Does it pique your interest to peek at a post on top of a peak?

Ok, that headline makes no sense.

But neither did the original topper:

Insider’s PEAK into the NO Excuses Summit

I get the wordplay: Peak (the tippy-top of a mountain) and Summit (the same).

Except the correct word is PEEK (as in peek-aboo, we see you make a grammatical misstep). Word play is fine — hey, I’m all for it. But you do have to use the correct words in the appropriate context. Effective communication trumps clever writing.

However, my interest was piqued (irritated OR captivated) enough to keep reading. Which means, in the land of headline-writing, the writer is halfway home.

I also wanted to see if she was going to show me how this summit is going to drive my business to its peak: She might have deliberately chosen the wrong word to pull me in to her writing web — a win for her if so.  If that was her intent, it mis-fired, leading me back to the distinction between peek, peak, and effective communication.

But I was invited to attend a free webinar. This offer should have been the headline in the first place, not some nugget buried at the end of her post, and not some offer to peak at a summit.

The real lesson:
Your call to action should be the peak of your writing: Copywriting is about sales, or sharing information that leads to sales. Therefore, your headline should state the benefit of reading further. In this case, a free webinar. Time, date, how to join in are part of the body copy. What gets me to read is the word FREE, followed by what I’ll learn for my time invested, and how I will benefit.

And that is how you pique interest in a summit that helps you reach a professional peak.

We commiserate with your compensation, which is commensurate with experience.

What happens when spell check can’t save the day

From a job posting on Craigslist:
Compensation commiserate with experience

Come again?
This just struck my funny bone: A greeting card company located in the Pacific Northwest is hiring. Only problem is that their compensation (salary) is commiserate (we’re sorry to say) with experience.

The word we’re looking for here is commensurate, which means corresponding in amount, magnitude or degree. As in, you will be paid in accordance with your experience.

Commiserate means to feel or express sorrow or sympathy.

There’s quirky humor in the idea that a greeting card writer (specializing in sympathy cards) will be commiserated for her experience.

Even stranger (to me) is a faux pas like this coming from a company that stakes its reputation on effective communication.

There are times when spell check does you no good. This is one of them.
There are times when people truly don’t know the difference between two words. This might have happened.

Careful editing – which includes having a co-worker review your copy – will ensure that your words work…your company’s credibility is preserved…and some wise-cracking rich writer can’t commiserate with you about broadcasting your boo-boo.