I’m a local freelance writer and I came across your blogs on LinkedIn. You and I seem to turn up in a lot of the same searches together. Or at least I get the “people who viewed your profile also looked at…” and your name is often there.

I have not Wordled yet though many of my friends do. After reading your entry, I shall go try it out on my next assignment. I’m just afraid that if it is too much fun, I will use it as a stalling technique when I’m feeling less than inspired.

Warm regards,
Cindy Foster Grace

I totally agree with you!

Wordle is a quick & dirty brand exercise — not a complete one! Using it as a “brand eye opener” has value in that it provides copy insight.

If I want to be “fun” — it’s irritating and counterproductive if I write “fun, fun, fun”. You’re correct: playful colors, amusing sound effects — and your pogo stick imagery speak louder than words!

The “web copy” exercise for Search Engine Optimization is more to the point. I’ve actually chatted with folks who want very badly to rank for a search term — but don’t include the search term in their copy. (Really!)

Wordle provides a visual representation of the word density of copy. That can be a helpful aide for explaining the importance of copy to a client who may be overly focused on design elements. (It happens a ton.)

Come to think of it — a formula for prominence of the words would be kind of cool, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

After reflecting on Wordle, I’m not sure I’d be comfortable calling it a “brand exercise”. At least, not a complete one.

I think it’s more of a “content exercise” — and sure, content is certainly part of your brand.

But Wordle provides content sucked out of the context, and that context provides such a large part of the brand experience.

For example – what Wordle returns for my home page is probably similar (minus the big “Boyink”)to many of my competitors. But what it strips away is the playfulness / casualness / fun aspect I’ve tried to communicate via the design, imagery and copy.

A handy tool…sure…but just don’t forget to look at the whole picture.

Actually what it might be useful for is finding out what the possible search engine profile of a given site might be.