If English weren’t an evolving language, we’d still be satisfying our retail needs at ‘Ye Olde Shoppes’ and referring to our less intelligent peers as ‘unpregnant’.  Many factors contribute to the evolution of language, including geography, culture, and technology — but what determines the changes that are deemed acceptable enough for purists to relent?

Of course, now we realize the absurdity of the extra vowels in older forms of English, but at one point they were likely deemed essential.  What was the breaking point?  Continuing in this tradition, albeit a hyper-charged version fueled by rapidly advancing digital technology, will we eventually see the disappearance of vowels altogether? OMG!

Perhaps that conclusion is overly dramatic, but as a defender of quality content, I’m conflicted.  On the one hand, I’m in support of concise written communication, especially where web marketing is concerned. But, on the other, I might spontaneously combust if ‘BTW’ and ‘IDK’ were to permanently replace the phrases ‘by the way’ and ‘I don’t know’.  To ease my mind, I decided to consult some peers.

How the Internet Is Changing Language

Historically, language has evolved through the spreading of memes, or those copied methods of communication that become widely accepted and used.  Does the rate at which memes spread via the Internet mean that we’ll have to get used to a more rapidly changing language?

Communication in text messaging and online has seen the English language drastically pared down, with vowels removed in favour of preserving precious character space, often limited in mobile text capabilities and social media platforms.  I’ve even witnessed journalistic types’ Twitter accounts updated with stunted language, laced with popular space-saving abbreviations.

David Crystal, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor, thinks the Internet is the greatest thing to happen to the development of the English language since the invention of the printing press. He believes new technology leads to new stylistic forms and increases the expressive range of language, especially at the informal end of the spectrum.

In fact, he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science:

“The prophets of doom emerge every time a new technology influences language, of course — they gathered when printing was introduced, in the 15th century, as well as when the telephone was introduced in the 19th, and when broadcasting came along in the 20th; and they gathered again when it was noticed that Internet writing broke several of the rules of formal standard English — in such areas as punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

“All that has happened, in fact, is that the language’s resources for the expression of informality in writing have hugely increased — something which has not been seen in English since the Middle Ages, and which was largely lost when Standard English came to be established in the 18th century.

“Rather than condemning it, therefore, we should be exulting in the fact that the Internet is allowing us to once more explore the power of the written language in a creative way.”

He added, educationalists will continue to be responsible for teaching children which style of language is appropriate in certain situations.

This Person Has Protected Their Tweets

Twitter is even championing certain grey areas of linguistic development, as evidenced in the message it posts to alert when an account is locked. ‘This person has protected their tweets’, reads the message, which clearly challenges the proper sentence ‘this person has protected his or her tweets’.

My brainy buddy Mignon Fogarty, also known as Grammar Girl, author of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, had this to say on the matter:

“When websites used by millions of people make menu or user-interface decisions on the leading edge of what the language ‘old guard’ consider standard, it can speed up the acceptance of the new forms. People may have been fighting about whether ‘they’ can be singular for as long as we remember, but when Facebook and Twitter integrate a singular ’they’ into their sites [This person has protected their tweets], it quickly gains a deeper hold in the public consciousness.”

Fogarty also notes that when Hotmail and Gmail began using the word ‘email’ without a hyphen, which many would consider liberal, since several official style manuals still call for ‘e-mail’, people began to accept the former as correct.  Now, she says, they’ve started using ‘mail’, opting to remove the ‘e’ altogether.

An Existential Crisis for a Superhero

This all leaves me wondering whether I should continue fighting for proper language use in web content since English seems to take on a life of its own online. Is it worth my while to defend something that will likely continue to change at a faster and faster rate?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter before I contemplate abandoning my mission in favour of fighting for ideals that stand the test of time, like justice, perhaps.

Until next time,

— The Deleter

Adding a blog to your website is a simple and affordable way to strengthen your connection with both current and potential clients, while improving your search engine rankings. However, many business blogs quickly become neglected and abandoned, which leaves a poor impression. So we asked successful bloggers and online marketing experts:

When should a business launch a blog, and how do you create a following?

Alister Cameron
Blogologist, Alister Cameron

“You’re ready to start a blog when other online contacts keep asking you where your blog is. I’ve long been saying that blogging is only 10% writing. The other 90% is what we might loosely call ‘networking’. And as such, learning to blog should start with the networking bit, not the writing bit.

