Do Big Words Make You Important... or Lost?

I was reading this post by Gerry McGovern that says:

There seems to be a desire among organizations to not quite tell it as it is. These organizations create classifications and content on their websites that either use soft, fuzzy words like “low fares,” or official-sounding words like “pandemic influenza.” There is often a logic to doing this. It is a logic of experts and bureaucrats, and of old school marketing and advertising executives.

I commented on Gerry's blog that it reminds me of the old days when using big fluffy words was done to make you sound important. Gerry says the same sort of thing.

Now the web is here. Everyone wants to get to the heart of their interest. Straight away. No delay. They don't want to have to learn new words, or go to Dictionary.com just to figure out what someone is saying.

Do you make it easy for your readers, listeners, or prospects to easily understand what you are saying?

Too often I see confusion created by:

• Using industry jargon or acronyms.
• Using too many words, when fewer words will get the message across.
• Using too many ideas, which just gets confusing.
• Using bad examples to explain a key point.
• Rushing to write material before the main ideas are fully understood and developed. This results in too many words, saying too little.

This is bad enough when talking or writing directly to an individual.

On your web site it can be disastrous. Your clients will get lost. You will lose out.

If people can't get the picture straight away, or if they cannot understand what you are getting at. They will leave. Click away. They don't want to figure it out. They just want answers to their questions. And clear steps they can take to get what they want, in language they can understand.

TIP: make sure you are using the best words to maximise understanding... and action.