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Bad Dates and Such

By Dan Furman

For anyone hoping that I was going to spill details of a date gone bad, well.... let's say I never had a date go bad.

Regardless, this month's essay does indeed involve dates - calendar dates and similar. It's mostly directed at websites, but the lesson learned can be applied to almost any business.

In very simple terms, if you are going to "date" anything, you'd better make sure you are dedicated enough to stay on top of it. There is no more certain way to say "I don't give a @#$%" than having Mother's Day stuff still up on Father's Day.

Or still having your "Winter Blowout" on April 9th.

Or having a dated news item on your front page that is six months old.

Or posting the date you updated your articles page, and the last update was four months ago.

Seriously - what would you think if you came to my web articles page, and my last article was written in May? It's now October.... would you wonder what happened? It may seem trivial, but it's a big negative.

Because it essentially says you let the little details slip.

The same goes for brick and mortar businesses. How many times have you seen one that keeps sale prices up after a sale is over? Or has the big sign outside advertising last week's bargain?

In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that "most" things with dates end up just like what I describe above. They get neglected, then forgotten. Most people and companies are great starters. But there are very few finishers.

Be a finisher. Take the Mother's Day stuff down the day after Mother's Day. Post your articles every month. A quarterly newsletter should come out four times a year, not three. And your "recent news" needs to be.... well.... recent.

And with that, I will wrap up October's article. Being from the Northeast, this is my favorite time of year. Cool, crisp days; long shadows as the days get shorter; colorful leaves and the noise they make when you walk on them... Autumn is a wonderful season.

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