Well, at least 5 things they do wrong when it comes to writing. I’ll let the other stuff go for now.
1. They can’t spell. This bothers the hell out of me… and more than likely, it bothers the hell out of everyone who looks at the site. Nothing says ‘we’re incompetent and lazy’ like spelling and grammatical errors. Learn how to spell application, synergy, and tomorrow. Learn the difference between our and are. Even spend a couple minutes on it’s vs. its’. It’ll pay off.
2. They don’t revise. I’ve written here that EVERYBODY is a writer. It just takes effort, hard work, and revision. Everything that goes on a website should be at least 3 drafts deep. At least. I see a lot of copy that isn’t, and it’s not terrible stuff either, just another draft or two from being top quality.
3. They don’t care. I think number 1 and 2 reflect this one… I think most people don’t spell well and don’t revise well because they don’t care. They just don’t put the effort in, and I think that’s stupid. Startups aren’t selling a product - they’re selling a brand, and a brand experience. Your ability to write that experience into existence isn’t just crucial. It’s everything! You need to care, and you need to spend time on it.
4. They communicate poorly. I think a lot of startups have a good idea, and they have a good idea of how it’ll help other people. But they just can’t communicate it. I go to their website, and see that there’s something there. I see potential, and sometimes, I can ‘get it.’ But it takes a lot of effort. Usually, more effort than I have the time for… I leave before I get it. Obviously, that’s not good. The big idea (and the brand-experience) needs to there. It needs to be right up front, and it needs to be accessible.
5. They’re boring. This brings me to my last point. New startups are exciting. They’re unique, fresh, smart, and filled with seat-of-your-pants type freedom. If your copy communicates this - it really shows how cool you are, and really shows how cool your product is, people will climb over each other to get a piece of it. But if your copy doesn’t do that - if you can’t show the visitor who you are, and what your product really does, it’s boring. You’re missing the point, and missing your best opportunity to get people there, and get people using your product. Unfortunately, I see that happen a lot. Far too often.
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Apparently, more people need to read StartupWriting.com
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
+1.
It’s vs. its is one of my personal hot buttons.
Hey John!
I didn’t know you were hanging around here… great to hear from you though!
And ok… point taken on v vs. vs. Even ‘experts’ make mistakes sometimes ;). I’ll fix it.
Brian
Brian,
If you originally had v instead of vs. - I don’t think John was talking about that at all. v vs. vs. in my opinion is something you can write however you want. it’s vs. its is somewhat annoying, but nothing like there vs. their or our vs. are. Those are just in your face. I can see someone leaving out an apostrophe or putting one in without thinking. I give people credit for typo like behavior in the blogosphere, especially in the comment section. That’s the personality of blogs. But actually writing are or there when it’s supposed to be the other way around really throws me off of any point the person was trying to make, no matter how strong there (just kidding) point was.
Oh yeah, I forgot to include they’re.
I’m with you Jay. I can tolerate a little bit of it (in certain places). But dumb typos really turn me off.
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