What Language are You Speaking Online? Use your user's words in your articles

By Heather Fignar, Consultant
Last week I was sitting outside, having lunch with a friend. In her perfect Australian accent she made a comment about how bad the "mosie's" are. The what? Turns out that's down-under for mosquito. Her frame of reference is different and so is her "label" for those pesky creatures. This type of miscommunication is so easy on a web site, and even more frustrating there, where the user cannot ask for clarification.

This is the very problem we encountered when we recently did a site audit for a regional nonprofit. We found that they had some of the most important components for a successful web site – relevant, current content and strong brand equity. However, traffic was low and conversion nearly non-existent.

Through the process of our audit, we looked at meta data, site traffic patterns, search engine results and the words used to label their site navigation. We found that the site content and meta data both relied heavily on industry-specific terminology both in writing style and labeling. For a site visitor interested in one of their regional efforts, these terms hinder access to the significant content on the site.

In international development, an insider terms like "child well-being" is used instead of "healthy children". In environmental sectors it might be "land use" instead of "zoning." I have seen advocacy sites refer to a particular bill name, or even more confusing, some acronym. It's easy to use familiar phrasing that seems so common in your work. But remember, your typical online donor paid their electric bill or was shopping before visiting your site. They weren't just in a meeting with a bunch of experts on your nonprofit's issues.

If your site is intended to reach the general public and your donor base, take a look at how you have labeled your site. Is it full of technical or industry-specific terms? Or is the language comfortable for those less knowledgable about what you do? What words would your newest donor use when searching for your site?

We suggested that our client send out an email survey to find out what terms their constituency might use as they search on google. This will help them buy more effective keywords and create better meta data. We also recommended a change to their site navigation structure using more familiar terminology.

Your web site visitor can't look at you quizzically and ask, "What's a mosie?" They can only hit the back button and visit another site.

September 2004

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