By Anne Holland, President

Did you forget? Nearly every year I do until about mid-February. ... The year has changed, so you need to update your Web site and email newsletter templates so the copyright line reads (c) 2007, org name. In my experience, the Web and email team often forget to do this until someone in marketing sounds the alarm bell.

How much does updating the copyright year really matter? Well, I suppose Legal will tell you it's a help if they have to go after someone who rips off your content. My main focus is marketing though, and I just think old copyrights look lame. Especially for lesser-known brands where surfers may have found you via hotlinks from other sites or search engines.

If someone trips over your site during a search and never heard of you before, there is a chance they'll scroll down to your copyright to see how long you've been around -- if you're for real. A copyright reading (c) 1998-2007 is inherently more trustworthy than one that reads (c) 2004-2005.

OK, so having written this I now have to scamper around Sherpa offices making sure we've updated our stuff, too.