In the world of enterprise inbound marketing, we see a lot of websites. Because of our profession, we tend to view these sites through the prism of lead generation - how effectively and how quickly a website attracts visitors and generates qualified leads.
It's useful to view inbound marketing websites as a 24/7 salesperson for a company. Lately though, it seems many of these virtual 24/7 salespeople seem to have become very polysyllabic. Words like enhancement, nurturing, automation, collaboration, synergy, and integration seem to permeate many business sites. Clearly, some of these words are necessary and common to the business vernacular. But more syllables on your website don't necessarily guarantee more leads.
Process Vs. Results
Many of these larger words appear when companies describe their processes or methodologies. If you're selling a highly technical service like liquid or gas chromatography, more syllables might be necessary to an extent. But there's no need to overdo it. Ultimately, prospects and future customers will care less about your process and more about your results. They'll naturally assume any reputable business will have repeatable, effective processes to be able to survive and thrive.
For example, if you visit a plastic surgeon's site, will you be more concerned about whether she prefers continuous subcuticular stitches or threading beads at the end of the suture or what the surgeon's gallery of before/after photos looks like? Probably the latter, if you care about results - and what your new nose or eyelids will look like.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
The above term may work well for Mary Poppins but it has too many syllables for an effective business site. Let's return to our 24/7 salesperson example. You probably wouldn't want a real salesperson inundating you with three or four syllable words, so why would a virtual salesperson be effective doing that? Simplicity breeds success. What do you do, what value does it bring, and what makes you different than anyone else doing the same thing? One or two sentences is all you should need to highlight your value either in person or on the web. Keep it simple and you'll get the lead (and the sale).
