Swearing - the use of offensive language and blasphemy - the act of insulting or showing contempt or irreverence to (a) God(s)

Bear with me a minute while I describe a website that was the subject of a discussion here at Wealthy Affiliate some months ago. I get a little 'heated' about this subject so you'll have to bear with that also!

It was the sales page for a platform similar (I use the word loosely!) to Wealthy Affiliate with all the normal internet marketing sales spiel. This website was 'eye-catching' for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, it used a near-naked model (I'm no prude, but it was the kind of picture you'd normally see on a raunchy swimwear ad, not on a 'business' website.) advertising a course created by a couple of internet 'gurus' who were going to turn you into a marketing expert and multi-millionaire within a few weeks.

Secondly, a very quick click-through showed page after page of these gurus selling an extremely highly-priced product - and every sentence contained swearing. Not just a few damns or 'scheisses' but full-on, navy-blue wharfie-speak. The atmosphere was akin to a bad Friday night at an outback watering hole:-)

OK - is it wrong to use swearing in a website? Is it damaging to your credibility? Is it discourteous, rude, improper use of English?

No, of course it's not - if your website is about outback pubs or oil rigs or Australian truckies!

But - there's a time, place and website for everything:-)

I recently reviewed a website put together by a lovely young woman who was selling the idea of how to be a mum and make money from home. Excellent idea, quite neatly put together, fairly decent English, and the photos of her gorgeous daughter made you go all mushy inside. Then she spoiled it. There was absolutely no need for the 'f-word' but there it was, used twice in a post about her beautiful sleeping child. It was like finding a caterpillar in a salad or hearing a discordant clash of cymbals in a lullaby!

Unnecessary. Stupid. Ugly. What was the point?

This is just my opinion OK - you are under no obligation to take my advice (ha!) but as a general rule, keep swearing out of your website, unless you have a very specific reason for using it. And even then - it's kind of unintelligent! If you have to use a swear word, then it seems to indicate that you are not smart enough to think of an alternative word.

Just a quick word about blasphemy. It doesn't matter what your religious affiliation is or whether you have none at all. If you are going to risk using blasphemy in your website, you risk offending a very large percentage of your potential visitors! More than 8 in 10 people identify with some religious belief - can you afford the possibility of offending that high a percentage? It's just another form of courtesy - be respectful of other people's beliefs and you don't run the risk of offending anyone. Simple!

Finally, just a quick word about attitude, then we'll move on to competition - another good reason to watch your English carefully.