Keep It Fresh

I was on the website today for a local Mexican restaurant (which, by the way, I could not find by googling it’s name, but that’s a different story). Know what I saw? Animated snowflakes and Santa Clauses drifting down the screen.

It’s May.

If you’re going to put something time sensitive on your web site, you need to have a plan to keep it timely and take it off when the time is appropriate. What am I supposed to think about a restaurant with Christmas decorations up in May? Is the online version of their menu kept up to date? How about the contact info? For that matter if they put so little effort into their appearance how much effort do they put into the food?

If I hadn’t seen those Santa Clauses, then regardless of how old the data was I would have assumed it was still good. Just because you don’t touch your site all the time isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if your information is pretty static. But if you throw down the gauntlet by doing seasonal stuff, you give the expectation that you’re paying attention and keeping the site up. So do it.