Attack of the Gobbledygook!

• Forward-looking companies invest in dot-com management contingencies.
• We deliver world class solutions and are the trusted choice of market leaders.
• I can make a window to discuss your interactive incremental mobility.

Let's face it, sometimes we just want to say, "Don't question us! Just buy from us!" But since we can't actually SAY that, we break out the marketese.

There's a place for marketese, but the Internet isn't one of them. People need to be able to quickly understand what you are trying to say or they will simply leave. Click. One lost sale.

Check out this web writing study by usability expert Jakob Nielsen.

Users understand your message best when you use:

• concise text
• scannable layout
• objective language

Marketese is none of these things! Marketese is written to keep your audience thinking about your product with positive language for as long as possible. But slowing down website users frustrates them because they expect instant gratification. Interrupt this flow with gobbledygook marketese and suffer the consequences.

Write to inform. Don't succumb to marketese.

And oh, the three statements at the beginning of this article were generated by The Gobbledygook Generator. Enjoy!

Helpful Links on Web Writing

• Jakob Nielsen's useit.com (mentioned above)
• Seventeen Ways to Kill a Sentence
• "Politics and the English Language" By, George Orwell
• Plain English Campaign

By: Andrew Yates