What do you think, when you visit a commercial website and find the information there is out of date?
I have just booked accommodation online for a last minute trip, and found that details on each of the 5 hotel websites I found, were out of date. One had a “latest news” section, which had not been updated since 2007. Really, nothing of interest has happened there in THREE YEARS? Another site listed their special Valentine’s Day package on their home page, for Valentine’s Day 2010; almost 5 months out of date. Other sites had similar issues, listing tarrifs that were out of date etc.
First impressions count
A company’s website is often the first chance they get, to create a great first impression with a prospective customer. Some of the sites I saw earlier were very polished and professional looking, yet the initial impression they gave me, was of companies that skimp on detail. For example, I’m not sure how much faith I would have had, if I’d booked my accommodation via one of their websites, knowing how little attention they pay to their site.
If your website or blog contains sections, which have time-sensitive information, regularly check that everything is up to date and relevant. If you have a news section, either make sure the news is updated, or remove it. In my experience, it’s best not to have a news section on your site, unless you know there will be regular events to add.
So, how often do you update your website? What are your thoughts, regarding the impression YOU get, when you see a site carrying outdated information? Let us know!
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Being in this field, this is something that I find to be a real problem. Everyone gets a website with the intention of editing it or keeping it up, then most never do.
There are two very simple solutions to this issue.
1. Make a commitment to keeping it up, assign someone to do it or hire an outside firm to take care of it. Then check back to make sure it is done.
2. Don’t put anything on your website that will become dated. Yes, having dated material and constant changes are wonderful, but if you know you’ll never update it, then don’t put them on their in the first place. Stale marketing is worse than no marketing, IMO.
Unfortunately not all companies use the web actively for one reason or another. Most have websites, but many successful companies don’t make keeping their website up to date a priority. Remember, your web designer wants repeat business. If you website isn’t key to your marketing, then schedule a 6 month checkup on your site and have your web designer list the things that need to be updated. The cost will be reasonable and it will insure your website doesn’t go stale.
The one issue that I find causes stale websites the most is employee turn over. When the person who keeps up the website leaves, it is often forgotten.
I agree with Marvin – you really have two choices. Either have a website that doesn’t need to be updated regularly or devote the resources that need to happen to make sure it gets updated.
With all the tools out there, its easy to use tools that make things easy to update.
I’d go further than talking about out of date information and include out of date style too. The internet has developed enormously in recent years and yet many websites are still stuck in the past. It gives the impression that the person or company they’re promoting is stuck in time too.
News sections on websites are a personal bug bear. If they are out of date I always wonder if the business is still viable.
We always advise our clients only to have a news page if they have the time and events / stories to regularly update it.
Sometimes less is more!
Ah, Jim, you hit on my nerve spot here, mate.
The amount of times we’ve been asked what we think of current sites, and can we fit social into it, and then you go look at the site…
I’ve seen businesses have web guys that still work with Windows Servers as their template. Jeez…
An out-of-date site says you don’t care about your business, so why should you care about your customers either?
And who wants to work with a business like that?
Jim, you know that I updated my almost brand new website when I switched to Headway. Since then, I have been much more alert to websites. Christine is right about style being as important as data. I see sites that are new and some that have been worked on my professional marketing teams but still have navigation issues and and old look and feel to them.
I think many people in the Midwest are stuck in a concept of a website and never look around to see what else is there or they assume you are looking at $100,000 plus for even a basic business site.
I do wonder when I get to dated sites whether they are able to provide the services I want. Doctors are another notable absence on the web. Many of them have no site at all. Apparently they don’t know how many people Google. I could go on… but I won’t!
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