I was recently asked to explain to a client what the cybercrime called Phishing is.
After giving my explanation I realized there are many “unique” terms common in my industry that could use a quick explanation to make conversations less confusing and more effective.
Does your profession often use terms that others misunderstand or misuse?
Good communication is key to any successful activity. If you and I are talking face-to-face I can usually tell when I may have used a word that confused you. I would then backtrack and make sure I explained what I meant before we would continue our conversation.
Problem
Online we don’t have that immediate visual feedback or the ability to occasionally take a pause and explain something better to someone.
Solution
A simple way of to clear up confusion about terminology in written format is to have confusing words linked to a definition of the word. Essentially, a “glossary of terms” appended to your content (thank you High School Professional Writing class).
So, I searched for a way to add a glossary to my website… The nice thing about WordPress is that can always add new features to your website.
KEY REQUIREMENTS: It had to take as little of my time as possible to add new words to it and be super easy for myself and my readers to use.
As you might have guessed, there are several software plugins that can do this. I love how reviewing, testing and evaluating software is a part of my daily work. 🙂
How It Works
My chosen glossary solution will auto-magically link words to a short description of that word, as long as the word is listed in my glossary.
I create glossary items and their descriptions just like any other article. The glossary item is the title of the article, the content is the description. Nothing new to learn, and the software does the linking automatically without any effort on my part.
No matter how many times I write about a topic and use a particular word, my website will now create a link for that glossary defined word whenever it is shown to the reader.
Example
To put this new feature to use, I took inspiration from my conversation about phishing (and a very lengthy Wikipedia article) to create my own definition of the term. Creating the glossary item was the same easy process as with creating any other article on my website.
So, anytime I write the word PHISHING, with capitalization or not, it will become a linked word that when clicked, sends people to my definition of the word.
I honestly think that having this feature will reduce confusion and help me bridge gaps in my reader’s knowledge about specific terms used in my writing online.
What do you think? Could you imagine this feature being useful on your website?
