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Old Press releases
There is nothing less useless than old news. Press releases have a very limited life and should be removed and replaced with less dated material. Many news items can be rewritten into features with a much longer life.
Old numbers
Almost as useless would be old results. Useful only for comparisons, old numbers need to be replaced with the current info as soon as possible. Old data can be archived or rewritten into comparative material, such as charts.
Old logos, trade marks, copyrights
Update old copyrights and eliminate dated graphics.
Update (or eliminate) “Site last Updated”
If shown, this date must be updated weekly, or daily. Your site loses credibility if it has “updated” dates that show that you do not update your site often. It is better to eliminate the dates if you cannot actually get to the maintenance often.
BAD TEXT
Bad grammar and spelling
Nothing shows lack of attention to details like bad spelling and grammar. All text, including invisible meta-data MUST be checked for accuracy. The meta-data often appears in the text returned by a search engine, turning off a potential site visitor before they even choose sites to visit.
Fragments
All text is checked carefully to make sure that it reads well. Headlines, outlines and menu items are common exceptions, but everything else should be in clear, short sentences.
Text is “Telling”
Choose your terms and vocabulary on the basis of the intended audience. This text is obviously directed to business people with web sites, but one would use a very different style of text in a “general audience” web site. If you are careful, you can use simple language, without appearing to “talk down” to your audience.