Bill Myers

It was a dark and stormy night -- to be more precise, a dark, cold, and stormy night here in the Pacific Northwest, where we are currently living -- that made us decide we needed a sauna to warm up in.

So after much research we found the exact sauna I wanted.

Ready to place my order, I went to a web site offering the sauna - and saw something which caused me to leave the site immediately, in search of another company to buy from.

See, right above the headline for the Sauna was a banner proclaiming, 'New for 2004!'

And while 'New for 2004' might have been a bonus in 2004, it doesn't carry much weight now that it is 2007.

Maybe the site owners were too busy to update the page. Or maybe they forgot. Or maybe the business is on its last legs and can't afford to update their web pages.

Whatever the reason, having that old date cost them the sale.

Moral: If you want to avoid the 'old, abandoned, neglected' impression on your web pages, update all dates to reflect 2007.

This includes your copyright, your 'new in 200X' headlines, and any other dates on your site.

Failure to do so, could cost you some sales.