Have you ever been so bored one workfree afternoon (what's that, you say?) you found yourself mindlessly perusing your own website (people do that, how sad, huh?) when you stumble upon a typo that has been there this whole time, starting you and the rest of the English-speaking world (and non-English speakers with Bing Translator, I suppose, if you're that hot) in the face to mock your very perfect view of your current setup. Does that knock your mojo a little off-center, because it does mine.

Now, let's get back to to the question of even looking at your own website. If you are not constantly checking and updating your site, you are wasting your time and money even having one. You might as well kick it back to the old free blog on Blogger, hang up a shingle that will stand the test of time, and call it a day. Now sit back and wait for your doorbell to grow cobwebs. And so you tell yourself, well, you are a writer, not a web designer. Once you have it set up and looking pretty cool, you're better off leaving it that way so you won't mess anything up, right? Wrong.

Look mom, I swear you will not break the VCR and irretrievably damage it if you merely practice trying to set the clock. After all, you taught me practice makes perfect, right? Now unless you want to be stuck sitting at home watching and beta (and for those of you who are too young to know I'm not referring to anything having to do with a PC, just sit back and ignore this part), you better practice, practice, practice, until you have at least a working understanding of your website's basic design features. Now I personally use GoDaddy.com, and I have found, that for me, without having much to compare it to, it is pretty inexpensive for the ease-of -use it offers, and I cannot imagine customer service agents being more helpful.

The point is, you have to keep your website, no matter how plain or fancy updated, refreshed with new content as often as possible, and as relevant as possible. The days of business cards are long gone, my friend. You can't just park your shingle and call it a day. The guy next door is out there repainting his business every day, and has a new blinking sign out there every week. You're doomed if you don't jump on the technology bandwagon.

But, if you are like me and not such a website-savvy writer, you will be pleased to know there is hope for us. You pick one of the little programs like Website Tonite, which is what I use to keep my website all lovely, and you put together and aesthetic template you like. Then, you just place some writing here there and everywhere, and keep it constantly updated. If you will notice on my front page, on the right sidebar, I have a place there where I can share interesting stories and news from the freelance writing world. I save the good stuff for this blog, of course.

Anyway, there's your admonishment to keep up your website, not just your blog. And you shouldn't just dust off the telephone numbers and email addresses either. Update the information. And don't forget keep it fresh, interesting, and relevant! Now, go write!