COBWEB SITE: a website that has not been updated for a very long time (and has thus figuratively grown cobwebs). - from Wiktionary

As a business owner, you are acutely aware that a website is essential. It expands your market reach and multiplies your efforts. But when a website is not maintained with fresh, new content on a regular basis, it may do more harm than good. People tend to draw a parallel from a website's lack of attention to how the business is run. In other words, it affects your reputation!

A stale website is also devastating to how the search engines rate your site. Every time the search engines visit your site and see nothing new, they lower your rank and return less frequently to index what you have. If you don't update at least monthly, this could result in a disastrous free-fall in your search engine placement. If you were on the first page for a particular keyword phrase, you may quickly find your site listed many pages down where no one will every find you! That should be incentive enough to encourage you to keep it current.

A recent survey conducted by Hostway reveals that while many website owner's understand the need to update their websites frequently, many don't.

• 37% update daily
• 16% update weekly
• 16% update monthly
• 31% update yearly!

What this means is if you do take them time to frequently update your website, you'll be far ahead of the other 31% that don't!

Tips to keep it fresh:

1. Set up a schedule. Decide how frequently you will add new content. The more frequent your updates, the better. But do it at least monthly.
2. Remove old out-of-date content. Correct what has changed. Keep it current, especially prices, policies and products.
3. Find a way to show that your site is current. Add dated materials like quotes from customers and news related to your industry. And replace them before they get stale.
4. Check all your links on a regular basis to make sure they still work. Is the page still there, or has it moved or gone completely. Don't tolerate any broken links! They are extremely annoying to your visitors and reflect on you. One quick method to verify your links is use the free link checker from the World Wide Web Consortium. Just enter your website URL and click the "Check" button.