“Start by researching who else is already blogging in your industry or niche. Begin reading their blogs and commenting on posts that grab your attention. Don’t just leave a ‘throw-away line’ as a comment but try and contribute something substantive.

“Also, when you are impressed by what a blogger has to say, and have something you think is valuable to add, perhaps email them privately. Seek to make a personal connection.

“What will happen is fairly predictable: some people — perhaps other commenters, perhaps the blog author — will want to read more of what you’ve got to say and will ask for your blog address. When that happens more than a few times, you’re ready to blog!

“By that stage — usually a few months — you will have reached a point in your own personal development where you will write in a far better way than you might otherwise have done, had you started with the writing bit. You will have a better sense of your own tone of voice, you will have a better sense of how to write for your target audience, and you will have much greater confidence in what subject matter is of interest ‘out there’.”

Follow Alister @alicam

Ali Hale
Blogger, Aliventures

“I’ve never heard anyone who thought they’d launched their business blog too soon. Even if you’re a brand new startup, it’s worth investing some time in getting a blog up and running. You don’t have to post every day or even every week — but a blog offers you a great opportunity to have a human, friendly face for your customers. It’s also a great place to post news and promotions.

“Almost any blog tool you use will let you offer an RSS feed, and email subscriptions, so that your customers and fans can get updates from you straight to their feed reader or inbox — and, realistically, they’re much more likely to do that than keep coming back to visit a site which rarely changes. Produce valuable content which your prospects really want to read, and you’ll quickly find you build up a following.”

Follow Ali @alihale

Jacob Morgan
Principal, Chess Media Group

“A business can begin blogging at any time really; there isn’t a right or wrong time to start.  However, before starting a blog an organization needs to remember that successful blogging comes out of passion and love for someone does, what their company offers and represents, and for interactions and conversations with other people.  This is important to have otherwise blogging becomes a chore and that’s usually why they are abandoned and left behind.

“The best way I have found to create a following is by writing plenty of guest blogs for other people, actively commenting on other sites, integrating social media into other marketing efforts — for instance, including a Twitter handle on business cards, and by participating in other social channels where relevant discussions are taking place.”

Follow Jacob @JacobM

Sarah Prout
Founder, Sprout Media, and author of The Power of Influence

“Blogging is the best way to give your audience a snapshot into who you are as a brand or business. In this new age of web 2.0 marketing, the key to success is relationship building, building personal brand equity, and finding your own voice online. Blogging helps to give clarity and volume to your brand. It helps to build a sense of community based around your key ideas and concepts.

“If you’re not sure what to blog about then ask your viewers. Use social media platforms like Twitter to engage your followers and ask them about the style of content they’d like to read. This shows that you respect their opinion.

“And the number one rule of having an online business is building trust. Once you gain their trust and have won their hearts, then you have acquired valued and loyal customers for your business from a long-term perspective.”

Follow Sarah @sarahprout

Yaro Starak
Founder, Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

“A business should launch a blog only when they are clear on why they are doing so. Understanding the strategy and the real tangible outcomes you desire from your blog, and how the blog is capable of meeting these goals, is critical.

“Blogs fail because the owner acts because they’ve been told it’s a good idea to have one, but don’t really understand why or how they work. If you want your blog to be marketing tool, to attract new customers, build your list, increase brand awareness and open a dialog with your customers, then it makes sense to first understand how blogs do this, then follow a proven strategy that leads to the result you want.

“No matter what your motivation is for starting a blog, you will need to learn how to attract an audience. The best way to do this is by following a content strategy, releasing the information you know your audience is searching for, and then venturing out to where your community exists online and interacting with them.

“If you can commit to publishing one piece of valuable content every day and spend at least 30 minutes a day going to other websites to interact with your community and promote your blog, you will succeed.”

Follow Yaro @yarostarak

Debbie Weil
Author, The Corporate Blogging Book

“You should launch a blog when you have something to say. In other words, when you can add value. Talk about trends in your industry, offer your top 10 tips, provide links to useful free resources or new articles. Be consistently useful. You don’t have to be brilliant or witty.

