I never recommend that a business have a blog on their website.

I don’t recommend that a business have a news page on their website either.

Why?

Well it’s not because a blog or a news section is an easy way of providing fresh content and, as the ‘sales pitch’ goes: Google loves fresh content.

Of course, that’s true, Google does like to see fresh content and potential customers of that business like to see fresh content too because it shows them that the site is still active, and the business is alive.

But what do most blogs and news pages on business sites show?

Dust and cobwebs and the strong impression that the last person to leave the building obviously forgot to switch the lights off before they locked the front door … and who wants to trust their money to a company that may not even exist anymore?

I know that it seems to be the exact opposite of what many web design experts will tell you but I’ve been telling people for years that the idea of incorporating a blog or news page on their website was a VERY bad idea simply because no one ever updates their blog or news page.

They forget about them … they leave them to rot and those parts of a website develop the smell of death that damages a business rather than promotes it.

The smell of death

So what made this pop into my mind on a hot sunny Sunday afternoon? Fortunately nothing that I could smell.

What made the idea of dead business blogs and websites pop into my mind was a site that Stuart showed me.

It’s a live site that is selling exclusive high-end products to a very select audience and at one end of the website you can pre-order … and pay for these products in advance.

At the other end of the website … on the front page no less, there is a blog that obviously hasn’t been updated since early 2015.

Now why you would want to put your blog on the site’s home page is beyond me but to put it there and then forget about it? Can you get any dumber than that? Not even if you’re blonde!

Think about it for a moment. This is a site that is owned by a business that pre-sells very expensive products and to be fair, most people probably arrive on the site’s product pages rather than their home page, but why would you have a home page that’s covered in the Internet’s equivalent of dust and cobwebs when you want to encourage people to part with large sums of money?

What positive impact could that home page be having on the business?

How much damage is that old … old … blog doing to the business?

So, if you have a blog or news page on your business website are you keeping them up to date?

If you have people who come to you for advice about their website are you giving them the right advice if you’re telling them that they MUST have a blog or a news page whether they really want it or not?