Amateurish Websites: Does Yours Turn Clients Off?

Just as personal appearance can be ruined by a worn out pair of shoes a website will lose its impact if the English copy is poor. Website and brochure content is often spoiled by schoolboy howler text.

It is a well known fact that if web editorial is badly written; if it is peppered with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, it will have the opposite effect to that intended. It will attract ridicule, not clients. In business networking groups and social circles the schoolboy English seen in many commercial websites is often a topic of conversation.

A common mistake is to confuse ‘where’ with ‘were’ and ‘there’ with ‘their.’ Another bloomer is using compliment when the word complement is the more appropriate word. Sentences and paragraphs are often far too long. In a local TV station’s website content we find coastal spelled ‘costal’ and belief appears as ‘beleif.’

How many will trust a service provider who cannot spell? Do we really want our gas–fired heating system fitted, or our car wheel nuts tightened by a mechanic who hasn’t yet figured out his own language?

Be a GSI, Not a DIY

The riposte is often, you don’t have to be a graduate in English to fit heating systems or repair cars. Equally a skilled copywriter doesn’t try to fix cars or fit heating systems does he? The consensus of informed opinion advises Get Someone In (GSI) not DIY.

If money and time is spent in creating an appealing website it makes sense to have a professional copywriter take a look at it before it is published? Their professional re-writing of it will add enormous credibility to one’s business. Better still: It will bring in more clients and add enormously to profitability. To fail to do so is a classic example of spoiling a ship for a ha’porth of tar. As a bonus a good copywriter will also apply SEO techniques, and even add a little marketing flair.

Browsers are Perceptive

Whether justified or not, people do judge by appearance. The rich man is presumed to be poor if he dresses shabbily; the builder or estate agent whose flier, brochure or website reveals limited knowledge of his own language, will be thought to be equally slapdash in the provision of his service.

Sentences in brochures and websites are often far too long and the marketing message cringe-making. Freelance journalist Peter Clayton says: “Many websites are technically excellent but are let down by the poor standard of English text.” Company Director, Alex French agrees: “How guilty are we of disregarding a website for looking cheap and unprofessional no matter what the quality of their product or service?”

Unless you are a professional writer it is a pointless exercise checking your own completed work. If you could spot mistakes you would not make them in the first place.

Wood you By a $200,000 Hous?

A married couple run an overseas real estate agency. They are both good at their job: They are professional and they practice with integrity. They also have a wonderful website, until you start reading it.

The copy is embarrassing crude. The sentences are as long as paragraphs; the punctuation is hit and miss and spelling mistakes proliferate. A friend of theirs, who is a professional copywriter, offered to apply his expertise; to bring their website copy content up to truly professional standards. He added that he would do it free of charge as he owed them a kindness in return for theirs. The estate agent’s reply was: “Don’t tell Angela it is full of mistakes: She thinks it is perfect.”

Would you buy a $200,000 property from a real estate agent if on looking through their website you could be forgiven for thinking it was written by a twelve-year old schoolchild? Imagine losing business over misspelled words? You would be surprised how many people do so. ©

Michael Walsh: Experienced journalist and marketing writer. Applies professional finish to your novels, stories, articles and features; added marketing flair for product or service reviews. If required will publish your stories, autobiography, novels: All genres considered. Invites interest. Contact http://www.michaelwalsh.es/