We keep coming across the situation where a customer goes to a "web designer" who says they will " build you a website". They seem to offer to  do everything, including content and marketing.

This is the web equivalent of  going to a bricklayer, who says he will build you entire house for you, including the interior design. Would you really want the bricklayer to choose the curtains?

No, of course not! So why let a web designer write your content? You are going to someone who is technically competent  to get a site built for you, like the brickie could probably put up walls and a roof for you, but what about all the rest?   It's mad!

If you were building a house, you'd get an architect or someone suitably qualified to supervise the building. You'd do this for 2 reasons. One, because they have the knowledge to deal with things more easily and quickly than you can. And secondly, so that problems are sorted without any hassle to you.

Then you'd have a whole host of bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, painters and decorators and interior designers to do the other specialist jobs. Well, you would, wouldn't you?

The web equivalent of an  architect is  a project manager. The programmer is a bit like a combination of  brickie, plumber, electrician  and foundation digger all in one. The designer (proper one)  is a bit like a painter and decorator. Here is a brief outline of the various web roles that may exist. Depending on the size of your website, you may not need all of them, but you should have a visual designer, programmer and content editor/project manager as your minimum.

Web designer : does the graphics and visuals. Exactly the same as a graphic designer for print. Will usually know html and maybe can script a form.  Will usually source and optimise images.

Web developer: does the programming and makes all the interactive bits of  the website work. Will usually know html very well, but also knows some or all of javascript,  database  programming,   php, linux, apache, and
mysql, css, and may well know a lot more thinkgs that are meaningless to a lay person, but will underpin your website.

Web editor: oversees the text and images. This includes text and images on side bars, buttons, legal pages, and literally anywhere on the website where there are words. Will prepare briefs for the images.

Web content writer: writes the words for the main pages of the website.

Website administrator: looks after the content on a website and manages other aspects such as the data collected from registration forms etc.

Website manager: manages the website on a day to day basis, deals with enquiries and issues. May also be called 'webmaster'.

Website project manager: oversees the construction of the website or any major extensions to it. Pulls together the brief, liaises with the team and with the customer. Deals with usability issues. Troubleshoots and sorts  out problems.

Web marketer: does the marketing for the website. Will usually know about search engines (SEO), sponsored links, PPC advertising, banners, affilliate programmes, email marketing, e-newsletters, CRM, and offline marketing techniques.

Web hosting company: sets your website up on a computer which connects it to the Internet. May or may not actually own the computer: many web hosting companies rent machines from larger companies which own the space in data centres. You may well not really know where your website is hosted, and this can be important if there is a problem with it.