Blog

It’s going to be a busy summer here at Wordsworks towers. We’ve been commissioned by Henshaws Society for Blind People to write and edit its annual review.

Henshaws has centres across the North of England and their sole aim is enable people affected by visual impairment and disability to build skills and independence for their future.

Annual reviews can be quite dry documents, so it’s our job to make sure the most powerful content is included. We worked closely with the Henshaws team and can’t wait to see the finished result in the autumn.

Hopefully we’ll find a few hours to enjoy some standard Manchester weather – also known as ’sunny spells with scattered showers’.

No, this isn’t a post about a poor taste 70s sitcom, but rather a watch out for website URLs which may do you more harm than good!

You’ve spent time and money, toil and trouble on your new website and catchy URL, of which you are justifiably proud. But before you publish, take a minute to just check that your URL (website address) won’t inadvertently bring a whole different type of customer to your site.

Aside from choosing a unique name for your URL (hard enough considering there are over one hundred million already registered), it needs to be snappy and memorable.

But what looks snappy and memorable to you, immersed in your site and in your project, might not look quite so enticing to someone else in the cold light of day. If you’re going international the risks can be even greater, as a nice snappy URL in English might mean something completely different in a foreign language.

Andy Geldman, a self-employed computer programmer, has a whole website (well, Facebook group) and book devoted to ’slurls’ – domain names innocently chosen by serious businesses but with amusing consequences.

Here’s a taster (these websites have now been re-named as we presume the faux pas was brought to their attention):

www.scentofart.com – design service offering everything from web design to custom car paint

www.arsecommerce.com – ARS e-commerce is an internet marketing agency with offices in 3 US states.

www.ipanywhere.com – a software service for accessing your computer remotely

So, think carefully for your next website or you could be in the next edition of Geldman’s book.

This month’s word is: Glamping

Short hand for glamorous camping (you see what they did there?) If, like most of the women (and the odd man) in our office, you need your duvet, cafetiere or Cath Kidston hamper when sleeping under canvas, then you’re a glamper. (Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!)

Examples:

We hired a yurt at Glastonbury this year – it’s the ultimate in glamping!

Or

Look at those two with their shabby-chic tent, laptops and top-to-toe Boden, they’re such glampers.

Office-speak and clichés are so well established, it’s easy to play buzzword bingo in management meetings. It’s less difficult to spot in writing, but a very easy habit to fall into.

Clichés can be a useful shortcut to getting your point across or painting a picture, for example ‘it’s like talking to a brick wall’ or ‘he’s got ants in his pants’. But used in the wrong context, or too often, and they damage your credibility and dilute your message.

So instead of trotting out the same tired cliché, go back to basics and ask yourself what the cliché is actually trying to say:

• ‘think outside the box’ – some new ideas or creative thought
• ‘let’s touch base later by the end of play today’ – I’ll give you a call before 5pm today
• ‘can I give you a heads up on our new value-added proposition’ – we’d like to show you our great new idea

Another way of trying to cut your cliché count is to consider reading your words as if English wasn’t your first language. If they don’t make sense literally, then avoid them.

Remember, if your communication is specific and personal, rather than vague and generic, it will make your writing brighter, unique and more memorable.