Chuck Sink, Chuck Sink Link

Have you ever visited a website looking for new, only to find old? You go to their blog and the most recent post is from June, 2013. Then you see a tab labeled “Latest News” so you click it and find a press release from the same month and year talking about the same thing. That’s communicating to you that the company has little regard for its online audience. It could also be telling you that the company may be in trouble if it can’t keep up with basic web updates. Incongruity of messages like “Blog” or “Latest News” with content dated two years ago leaves a bad impression!

As I facilitated a networking event recently, a salient point became very clear. The group was sharing success stories in what works for them in sales and marketing. An unmistakable pattern emerged from a very diverse group of professional men and women. Most of them were finding success through content marketing, particularly with organic search traffic resulting from dynamic web content, blogging and email marketing. Some talked about relationships and word of mouth but there was a noticeable emphasis on fresh, relevant web content from this group. We’re in the content creation business but my point in this article is that fewer and fewer businesses can get away with ignoring their websites because almost all potential customers now search for ALL of their needs on the Internet - unless it’s contained in the pages of NEREJ, of course!

“Set it and forget it” is no option with websites. A beautiful website is a total waste of time and money if you leave it static for a long time. It will fade away to obscurity in the search engines, and tell returning visitors that you haven’t done squat in the market lately.

Nowadays, your website may as well be your business phone number. If it’s “unlisted,” what good is it? If the content is old and obsolete, visitors will ask, “Is there anybody home?”

Chuck Sink is president of Chuck Sink Link, Hopkinton, N.H.