SCK - Award Winning Web Design Firm Cleveland > Main Menu > sckattered thoughts

SCKattered Thoughts

The Red Squiggle Doesn't Make the Word More Important?

May 10

By: Will Montgomery on 5/10/2010 3:45 PM

I remember having spelling tests in grade school. They were a pain to have to study for and hope to remember every little part of a word. It took me a little bit of time to get used to the i before e except after c and other letter placements that mostly worked except sometimes. The English language does everything it can to trip us up (I blame Webster). I will say one thing, those tests weren't a waste of time.

You may have the most beautifully crafted content that seems like it was handed to you on golden tablets by a choir of angels from the heavens, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a once (or five times) over to make sure it doesn't just sound good but looks good too. There are few things when reading that stop me in my tracks more than stumbling on a spelling or grammar error. If what you are saying is really enticing and doing a great job at drawing me in, then I run into the wrong form of “to” or “there” or a spelling error, it feels like I got hit in the face with a shovel. That may be an exaggeration, but it really cuts into the groove of what I'm reading. I normally stop, do a double take, then continue, though not with the same momentum I had before. If it persists, I get the impression you don't care about what you wrote, so why should I care to read it? I'm a potential customer that has been lost because I don't get what you said or what you said was just full of errors.

Pirate kitty

Before posting a blog or content to a site, have someone else read it. A fresh pair of eyes will help to pick up errors you've made. If you don't have a friend or colleague who will read it (after being sad), wait a couple of hours, print it out and read it again (and again). Mark it up and see anything you may have missed, misspelled or just didn't phrase right. Make sure to run spell check when finished, then go through and make sure the right forms of words are used. This process doesn't take a crazy amount of time to do, but can mean a lot in the long run.

If your site, newsletter or blog is full of errors, people may not come to you for your service. They'd expect it to be shoddy and full of careless errors. If ur speling all goomed up, how can anyone take you seriously (unless your audience is people who think lolspeek is a language).? That means you aren't going to be getting that sale or conversion you wanted (Icanhazcustomers?). Show your customers the respect they deserve by giving them something that is free (or as close as possible) of spelling and grammar errors.

Proofread what you write. Your audience will thank you in the long run.

Trackback Print

Location: Blogs