Who you need to create a homepage

Key takeaways

A homepage project team for an SME can be as small as two or three people. You need an owner who decides, someone who writes, someone who designs and builds, and a reviewer who knows customers. One person can hold several roles, but every role needs a name before work starts.

• Four roles: decider, writer, builder, customer reviewer.
• One person may hold several, but all need a name.
• The decider should be the person accountable for sales.
• Never give sign-off to a committee.

Who do you need to create a homepage?

You need four roles: a decider who owns the outcome, a writer who drafts the words, a designer or builder who makes the page, and a reviewer who talks to customers. In a very small firm the owner may do three of these. What matters is that each job has one clear name.

• How to create a high-converting homepage for an SME
• Who should be responsible for your homepage?

Which roles can an SME keep in-house?

Keep the decider and the customer reviewer in-house, because nobody outside knows your buyers and priorities as well. Writing can go either way: staff know the subject, while a professional writer knows the craft. Design and build are the easiest to buy in, and they do not need to be full-time.

• Fix your homepage yourself or hire help?
• In-house web developer vs agency: which costs less?

What does the decider actually do?

The decider agrees the brief, settles disagreements and signs off each stage. They do not need to review every comma, but they must be available when needed. If the managing director wants final say, they should take the role openly from the start, not appear in the final week with new ideas.

• Get a homepage signed off without a committee

Do you need a copywriter as well as a designer?

You need someone who can write, though it need not be a specialist. A designer can make clear copy look good, but cannot rescue unclear thinking. If nobody on the team writes well, a homepage copywriter is usually a better investment than a higher design budget.

• Hiring a homepage copywriter: what to expect
• Web designer or conversion specialist: who do you need?

When is a small team a bad idea?

A small team becomes risky for regulated sectors or high-value services, where someone must check claims. Solicitors, financial advisers and healthcare providers should add a compliance reviewer from the brief stage. Bringing them in late usually means rewriting pages that have already been approved.

• Converting website visitors in regulated industries
• Website claims and the CAP Code: what UK firms can say

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: the marketing assistant runs the project and has no authority to decide anything, so every question climbs to a busy director. Giving the assistant a clear role and giving the director two fixed review points usually removes the bottleneck.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Homepage roles checklist

• Name one decider.
• Name one writer.
• Name one designer or builder.
• Name one customer-facing reviewer.
• Add a compliance reviewer if you are regulated.
• Tell everyone else how and when they can comment.

• How much to budget for a new homepage in the UK
• Get a homepage signed off without a committee

Next step

Write the four roles on a page and put a name beside each. If the same name appears on all four, book the time for it, because that person now has a second job.