“Above all, keep at it. It takes several months to get noticed by the search engines and longer to get noticed — and linked to — by influential bloggers or Twitterers. Marketing with content (for that’s what blogging is) takes time and effort. But it is extremely powerful and, over the long run, cost efficient. You build credibility drip by drip, blog post by post.”

Follow Debbie @debbieweil

Consumers are going mobile, and fast. If your business isn’t, it could be missing out on potential revenue from the increasing number of consumers using their phones to decide where to direct their spending.

As many web marketers have been predicting, the number of people using their mobile phones to access information on the Web is dramatically increasing. According to AdWords EBook author Ian Howie, over the next four years mobile Google searches are expected to overtake those executed on desktop computers. In fact, all new Google products are being developed with mobile use in mind.  Nearly half of all US retail spending will be influenced by online research this year, and growing, with online consumers most keen to use their mobile devices to check out events, restaurants and retail outlets.

With smartphones expected to increase from 31% of all handsets in 2010 to 50% in 2014 (source: Cisco Systems), more businesses should be adapting their existing sites for easy mobile use.  What does this mean?  A YouGov survey of 2,244 UK consumers found that 54% said their negative mobile web browsing experiences were largely due to ‘having to zoom in and out to view all information’ — a problem that occurs when a website is not designed with mobile in mind.  Another problem consumers encounter is not being able to quickly find the information they’re looking for while using their mobile phones to search on the go.

If you’re considering creating a mobile version of your site for iPhone, Android, and other smartphone users (which you should be) there are some things to consider, including design and content tailored specifically for mobile.

Deliver Information Relevant To Mobile Users

“Ensure that your mobile site focuses on providing relevant, decipherable information immediately,” said Tamara Brooks, a marketing specialist at October 17 Media. “People using their smartphones to search on the go are usually looking for quick information like addresses, directions, and contact information.”

For example, someone running late for a hair appointment will want to find the salon’s contact information quickly and easily from their mobile web browser.  Sites not designed for mobile, or that don’t redirect mobile users to a mobile friendly interface, will frustrate them as they load new pages and zoom in and out looking for the contact information.

Another example would be a restaurant mobile site that quickly delivers a menu sample, along with any specials and an easy way to make a reservation, or a hotel website that offers up rates and reservation information quickly.

Incorporate Mobile Into Your Marketing Strategy

When purchasing your Adwords campaign, Brooks recommends buying pay-per-click ads that are mobile friendly. It’s also a good idea to choose the ‘click-to-call’ option, she explained, which allows mobile site visitors to connect with your business immediately.

Howie suggests targeting specific markets by directing campaigns based on things like device and operator.  For example, if you wish to target business travelers, you might want to buy mobile ads on the Blackberry Vodafone network, which is popular among corporate mobile users.

Help Consumers Find You Quickly

Placing high on the page of search results is especially important when people search for your business using their mobile phone.  If they’re on the go, speed is even more likely to be a factor. “As with searches conducted from desktop computers, search engine optimization can help people find you faster than the competition with strategically placed keywords,” said Brooks.

See What Your Mobile Site Looks Like

There are tools available to check out what kind of user experience mobile searchers will have when they visit your site.  Check yours, then decide whether you need to make changes to have a better mobile web presence.  It could mean the difference between more customers through your door or phone calls to your store.

Mobile phone MobileOK Beta checker:
http://validator.w3.org/mobile/
Mobile phone emulator:
http://mtld.mobi/emulator.php

You may also want to consider directing mobile site visitors to your Facebook or Twitter page, which, like other Web 2.0 sites with simple interfaces, perform well on mobile browsers.

Getting Started

If you’re unsure about where to start with your mobile web presence, contact experienced web developers and companies that specialize in mobile web marketing to point you in the right direction.

Editor’s note: While conducting research for this article, we realized we need to fast track our own plans to get a mobile site. We’ll share our experiences once we get one up and running.

Sex has been used to successfully sell products as early as 1890 when W. Duke & Sons became the leading cigarette brand by including trading cards featuring scantily clad women in their cigarette packs.  Many decades of positive reinforcement later, selling with sex has become commonplace, with boundaries being pushed as far as societal morals allow.  Evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller even wagers that all of our consumer choices are motivated by our pursuit of primal desire, for procreation or otherwise.

