You would not deliver a boat to your customer with the windless not installed and the interior half finished.  Why would you launch your website for the whole world to see when it is not perfect?

A website is a work in progress and should not be a static piece of marketing, but rather a dynamic channel that you can use to communicate to existing clients and prospective boat buyers.  While consumers expect to see changes on a website and generally view this as positive, empty pages, broken links and out of date content make your site look unprofessional and neglected.

The two main errors that I see on brokerage and manufacturer sites, out of date content and “coming soon / under construction pages.”   While it is beneficial to have dynamic content you need to make a commitment to keep the content fresh.  If your content is old and out of date it gives the same impressions as a dirty yacht or dust covered merchandise.  If you do not have the time to update your company blog or company event page it is doing more damage then good.

A “coming soon” notice also gives a negative impression of not having your act together.  Just remove the link until you are ready to go live.  If there is nothing of value that is serving an exact purpose it is a detriment.  The same rules apply online as they do in print or in a store front.  Keep your site uptodate or remove those sections that are out of date.