A post on Drew’s Marketing Minute, Are you being held hostage by your web developer? hit a nerve for me. Although I have spoken with people who have experienced the nightmare situation described by Drew, there is another more subtle dimension that needs to be considered when hiring a web developer.

Does the web development firm include marketing expertise as part of the project team?

The firm you choose may be a great Web development company but if they don’t understand marketing, they could develop a site that never meets your marketing expectations.

If you want to be sure your web presence achieves results, hire a marketing company to help you get the site you want. A marketing firm approaches a web site or blog from the perspective that it is a tool to help you market your business and can put a plan in place to help you do that. Having the marketing person as your point of contact makes the process simpler for you, eliminating the need for you to work directly with the web developer. This person can also translate what you are trying to achieve into what needs to be developed to ensure you get the desired results.