How has selling with sex manifested itself on the Web?  Webcopyplus recently spoke with Melody Nieves, blogger and marketing enthusiast behind www.sexidesign.com, a blog dedicated to exploring the role sex plays in marketing, for her take on sexy advertising online.

How is sex being used to sell products on the Internet?

Selling with sex on the web comes in many forms, including attractive women and men on website ads, sexual innuendos, subliminal messages in slogans, and blatant manipulations of images to appeal to societal standards of beauty.  From a sexy vixen in a bikini selling video games to a standard attractive and friendly looking customer service girl, sex is everywhere on the Web.

Online, this marketing tactic is most easily recognized in imagery rather than in subliminal form.  Internet users are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements daily, so an ad that stimulates the slightest sexual arousal has the best chance of being noticed.

Sexy marketing tactics have existed long before the Internet, but they’ve certainly become more accessible with the addition of the Web.  The Internet just provides another channel for delivering this popular form of advertising.

The recent viral success of the Old Spice commercials, featuring a good-looking, half naked male actor is an example of a successful campaign that uses sex to sell.  Have you seen any that have failed?

What I love about the Old Spice commercials is that they cleverly poke fun at the stereotypes in sexy advertising and it’s always rewarding when a campaign can pull off sex and humour.  The viral status of the commercials proves this is a winning combination.

One of the poorest recent examples of using sex to sell is the entire campaign from Reebok Easytone. Both the commercial and the ads blatantly overuse sex so much that the viewer doesn’t realize what is being sold.  This campaign is a classic case of when a company goes too far, almost desperately so.  It’s hard to check out the sneakers when the camera is pointed at the woman’s butt the whole time.

Is it morally wrong to use sex to sell?  How do you determine boundaries and ensure that certain sensitive markets aren’t offended?

I think if you ask any opinionated person if using sex to sell is wrong they will probably say yes. But morals don’t sell products, marketing tactics do. Morals change throughout the centuries because of what will be publicly accepted and acknowledged by society.

Since it’s so easy for businesses to market with sex online, the real question is how far they’re willing to push the limits of morality to sell a product.

In order to effectively market with sex you have to consider all of the following:

1. How far are you willing to go?
2. Does selling with sex work cohesively with the product’s appeal or brand reputation?
3. Is the campaign suitable for the audience?

For example, McDonald’s — a brand built on customer loyalty through generations of childhood memories — does better using Ronald McDonald than scantily clad Paris Hilton eating a burger, which was used in recent Carl’s Jr. commercials.

Businesses can take the safe route with something as simple as an attractive spokesperson, or decide to push the limits, keeping in mind that doing so may result in disconnect from audiences with strict morals and religious beliefs.

How far will the boundaries be pushed in terms of using sex to sell online?

I think in general using sex to sell is moving toward a path more dangerously perverse.  Markets from every industry are pushing the limits of the amount of skin exposed before an ad is yanked.  Some of the best campaigns balance sex and humour as a fun way to neutralize any odd feelings about the sexy aspects of the ad in view, like Old Spice.

The boundaries are being pushed further and further.  Had Paris Hilton displayed herself as she did for Carl’s Jr. a century ago, that same commercial would have been banned and deemed pornography.

When society gets over its adolescent thinking toward the human body, who knows, the sex we see in today’s advertising could pale in comparison to what we see in a couple of decades.

Are marketers going overboard with sex, or is this just foreplay? Share your thoughts!

I’ve witnessed some horrific abuses of grammar and punctuation over the years and it’s about time someone stood up for these poor little words and symbols that can’t stand up for themselves. With that, I give you the first installment in my campaign to end grammar and punctuation abuse.

I’m officially declaring it’s Apostrophe Awareness Month! Never has a tiny dot with a tail endured so much misuse.  With your help, we can make a difference in apostrophe abuse by recognizing some of the worst offenders.

Being Too Possessive

“Free tequila shots before 11pm at Get Drunk Saturday’s inside the city’s hottest nightclub!”

Perhaps you’re trying to save trees by opting against a reprint for your club flyers, but this happens far too often for that excuse.  Maybe the real reason is that you really like apostrophe and want to keep him around whenever you can.  I can’t blame you — he is pretty cute.

