Lucid Lingo
Communicating... in plain English
Lucid Lingo
Posted on September 27, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: buzzword bingo, buzzwords, Gobbledygook, jargon, meetings
Anyone who has spent a couple of days in a corporation would know how boring, insufferable and interminable many meetings are.
The worse part of course is tolerating the gobbledygook, jargon and buzzwords usually spouted. You know, all the ‘paradigm shifting’, ‘leveraging’ and ‘going forwarding’.
Well one way to pass the time is to play buzzword bingo [...]
Posted on September 26, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: copywriting, plain English writing
One of the world’s most famous and successful investors is an advocate of plain English. His name: Warren Buffett.
I wasn’t aware of this until I came across a preface he wrote to a document called A Plain English Handbook: How to create clear SEC documents.
In his preface the ‘Sage from Omaha’ covered some of the [...]
Posted on July 26, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: web content, Web copywriting
There’s a lot written about the need to write and publish web content to optimise your website for search engines. I agree with this view.
Your chances of moving up the Google ranking depend largely on the relevant content you have on your website and the fresh content you add regularly.
However, website content is not just [...]
Posted on July 20, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: web content
When was the last time you updated your website?
For many small to medium sized businesses it’s a fair bet the answer would either be: ‘not for awhile’ or ‘never’.
So many websites are built and left ‘as is’; barely touched at all since they day they were launched.
The reason has to do with time – or [...]
Posted on July 11, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: primary user, Web copywriting
When you write copy for your website, first ask yourself: who is my primary user?
Defining your primary user will help resolve what content to put on your site, the tone and style of web copy, and the visual design and functionality.
Content that is not suitable for your primary user would dilute the impact and relevance [...]
Posted on June 16, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: copywriting, product benefits, Web copywriting
Recently I had a conversation with a sales person in one of the big electronic stores here in Brisbane. The young man (why are they always men and not women?) waxed on about the wonderful features of this particular brand and model of computer.
As a marketer, what interested me was how much he was caught [...]
Posted on May 31, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: blogging, copywriting
I’ve just finished reading Keith Richard’s autobiography, Life.
The Rolling Stone guitarist and founding member, the one they call the most ‘elegantly wasted’ man in the world, did not disappoint.
The book is entertaining from start to finish, providing insight into the band and its music and as memorable as many of his iconic guitar riffs.
Not only [...]
Posted on May 24, 11 by Gary Chow | 1 Comment » | Tags: blogging, copywriting, inverted triangle
Get to the point quickly when you write blog posts and online articles. Don’t mess about, get right to the heart of the matter.
Read most newspaper reports and you get the gist of the story by reading the headline and the first paragraph. What happened, who was involved, when, where and perhaps why – all [...]
Posted on April 27, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: advertising copy, copywriter, copywriting function, Freelance copywriter, personal copywriting, writing actively
I’ve been a copywriter for over 15 years, but many of my friends and acquaintances still don’t have a full handle on what I do.
Some even think my work has to do with legal protection of intellectual property, as in ‘copyright’. I must be doing a bad job of explaining it. So what exactly is a [...]
Posted on April 13, 11 by Gary Chow | No Comments » | Tags: avoiding gobbledygook, copy, web content, website content, website mistakes
I love the Internet and use it as much as the next person. I hop on the web to research, get direction, be informed, buy stuff, be entertained, check movie schedules, read blogs, find out how to cook beef rendang; in fact, for any number of things.
What appeals to me about a website? It usually [...]
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