Sadly, too many companies do not consider one small element of their website that reads as a major giveaway to how they are keeping up: the copyright date.
On the bottom of nearly every website there is a copyright date/year. Opuscule.com reads 2009, representing we are current, up to date and still in business – right? So why would so many small businesses not care for this important feature?
First, it is important to know that with or without a copyright notice, your material is protected. It doesn’t take a notice of copyright to call claim to your website and all its contents.
But more importantly, this date speaks subtle hints about how you run your business, and even more importantly, if your business is still in existence.
Take for example Pump Shoes and Accessories in Chicago – their website could definitely use an update. Their website has a copyright date of 2002-2006. It also has an ecommerce page to allow me to shop online from them. Currently the ecommerce link has no content, but if it did, I would be reluctant to give them my financial information in fear they went out of business in 2006 – the last time they updated their copyright date.
Another gem of a website is Antique Resources, Chicago. Their copyright date is 2004!
A website that seems to excel in design, but lacks in technical ability is b.rose salon and spa. Their website has a copyright date of 2007. It also lists very important business items that now seem outdated. For example, are their prices still the same? How about their phone number, hours, address, services?
What small businesses don’t know, and apparently several web designers too, is that there is a way to have the current date automatically display with a simple line of PHP coding. So, even if you don’t update your website on January 1st, 2010, it will automatically display that year when the clock strikes.
Please contact your New York web design solution if your website could use a little sprucing up. We are currently offering a small business package, Digital Spring Cleaning, that will ensure your site is search engine friendly and up to date.
