It’s 2008 in the real world. What year is your website or email newsletter in?
It’s a new year
There’s plenty to think about at the start of a new year — getting a programme together, arranging meetings, publicity and trainings.
Don’t forget the dates
Many websites, email newsletters and other materials include dates — copyright dates, the date when the material was last reviewed or revised, dates for upcoming events.
Now that 2008 has begun you need to check to see if you should update anything in your newsletters and other regular and irregular electronic publications.
Look carefully at your newsletter template (including headers, footers, signatures and copyright statements). Is there a date you should refresh? How about archives? Have you created a new ‘year’ for 2007 materials? The start of a new year is a time to have a good look around.
Last updated
Many websites include a ‘last updated’ date on some or all pages. This can be quite a good idea as it allows a visitor to get an idea of the currency of the information. It can also backfire though, if you’re not careful.
Some information may be quite long lasting. For example, a page advocating eating fruit and vegetables and taking moderate exercise in the interests of remaining healthy is unlikely to need updating very often. On the other hand, a page of news about advances in health research may be updated several times a day.
When a visitor sees “Last updated June 2001″, though, they become wary, even where information may be long-lasting: “Hmmm, 7 years ago fruit and vegies were advocated. I wonder if it’s still the best way to go?”
For that reason it may be better to use the words: ‘Last reviewed’ (and to ensure you review all pages at least every couple of years).
Coming soon
Sorry, but the June 2007 meeting isn’t ‘coming soon’ — it’s been and gone. Check your News, Events, Meetings, Publications and Home Pages for those embarrassing out-of-dates. Leaving them around for long just makes your organisation look slack and disorganised. Visitors lose trust in an obviously out-of-date website.
Cyber volunteers
These kinds of housekeeping are good jobs for cyber volunteers: people who cannot or don’t want to attend meetings, but who are willing to put in an hour or two a month, from home, using the Internet.
For more information about online volunteering look at www.community.net.nz/how-toguides/volunteering/casestudies/5-minute-volunteer.htm and www.community.net.nz/how-toguides/it/news/virtual-volunteer.htm.
Written for and reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, February 2007. This article may have been modified from the original.
These Posts may interest you too:
- Review your website annually When did you create your website or last do a major overhaul? Chances are that quite a few months or even years have slipped by since the last time you...
- Getting around a website How visitors get around in your website is very important. You need to make it as easy as possible and don’t ever leave them guessing. At best they’ll leave never...
- What’s the purpose of your website? What do you want your website to achieve? What's its purpose? What do you want people to do when they visit your site? ...
- Daylight Savings early in 2007 New Zealand is about to enter Daylight Saving Time earlier than usual: starting on 30 September, instead of on the first Sunday in October. This year those of us used...
- Customise the news Not so long ago we had to rely on broadcasters to select our news for us. Then they would issue us with the ‘news’ at regular intervals. [Of course, by...
Add your Comment