Not All Marketing Advice is Good Advice
A few years ago a writer had to convince an editor that their words were valid before they went into print. 
Even then, some of what we read was not good advice.
Now that anyone can have a website and/or a blog, there’s not even an editor to convince. Anyone can write anything they please.
That’s why it’s a good idea to apply a bit of common sense to any advice you’re seeing. For instance, take the blog I came across recently.
This one offered 9 tips to improve your blog posts. Some of them were good, but one was absolutely wrong.
The writer suggested that you learn a new word each day – one that you had to look up in the dictionary. Then use it in your blog.
That’s some of the worst advice I’ve ever seen.
A blog is for communicating – for letting people get to know you and the service or product you offer.
It’s NOT for trying to impress anyone with your huge vocabulary. It’s definitely NOT for trying to show your readers that you’re smart and they’re dumb.
The rule of thumb in copywriting is to gear your words toward a 7th grade reading level. Any time you have a choice between a big word and a small word, use the small word.
Of course, if English is your second language and you need to learn more words that fit into that level, fine. Learn them and use them.
But unless your blog post for the day is all about learning new words, don’t say “commensurate” when you mean “equal” or “rapacious” when you mean “greedy.”
Use words that everyone in your audience can comprehend – without going to the dictionary.
Apply this same thinking to industry jargon…
Just because you know the meaning of common industry words doesn’t mean your customers do. So do try to avoid them.
Graphic courtesy of Stuart Miles @ freedigitalphotos.net
