Abbreviations and other web traffic killers

Many businesses use jargon or abbreviations on their websites that confuse customers

Every industry has its own jargon. Having worked in or with the education, psychology, security and entertainment sectors I can confidently tell you that we all love our TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms). We think it's important to use the acronyms and jargon of our sector to make us appear to be one of the gang, in the know or an authorititive voice.

I have increasingly come to see that this is utter nonsense and our use of jargon is actually more to do with fear and obfuscation than anything else.

The problem from a marketing perspective is that three letter acronyms are so pervasive that there are many different meanings for a single acronym. Some people are happy to spend money on generating traffic based on an acronym without realising that they may be pulling entirely inappropriate visitors to their site. It is sometimes only when you do proper keyword research that you find that the same abbreviation means something different to a different group of people.

To take one simple example, the Letters ACE stand for at least 50 different bodies, from a London based arts funding organisation to an American organization dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation of roller coasters.

So, be very careful with acronyms unless you want to waste your money attracting the wrong audience to your website.

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