Whatever your reason, please don’t force innocent little apostrophe to attend this party.  He may be legal drinking age, he may even like free tequila, but he just can’t support parties that disrespect him by forcing him into inappropriate pluralizations.  Next thing he knows, he’ll be waking up beside a semicolon wondering what the hell happened last night.  He will gladly accept an invitation to Jager Bomb Wednesdays, however; he likes those.

Painful Contractions

“Why are you’re rules so confusing?!”

Much like common grammar abuses such as the ‘their’/’they’re’/’there’ plague that confuses people regularly, when an apostrophe is thrown in the mix, people seem to get even more confused.

Apostrophe doesn’t mean to make things difficult for you. In fact, he wants to help you communicate to the best of your ability whenever he can.  Please understand that he needs to rest.  Don’t use him when he’s not needed.  In particular, never use him to combine the words ‘you’ and ‘are’ when what you really meant was ‘your’.

Making an A** of You and Me

“Punctuation’s unpredictability is part of it’s charm.”

Sometimes we make understandable assumptions regarding correct apostrophe use.  In this case, one would think that his use at the end of this sentence is correct, considering the way he’s applied in the first part of the sentence.  Wrong!

In punctuation, as in life, it’s dangerous to make assumptions.  The apostrophe is special like a snowflake, and he refuses to be susceptible to logical rules, much like the English language.  As such, he reserves the right to have special rules for his use, and for people to respect them.

Once you remember this one special rule, you’re on your way to a fulfilling relationship with apostrophe:  something that belongs to someone or something should be referred to as ‘his’, ‘hers’, or ‘its’.  The incorrect sentence above improperly used the contraction ‘it’s’, which actually means ‘it is’.

A Question of Whom

“I’ll tell you whose missing an apostrophe!”

At this point, you may be throwing your hands up in frustration, asking ‘Who does this apostrophe think he is?! How many special rules can one piece of punctuation have?!’

Apostrophe promises you, that even though he may be a complex fellow, he’ll always be consistent.  For example, when you want to contract the words ‘who’ and ‘is’, he’s always happy to help.  In the above sentence, the word ‘whose’ actually means, ‘belonging to whom’ (we’ll get into the who/whom debate later on in the campaign).

The Campaign Continues…

Are you confused by grammar and punctuation rules?  Stick around! I’ll be covering more common mistakes as the campaign to end grammar and punctuation abuse continues.

Your punctuation pal,
The Deleter

Social media empowers consumers to be recognized by marketers as human again, their voices amplified through an expanding array of platforms in the transparent online marketplace.  Businesses are learning the value of this increasing amount of unsolicited market data, as well as the power of engaging their customers in conversation.  As a result, products and services are being tailored to customers more efficiently, and businesses are able to respond quicker to issues and concerns.

How are these changes affecting web design?  In order to fully leverage the benefits of this new relationship between business and consumer, websites must be designed with and for the ‘social Web’, affecting aesthetics, functionality, and the development process itself.

Social Media Building Blocks

In 2009, Verne Ho of Toronto digital agency Jet Cooper, blogged an article called Applications of Usability Principles in a Social Network, which outlined how the design of regular websites and social networks differs.  He included these three points that exclusively apply to social network design:

1. Activities and content are fully (or at least mostly) driven by the users.
2. Users are expected to do things on the website — interact, post, vote, etc.
3. Users are expected to come back to the website periodically and continue to do things.

A Jess3 presentation, ’10 Ways Social Media is Changing The Way We Think About [The] Web / Design’, implies that these very principles are making their way into web design in the form of built-in or linked social media “building blocks.”  These features allow businesses to solicit real-time feedback from their target market, and build more intimate relationships, while increasing their overall web presence.

An example of this social media integration is seen in Vancouver newspaper The Georgia Straight’s website, which has multiple social media building blocks, giving visitors ample opportunity to spread articles they enjoy throughout their social networks, while providing the publication with immediate data about which articles are more popular than others.

Additionally, Jess3 cites the New York Times YouTube page as an example of corporate site design built within social media framework, which is a service that many web designers are including in their arsenal, and even making their exclusive offering.

A New Design Game

Social media’s influence on web design is also evident in game design, which Wylie Styles, Presentation Art Designer at Ubisoft Toronto, says “is essentially complex web design.” He added: “Design logic is coming straight from the user now.  A really well done site is a two-way conversation. Game development is now taking cues from Facebook, from the consumer.  It’s not like ‘here, it’s done’ anymore. Users add to and evolve with the game.”

