Tuesday, April 14, 2009

We Never Close

I've noticed recently that several Canadian business websites I have visited recently have been “shut down temporarily for repairs.”

We all know that’s shorthand for “the company is going belly-up,” right? But that’s not always the case, because some of these companies really are overhauling their websites. And for some reason they have elected to shut their site down rather than go with the old one while the new one is being put together.

Memo to management: Don't do it. “Under construction” is for shysters who have bought domain names and hope to sell them at a premium. Or for companies that have gone bust, and have no idea what to use their site for.

Every human being on earth who researches your company looks it up on the Net first. Your website is their first stop. It should never, ever be down, if you can help it.

If you're redesigning your website, and most people usually are, keep your old site up till the new one is ready to go. Who cares if it no longer matches your new corporate colours? A temporary misalignment is better than even one prospect assuming your company is in trouble – or sleeping with the fishes.

1 comment:

Jacki Hollywood Brown said...

And for goodness sakes if you do put up the under construction sign AT LEAST leave contact info - email phone and address.

And PLEASE don't leave the filler text on the page "Quam ac ligula risus..." put something of value to the client there or at least delete it!

I could continue my rant but I think you get the idea.