Don’t Let Your IT Department Hold Your Website Hostage
As an internet marketing consultant, I have had a lot of experience working with the world’s IT departments. Having a good IT department is so important – these guys will keep your company running from day to day. Respect what they know and how they can help you. But, also recognize that bringing the IT department into your website marketing decisions is a really bad idea. This is one of the biggest mistakes made by Fortune 500 companies and small businesses alike. It happens when decision-makers don’t understand the difference between IT skills and marketing/internet expertise.
Here are some ways that misusing your IT department can negatively impact your business.
Wannabe Marketers
The worst decision a business can make is to involve the IT department in making marketing decisions. IT folks get into a very powerful position in a business, especially if they have worked there for a long time. It’s awful to see these guys leverage their position to hurt a business’s SEO and PPC goals. The worst scenario is when the IT department pretends to know SEO and PPC, and influences decisions that affect the business’s overall marketing and sales strategies. That’s when we know that a client is not going to win online.
Paranoid Hosting Practices
I always strongly recommend that websites be hosted off corporate networks. Keeping websites in the dark where the Google rankings sun does not shine can kill a business. Furthermore, multilingual websites should be hosted locally (in the target market) for SEO benefits. I have seen so many paranoid IT folks who will not let their websites be hosted in the right location in the name of “security.” I always point the IT department toward the best hosting solutions under the sun (and moon). They refuse to move things because, for them, control and security have become synonyms. The funny thing is that their “secure” hosting is often easier to hack into than taking candy from a kid.
Clunky CMS Syndrome
I did a post on why many websites don’t need a CMS, which was very well received. However, when a CMS is needed, it’s important to keep it simple. Instead, I’ve seen IT folks either create their own Frankenstein CMS or run a 3- to 4-year-old version of an open-source CMS system. I am stunned to see how many IT guys never bother to update anything, while someone non- IT like myself has to shake them into action. Example: One genius was running a 4-year-old version of a CMS that did not have provisions to put a unique meta tags on each page of their website! Guess what: 500 pages with the EXACTLY the same title tag and meta description/keywords on every page… you could smell Google success from a mile away (NOT).
Priorities
It’s a rare day when IT guys are not playing superhero and saving your company from a complete tech meltdown disaster. On the other hand, internet marketing revolves around consistent and sometimes urgent updates to content, title and meta tags, 301 redirects, sitemaps, etc. Scenario: Your IT guy is working on the following right now: updating system-wide VPN security; troubleshooting email problems, Blackberry and iPhone hiccups; setting up workstations for 15 new employees; plus, the CEO’s laptop caught fire during the morning meeting. What does this mean for your list of internet marketing tasks? In our world, it means that it will take our client 5 months to implement something we could have had done in 7 days all because Mr. IT was too busy, and too paranoid to have some “outsider” access the servers. Sadly, “better late then never” does not apply to internet marketing!
Remember, your IT folks are responsible for three main things: support, security and standards compliance. They are not internet marketing people, which is actually a good thing. Please don’t mess up your web presence and marketing strategy by putting them in charge of something they are not supposed to be doing.
Here is how you take charge.
Fix the IT disaster in your organization in three easy steps.
- Set Your Website Free.
Release your website from clutches of IT. There are some stellar hosting options that offer better security than the Department of Defense! Stop buying the “security threat” BS. It’s 2010, and nobody is 100% secure. A reliable hosting environment that affords access to your search marketing team will give you the best of both worlds: security and effective online marketing. - Marketing Owns The Website
Marketing department should take over your website and online marketing initiatives. IT department is not be be bothered to implement changes. If your marketing department does not want to take responsibility you can either fire them or hire someone who can offer you basic website IT services to back up your marketing department. - Set Goals and Prosper.
Set goals, control and monitor analytics, and start making some moves on the search engines. Grow rankings and conversions NOW, without letting the IT guys stand in your way.
