Victoria – I agree, companies should consider hiring a professional to do their web copy if they do not have the correct resources in house. And even if they do, hiring someone with distance from the company and maybe even its politics often helps to provide objective copy. You know: seeing, wood, trees and all that. Such a shame when they spend so much on a design and then scrimp on the words; a case of choosing form over function.

Peter – yes, exclamation marks should be saved for emphasis only (a bit like swear words?). You’re absolutely right about the enthusiastic use of them in recruitment ads (in every country). On that note, badly written job vacancies drive me up the wall too…

“Spanish Speaking Siebel CRM Professionals!!”

Aaaagh, drives me beserk!

Nice post. My pet hatred in copy is the lazy use of exclamation marks to make a statement seem more interesting, like in the title of this vacancy on Infojobs:

“Recepcionista-Assistant con alto nivel de Inglés ! ”

What’s so damned fantastic about that statement!

Two other words drive me over the edge: “providing” and “offering”. Oh, and one more: “designed to”. Egads! What a waste of space. So many words in the English language, yet these are used ad nauseum.

Here’s the solution I propose: Hire a professional copywriter! You wouldn’t call a fireman to clean your carpets, or an accountant to fix your plumbing. Why attempt to write your own copy? Leave it to the professionals for a dynamic end result that might actually help you achieve higher sales.

Another excellent resource is Peter Bowler’s “The Superior Person’s Field Guide to Deceitful, Deceptive and Downright Dangerous Language”…a tongue-in-cheek expose of corporate-speak, and advice on how to stop the madness. If companies insist on writing their own copy, at least they can do a bit of research to improve their skills.

Helen, loved your rewrite! Here’s another one:

Guardian Sustainable Business is a dynamic source of news, data and intelligence for professionals working to achieve sustainable organisations. Guardian’s team of vibrant editors and business analysts power the service, to help you attain a sustainable business platform unlike any other.

We’re not picking on you, Guardian! We just want to help you be wildly successful.