Styles said that new game designs will take cues from the popularity of social games like FarmVille on Facebook, which surpassed the 80-million-player mark in February 2010 (AppData).

“Based on the huge popularity of these social media-based games, new games are not only being built for Facebook, but they’re also incorporating social media style interaction, where players choose how they want to play the game, and pay for game elements they want to use, rather than a $60 shot for a finished game that doesn’t adapt to their gaming style,” he said.

Colin Macrae, Director of Corporate Communications at Electronic Arts (EA) Canada, agrees with the comparison between web design and game design.

“As our business evolves from mostly packaged goods — games on a disc — to an online experience/subscription model, the look and feel of the customer interface becomes increasingly critical to the success of our products,” said Macrae. “Much of our online content is accessed through a website, so it’s very important that the site is content rich, appealing, and well designed to draw our customers into the online gaming experience and keep them coming back.”

He has also witnessed social media’s influence on the evolution of game design.  “Social media has become a big driver of growth in video games, as customers access our products through sites like Facebook, among others,” he explained. “By nature, these games are constantly evolving and changing, based on our ability to gather significant amounts of telemetry and data through the two-way relationship created by social gaming, and then change and enhance the game based on that feedback.

“In the past, console titles — like Madden NFL, for instance — were updated once a year,” added Macrae. “In the case of online social gaming, the games are updated virtually in real time.”

The Medium Is The Message

Is web design also becoming a more interactive process? Jess3’s presentation gives examples of how design prototypes are now being released on Flickr and Twitpic to solicit feedback from design peers and target markets, adding that there are less ‘red curtain launches’ after largely closed-door, small sample testing, resulting in a more public, interactive, and continuous development process, not only with web design, but design in general.

An example of the increasingly public development process can be seen in the recent re-design of Vancouver’s online-only Granville Magazine.  The changes were announced via newsletter, where the editor asked subscribers to provide feedback and suggestions on how to improve the new design before its official launch.

Will we see more of this in the future?  Will web design become a more ongoing process, rather than merely development, testing, and launching?  If so, this could mean more involved, long-term relationships between businesses and their designers.

Simpler Aesthetics, More Complex Interactivity

How has social media influenced aesthetic trends in web design?  Aside from the added social media building blocks and designing within social media frameworks, another noticeable trait shared by social networks is aesthetic simplicity.  This can be attributed to their main focus on usability, resulting in little room for elaborate visuals.

“The minimal web design we are seeing so much of these days in so many web designer portfolios is a product of the popularity of blogging and microblogging sites,” said Wylie.  He cites the new www.cargocollective.com as an example of a network that allows people to showcase their creative portfolios on a customizable CMS template, resulting in very similar layouts that highlight the featured work, rather than the site design itself.  The site also acts as a social network where members can be updated when people they follow release new work.

An example of similarly simplistic design can be seen in the JUMP22 web design portfolio.  The designer describes his style as “fresh,” “uncluttered,” and “easy to use,” which are also characteristics of other social network sites like Twitter and Tumblr.   There’s also been widespread abandonment of features like elaborate Flash intros, which are unpopular for a variety of reasons aside from their time-wasting factor.

Kerry Morrison, Digital Marketing Consultant at ReasonID, has watched as businesses were initially skeptical, but have become increasingly aware of the need to embrace social media as part of their marketing efforts.  How does he think social media has influenced design?

“I suppose the simplification in accessing social media related sites — Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Gowalla, and so on — is in some way affecting design.  It’s stripping away some of the superfluous, but in doing so it’s adding new layers we’d not considered before. Never before has it been possible to access so much data and in such a simple form. And never before have we seen such levels of interactivity, such an array of experiences and immersive environments.”

A New Challenge

Regardless of how simplistic the aesthetics of web design may become, web designers must remain creative in a world where they’re inundated with constant feedback on their work.

However, not everyone’s opinion carries equal weight in terms of best web design practices.  Designers will be required to interpret this rapidly increasing amount of feedback into functional, aesthetically pleasing websites that now, more than ever, need to reflect the desires and behaviours of the end-user.

The new challenge is to take this feedback and turn it into innovations in interactivity that further capitalize on this increasingly symbiotic relationship between the business, designer and user. Those who encourage, listen to, and leverage this feedback will likely be leaders on the Web for the foreseeable future.

