Who has control of the company web site?

There is little doubt that the company web site has become the hub of a marketing communications plan. Anecdotal information suggests that investment in good quality brochures is declining, technical data is presented in PDF form rather than print and material that is printed is more often short runs of digital print. Direct face-to-face sales visits are less common than telephone sales, so increasingly it is the role of the web site to provide information and generate sales leads in a process entirely driven by the enquirer and potential prospect. The largest number of visitors arrive at the site via search and consequently the process of search optimisation has spawned its own industry. An industry that is self-perpetuating thanks to the mystery surrounding the actual search parameters rewarded by the search engines and the continually changing techniques to achieve high ranking. To some extent this has not surprisingly led to a focus on the technology of the web site rather than content. Add to this factors such as content management systems and it is easy to see that achieving good results is weighted in favour of getting the technical aspects right and forgetting about the content of the site and visitor experience. There is a danger of the initiative moving towards IT people away from marketing - a dangerous situation. Of course it is important to get the web site technically and operationally correct but the content and process must be marketing led to ensure the conversation with the enquirer takes the right path, that at all stages the visitor can find the information needed, can easily contact the company for further help and most importantly can be guided to the ordering process. And this is a role for marketing that is more important than the underlying technology.