The CEO wants a new site!

That is the scariest thing I hear in my business. Although the CEO may be right, it's usually a bad sign if the CEO wants to be involved in the site re-design. The site is built for a company's constituents, and that's not the CEO. Too often, a CEO will see a competitor's site, and uses that as a benchmark: "I want to have our site like xyz corporation!". Unfortunately for the Web project manager (or the person assigned with the ungrateful task of managing a company's Web presence) this is the kiss of death. Today, everyone is a Web expert, and the CEO always seems to be the most knowledgeable. A Web site is designed to provide information, data, service, etc. to a company's constituents, all this taking into consideration the company's brand. A competitor's Web site, may or may not be the best guide for creating your site. It's not a bad idea to look at other sites for design and organizational ideas, or to at least get a sense of direction, but this is done as part of a thorough analysis that starts with defining the Web strategy all the way to the publishing guidelines. More information can be found on our Web site, and I will address these issues in the days to come.

Variations on standard look and feel

I realize that the title of today's blog is an oxymoron. How can we have variations if we have a standard? However, even within the confines of strict standards and guidelines, we can still provide the ability for a unit, project, department, etc. to have an identity. Now, this is not something I'd encourage, but it is nonetheless an option if you are managing the site of a company driven by a"silo mentality." At my last employer, we had to deal with individuals who wanted to remain creative in designing their own sites. Even after I came up with standards, there was a lot pressure to let departments create their own identity. My compromise at the time was to let them have control (somewhat) over the local banner, a graphic that appears below the top banner. This was clearly useful in making my standard templates more acceptable. If designed right, these local banners can actually add a nice touch.

The irony of it all

Today's column is about, strangely enough, blogs and blogging. When does it make sense for a corporation to have a blog? I think the problem is that blogging is entering the mainstream media, and more and more you can read articles about blogging. The problem is that blogging seems to mean different things to different people. For some, it's nothing more then a discussion board; for others, it's got to do with talking to clients directly; while for others it's a way to easily syndicate content (when coupled with RSS). As for me, coming from the content management world, I see blogging as a basic CMS. In fact, most CMS could be used for blogging, quite easily that is. However, if you want to add comments, archiving, etc. it might be better to use an existing blogging software. Regardless, of one's perspective, blogs are here to stay.