"Set and forget" sites?

How on earth...

[nervo]

I've often heard webmasters saying about the "set and forget" approach when developing a site. How can you "set and forget" a site? I mean, you can set it and forget it, but how are you going to get the traffic, good serp positions, page popularity, page rank.. etc? If you forget it that would mean no fresh content, no link development, no site promotion, no growth of any kind.

So, how can you ever *forget* about the site if you want it to be successful?

Thanks for thoughts!

[celgins]

I think the "set it and forget it" approach is geared more towards content, not necessarily promotion, marketing, maintenance, etc.

For example, if you have a news website, there is no way you can, "set it and forget it". News is always changing and if you want to compete with other news sites for viewers, you have to constantly update your content.

Other sites, like those that hosts tons of free celebrity wallpapers, don't have to do much updating. They simply post 5 or 6 wallpapers of celebs, and not a lot of site maintenance is require.

IMO...that's where the "set it and forget it" mentality comes in.

Either way, they still have to promote and advertise, or no one will know about the site.

[humblebeginnings]

Well, one of my sites I haven't updated for about a year. I did no promotion of any kind.
Yet, it's still #1 for my main keyphrase and the traffic has never slowed down. Don't ask me why, it just happens...