Partnering for Success
Developing a commercial website
can require many different skill sets. For example,
you could find yourself in need of the following types
of people:
- A visionary to define website
goals
and objectives
- An author to write website content
- A researcher to find great sites
to link to
- A web page designer to develop the
user interface, graphics and navigation
- A database analyst to design the
tables in which the underlying data is stored
- A programmer to write Java, CGI
scripts or other web languages
- An expert in electronic commerce
to implement credit card functionality
- A translators to translate
pages to a foreign language
- A marketer to sell space on
your pages to advertisers
It is unlikely that you
will have all the skills needed to develop a commercial
website. If
you do not have the resources to hire experts, you can
search for partners to handle areas where you are weak.
Fortunately,
the net is a wonderful place to find partners and develop
good partnerships. Partnerships can be as informal
as finding other website owners with whom to swap links.
Alternatively, they can be more formal relationships
with firms that specialise in advertising or electronic
commerce.
Partnerships
are established in two ways. Either you search out the
partner or the partner finds you. Once you have established
a presence on the net and your site begins receiving large
volumes of hits, other web publishers and firms will approach
you with partnership ideas. Partnering is particularly valuable in high tech fields
where it is difficult to remain current with the rapidly
changing technology.
It is good practise
to begin a partnership relationship on a small and informal
basis. If
the partnership proves to be mutually beneficial, it can
be then be expanded and formalised.
Partnering with people overseas can be particularly
rewarding as individuals in developing nations often have
strong technical skills but do not have access to, or
knowledge of the marketplace.
