionals will also be quite skilled at getting traffic onto your site from many new places.

Web Host

You web host is the person or company who owns the actual server and super high-speed internet connection where you website source code files actually reside. This can be an ISP or your company's own IT department.

Part 1 |  Part 2 |  Part 3 |  Part 4 |  Part 5 |  Part 6 |  Part 7 |  Part 8 |  Part 9 |  Part 10 |  Glossary

-Rossitter Consulting is a Shreveport-Bossier City web design firm that offers affordable web design and hosting. Click HERE to read more