Greetings, good Internet people! I’m Opticon’s sidekick, The Deleter. I specialize in exterminating spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors with a vengeance!

I wasn’t the most popular guy in school, but rest assured all those years spent studying proper language use instead of frivolous things like ‘sports’ and ‘dating’ have really paid off! Now, I’m an esteemed Internet superhero who helps well-meaning folks like you break bad language habits so you can confidently deliver your message to the masses without error or embarrassment.

Over my years of scouring the Internet for traces of technical violations I’ve noticed that some similar sounding words confuse many of you, and I’m here to get rid of this confusion once and for all.

Here’s my list of commonly confused words and their proper, and improper, uses.

Accept/Except

Accept: To receive
Except: To exclude

Wrong:

Right:

As a superhero working in the constantly evolving Web, I must be prepared to accept change, and I will do so like a brave warrior on a new frontier, except when the English language becomes a casualty.

Adapt/Adopt

Adapt: To Adjust to
Adopt: To accept formally, or take as one’s own

Wrong:

Right:

To my dismay, I had to adapt to my status as a dateless wonder in high school as my female classmates became irritated by my constant need to correct their grammatical errors. Fortunately, the ladies of the online dating scene have been more than impressed by my articulate profile. I hope my new superhero role will cause women everywhere to adopt this opinion, especially when they see how I correct online typos faster than you can say Isaiah Mustafa! (Ahem, Armando — I believe you’re missing an ‘e’ in ‘presence’.)

Affect/Effect

Affect (v): To influence
Effect (v): To bring about; (n) result

Wrong:

Right:

Improper language use in this blog post may affect the reader’s ability to accept the claim that the writer is smart. In fact, the many errors in this post may have an adverse effect on the writer’s credibility.

Complement/Compliment

Complement: Complete
Compliment: Praise

Wrong:

Right:

When I was in school, I would have thought my teacher was taking LSD if she suggested that colors have the ability to give each other compliments. Blue and orange may be complementary, but they’re certainly not being vocal about their admiration for each other.

Loose/Lose

Loose: Unattached
Lose: To suffer loss

Wrong:

Right:

I don’t think Michael Phelps is a fan of anything loose. In fact, last time I checked, he was wearing a pretty tight Speedo! As to whether he should lose his endorsements, that’s another argument.

Principal/Principle

Principal: Chief person or thing
Principle: A rule of conduct

Wrong:

Right:

I agree; a good principal is essential. My principal always stood up for me when I was bullied in high school because of my superior spelling skills. He always did his best to ensure students were living up to the school’s principles of good behavior.

Stationary/Stationery

Stationary: Not moving
Stationery: Writing materials

Wrong:

Right:

I’ve never been much of an athlete (see my skinny arms for evidence), but I’m a big supporter of more stationary activities like writing, which is especially enjoyable if you’re using nice stationery.

Than/Then

Than: To compare
Then: At that time, or next

Wrong:

Right:

Nothing brings me more joy than finding articles on the Internet full of grammatical errors, then showing off my superior skills by correcting them. Chand, please proof your prose!

Don’t Let It Happen to You!

Stick with us, and we’ll help you avoid similar mistakes. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if any hot grammar teachers are waiting for me on Plenty of Fish..

Follow Opticon and I for our latest tips @Opticon_

Meticulously yours,

— The Deleter

There’s a prolific villain on the loose that must be stopped.  It’s a complex shape shifter and not easy to track to the untrained eye.  The villain, my good people of the Internet, is bad web copy, and it’s infecting the Web, leaving traces on websites, blogs, social networks — everywhere! Your website may have already been infected, and the damage immeasurable.

I, Opticon, have taken it upon myself, as part of my duties of making the Web a better place, to teach you how to spot bad content on your website and prevent further infection.  So grow some virtual cajones and listen up!  You may learn your web copy has been hit, and it’s not gonna feel good.

The Long-Winded Attack

The Objective

The villain has infected your web copy with lengthy, irrelevant information to drive customers away out of sheer boredom, comparable to a virtual sleeper hold that drains website visitors, and your bottom line, like a blood-thirsty leech.

