I don't usually write blog posts to rebut a colleague, but this time I feel I must do so.  Rohit Bhargava, author of Influential Marketing, has written "How to Promote Your Business When Your Website Stinks".  The author offers five ideas on what to do when your website is sub par and you don't have the resources to fix it.  I'm only going to comment on his first notion, "Announce a non-existent re-design".  Here's what he offers,

"The first thing you need to do with a sub par website is to give customers the impression you are working to improve it. The only thing worse than a bad website is one that seems like it will be bad forever. So put a note on your homepage in some way sharing that your redesign is “coming soon.” If you think about it, this is exactly what retail destinations do when they hang those signs saying “please pardon our progress.” Progress takes time, but the first important lesson is that your customers need to know that it is coming ... even if you have no idea when."

In my opinion, that's terrible advice.  First,it's not truthful and you're deceiving potential customers.  Secondly, if you post something like that on your site without any idea of when the new re-design will be launched, you'll lose credibility with your customers and potential customers. Third, the example Bhargava doesn't work since retailers who put up such signs are actually making the improvements for which they are asking pardon.  Normally, these are evident to the naked eye.  If you post such a deceptive message on your website with no signs of change, your customers will become frustrated, and you'll look incompetent and unprofessional.

As I said in my last blog post, integrity is key to your marketing efforts.  Once you begin to trick, deceive, and lie, you're going to lose your customers.