The “Flowery Language” Trap
I recently took a metaphorical sledgehammer to my own website copy.
For years, I let my love of words get in the way of plain communication. I was using what I call “Flowery language”—clever, poetic phrasing that felt satisfying to write, but required the reader to do mental gymnastics to figure out what I actually did.
I thought it made me look creative. In reality, it was the enemy of clarity.
If a prospect has to decode your prose, they simply click away. The same is true for video: if your first ten seconds are filled with clever metaphors instead of a direct answer, the viewer scrolls.
Auditing Copy with an AI Critic
To break my habit of writing clever copy, I brought in AI—not to write for me, but to act as an unflinching critic.
I fed my site copy and video scripts into ChatGPT with a direct instruction: “Act as an exhausted, time-poor prospective client. Tell me where this copy is vague, where I am trying to sound clever, and what question I am failing to answer.”
The verdict was brutal, but necessary:
- I was spending three paragraphs setting up context before stating the offer
- I was using broadcast production terms that my target audience didn’t care about.
- I was prioritising style over instant comprehension
I spent a week stripping out the fluff, cutting the adjectives, and simplifying every heading.
The 3-Second Rule for Humans and AI Search Engines
We now operate in a world where your site and video content are read by two distinct audiences: human prospects and AI search engines. Both value the exact same thing: immediate clarity.
When a human prospect lands on your page or watches your video hook, they silently ask three questions:
- Who is this for?
- What problem does this solve?
- What do I do next?
If your messaging fails to answer those three questions in the first three seconds, the human leaves.
Simultaneously, AI search engines crawl your content looking for direct, unambiguous definitions and key takeaways. If your page is buried in poetic preamble, the AI cannot summarise or cite you as an authority.
Cleverness feels good to write. Clarity is what pays the bills.