The Side Effects

Unnecessarily long-winded web copy that doesn’t deliver relevant information not only makes the visitor’s eyes glaze over like tiny honey crullers, but it also makes you look like you’ve lost your focus and faith in your business.  Your copy has been puffed up with a bunch of fancy, idealistic words that cloud your brand message rather than describing exactly why your business is the best choice.

What It Looks Like

Original source

This copy outlines the company’s vision and mission well if their vision includes boring people to death.   Rather than providing clear and concise information on the company’s mission to provide quality software products for businesses, the bad copy villain makes it sound like they’re trying to change the universe, with lengthy, vague, idealistic language.  If you’re going to make such claims you better be precise about how you intend to make the world a better place, or people will be less than impressed when they find out you’re only trying to sell them computer software.

The best thing about this example is the quote at the end, which must the villain’s cruel joke.

“Life is too short to settle for anything less than excellence.”
Doug Deane, President and Founder

I couldn’t agree more; life is too short to bore people stiff with painfully long copy!

The Scattered Attack

The Objective

The villain’s objective with the scattered copy attack is to confuse website visitors so much that they get frustrated and frantically hit the back button.  Tactics include headlines that don’t directly relate to content, and copy sprinkled with information that defies all logic.

The Side Effects

Scattered web copy that doesn’t stick to a clear, logical outline frustrates the reader and implies inferior thinking skills on your part.  People visiting your site will likely conclude that you do business inefficiently, like your thought process, and go off on tangents that waste time and money.  They’re certainly not going to feel confident about investing in your products or services if there’s no clear explanation of what you do.

What It Looks Like

Original source

This web page is a perfect example of one that’s been compromised by scattered copy.  The headline implies that the content is going to tell us how to get a low cost payday loan, but then it goes off on a lengthy tangent about what a payday loan is, then why payday loans are good, while not remaining focused on why I should choose Maycash over other payday loan companies.  The ideal messaging is present, but it’s hidden within a scattered attack of extraneous, poorly organized, distracting information.

The Vague Attack

The Objective

We’ve all heard of the concept of ‘thinking outside the box’ and all the wonderful innovations that supposedly occur ‘outside the box’.  The bad copy villain capitalizes on this popular saying by contaminating copy with content that’s so far outside the box it’s indecipherable.

The Side Effects

It’s true; people were once romanced by this enigmatic concept, thinking that if they didn’t get it, maybe it was just too advanced for their comprehension. “Wow! I don’t get it. They must be smart — really smart!”  Unfortunately, it’s been overused and has become recognized as a mask for inadequacy, prompting people to direct their eyes to competitors that outline concrete results.  The villain, in this case, has made your business look dishonest, or like a space cadet who can’t connect the dots.

What It Looks Like

Original source

This is a literal example of how vague the box can be.  This copy doesn’t give the visitor any indication of what kind of innovative things Stratix is doing with their document management services.  And I don’t know about you, but document management ‘outside the box’ doesn’t sound sexy to me at all.  It sounds ridiculous.  I prefer to keep my documents ‘in the box’, thank you very much.  Then I don’t lose anything.

Bad Spelling and Grammar Attack

The Objective

The bad content villain wants to make you look completely incompetent by littering your copy with spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.  Sometimes, for an extra evil touch, he’ll even copy and paste the exact same errors throughout your website!  What a jerk.  My sidekick, The Deleter, would love to sink his teeth into this one.

The Side Effects

This is pretty straightforward.  Bad spelling, grammar and punctuation makes you seem either: a) like you’re not overly bright; or b) that you cut corners and don’t bother getting your marketing materials proofread.  This will probably lead potential customers to think you’re also incompetent in business, and remove themselves from your prospects altogether.

What It Looks Like

Original source

This site endured a particularly cruel hit by the bad content villain.  In fact, it’s so bad it looks like it’s been abandoned altogether (I think it’s safe to say IE 6 is no longer the “most common ‘borwser’ on the Internet”).  If you look closely, you’ll see the same typos repeated throughout the site. Perhaps the company went out of business after failing to qualify their name. It’s a real shame.

Help Fight the Evil!

By learning how to recognize these bad copy attacks on your own web content, you’re one step closer to building unstoppable web branding, and fending off the damaging effects of bad copy.

Stay tuned for more of my tips for making the Web a better place.

— Opticon, Defender of Good Web Copy

Follow The Deleter and I @Opticon_.