Do your Internet marketing efforts pass public inspection?
Boarded up houses and railway yards. There’s something eerie about them that sends a shiver down my spine while at the same time making me feel melancholic.
Is it because they’re an eyesore? Is it the decay, or the scorched-earth look of some of the worst tenements? Is it the unknown?
It could be, but I’m inclined to think that it is something else. That sense of melancholy comes over me, I think, because those boarded up and broken down houses, those abandoned factories and condemned steel mills represent the death of a vision, or a dream.
What happened to the families that lived in those old row houses beside the tracks?
What happened to that machine shop we just passed?
Did someone lose everything, move on, or just give up?
Whatever happened, the feeling these places evoke in me is clear. And, while it might be fascinating to ponder the possibilities, it isn’t exactly a pastime I’d want to engage in too frequently.
The thing is, if these abandoned buildings cause me to feel such things, what kind of feelings is a seemingly abandoned website, blog, or social media account going to cause in your customers? Are they going to be fascinated with what might have happened to your business? Spend a few minutes day dreaming, as I did, then move on?
Or, are they just going to move on without a thought?
In the end, it doesn’t make much difference. They all move on. You just lost a customer, and probably that person’s friends’ business as well.
With the ever-increasing pace of the online world, it doesn’t take years or decades for your online presence to become condemned. In some cases, that time is measured in a handful of weeks. For a first-time visitor, this window is even shorter. How much credibility is a new visitor going to give a blog that was last updated three weeks ago, or calendar showing events from last year?
Update regularly. Keep the connection with your customers strong. Don’t risk having that condemned sticker slapped across your online doorway.
