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Tomorrow's Clichés Today
I went to Google and entered a couple of different search terms. The first was, to my mind, the cliché of all cliché's: "Tomorrow's Solutions Today". And yes, there are a few companies out there that feel this is the most useful way to describe their services. To broaden my search, I tried: "Tomorrow's * Today". Here is a small sample of what I found. Tomorrow's Technology Today Tomorrow's Market Today Tomorrow's Sounds Today Tomorrow's News Today Tomorrow's Computing today Tomorrow's Superstars Today Tomorrow's Consumer Today Is there a problem here? Of course there is. Each of these sites, as well as being satisfied with using a truly awful cliché, is failing to serve the needs of its visitors. When a person comes to your site for the very first time, they are looking for a fast and simple way to find out whether your site can give them what they're looking for. Remember, in most cases the majority of new visitors arrive through search engines. They have a task in mind. There is something they are looking for. Does a copy line on the first screen of your homepage help visitors quickly determine whether your site can help them? Saying 'Tomorrow's Widgets Today' doesn't do it. Here are three examples of copy lines that really do help the visitor conclude that he or she is in the right place: Meetup.com - Meetup organizes local interest groups WebEx.com - Web Conferencing, Video Conferencing and Online Meeting Services GoToMyPC.com - Access and Control Your PC from Anywhere In all these examples the site writers have chosen to write a very clear, simple message that tells the first-time visitor what he or she can expect from the site. Nothing fancy. No award-winning copywriting. Just simple text that communicates clearly. And yes, much more useful to the reader than some tired cliché that helps not one little bit, and makes your company look ridiculous at the same time. Let people know what they can expect from your site. Keep the text simple. And avoid clichés. Always. Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.
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