While these are all great ways to add new content to a website, they’re also important ways to make sure that potential customers know that your website is still active. It’s incredible how many old, unused websites are still on the internet.

In my research for the business guides I write for Work.com, you’d be amazed at how many absolutely ancient websites I come across. But I also come across many that I suspect are still active, but I can’t be sure because they either have no copyright notice or haven’t updated their notice lately and they have nothing else on the site that gives the visitor any indication of a time frame for anything mentioned there. Consequently, I can’t link to their sites as potential resources for the businesspeople who read my guides.

On the other hand, I’ve found that in many instances the items you’ve suggested above have saved the day for sites whose copyright notices were outdated. While these companies hadn’t updated their copyright notices, they had updated their content by posting press releases, news items, etc., that included dates, which made it clear that the content was recent. In those cases, I’ve been able to link to their sites, giving my readers a more reliable guide and the companies potential business.

Keeping a website up to date–and letting visitors know it by providing dates–is more important than many businesspeople realize. It can keep potential customers from clicking away from a website to seek other sites that clearly indicate they’re still active.

And you never know who might be thinking of linking to your site. Never give them a reason not to.

Great post! Glad you’ve resurrected it. Hope the business people who read it will take note this time around!

Jeanne