I have done a lot of work for a very large medical products company. They have a very talented IT department that was established to provide and maintain hardware, software and network services, as well as mobile and cellular equipment for many thousands of people. They run the Web sites. And the intranet. And extranets. The thing is they are very good at hardware and software and network services, because that’s what they were hired for. The Web happens to be on computers so someone in marketing (or management) thought one geek, or 50, is as good as another.

That’s not fair to the IT professionals, the marketing department, the Web users or anyone else, including us Web geeks. I know computers really well, but I personally could not solve a legacy COBOL integration project. Just because someone knows computers doesn’t mean they know how to design for the Web, market on the Web, even program for the Web. Website design isn’t even the same as print design, though some people can cross over and do both well.

It doesn’t save money to do something in-house that costs sales and customers because it is frustrating, amateurish or just plain doesn’t work. It doesn’t save money to do something that needs a group to come in and fix it afterwards. Some companies have great in-house Web marketing, design and development teams. That’s great. It’s not the norm though.

It may seem self serving to suggest hiring an agency, a Web marketing agency, a Web design and development firm, a company that specializes in the Web to design, develop and collaborate with you for your corporate Web site and online marketing. But do you have your janitorial staff rewire your corporate headquarters because they know how to change light bulbs?

I know, I know, anyone can write a Web page. And really, anyone can run. But very few of us are good enough for the Olympics. Being average on the Web puts you in a search with another 4 billion or so pages.