One thing that is certain to put off a potential customer is if your website, newsletter, or social media post is littered with errors. If the writing you have produced doesn’t flow because of mistakes, your potential customers are unlikely to feel confident in your product or service.
When running a business, it is very easy to quickly tap out the words that we need to get our message across and feel that our work is done. But taking that bit of extra time to check over what we have written could be crucial in securing a sale.
Tips for spotting those niggly mistakes:
Have a quick read through what you have written. Looking through a piece of writing however long or short should just become habit. A missing letter on the front of a magazine really stands out and practically everyone will notice it!
Try reading through this paragraph quickly.
How many errors can you spot?
This remote island has a beautiful litttle bay in which to unwind and swim. Once you have cooled off take walk through the pine forest or a trip out on the lake. This old hotel overlooks the bay, where you can Enjoy a splash around in in the outdoor pool. On checking in, you will recieve a ticket for unlimited travel around the immediate area. The local cuisine is out of this world you must try it while you are there. The other side of the island is steeped in history. A lot of tourists don’t realise that the indigenous people colonized this area. From the tropical climate on this side of the island, it is clear that the ancient people did not come here for the whether?
On that first read through, most of the errors should be spotted, however when you slow the speed that you are reading right down, many more mistakes will jump out at you. If possible, read it aloud. That will force you to slow down and mistakes are often easier to spot when spoken, rather than written down. Afterall, we tend to speak a lot more than we write.
Slow it down
Try reading it through again at a much slower speed, thinking now of possible errors, such as:
The correct spelling of words: These can be wrong for all sorts of reasons. Too many letters can be typed in by accident, letters can be placed the wrong way round, the wrong word can be used for a word that sounds the same or the writer is simply unaware of the correct spelling.
Some words aren’t wrong and you have a choice in which spelling you choose, but you must then consistently use it. The use of ‘ise’ or ‘ize’ is a good example of this. The first tends to be the British spelling, the latter American. Whichever spelling is chosen, it is good practice to stick to it. Another example of this is using ‘while’ or ‘whilst’. This is again down to individual preference, but the latter is now thought of as a little old-fashioned.
Consistency is the key, so don’t change your mind half-way through writing or checking your piece, without ensuring all are the same. Don’t rely on ‘find and replace’ to make changes throughout your document either, ‘I waited for a long whilst’ would not look very good.
Commas are always something that writers endlessly agonise over, but one of the main mistakes in using them, is where they are substituted for a full stop and a new sentence. This can look sloppy and it also misses an opportunity to break the writing up.
Missing words: These should be fairly easy to spot once a piece of writing is read aloud or is scrutinised more slowly.
Repeated words can easily be put in when a writer is in full flow and has missed their mistake or where a piece has been edited and the writer has not deleted the correct number of words.
Don’t rely on the spell checker
Some people rely on a spelling and grammar check. These can be really useful tools, but they will only spot certain mistakes and sometimes will try to put them in, so beware! Homophones (words that sound the same but are spelt differently) aren’t always detected as being wrong, e.g. ‘fir’ or ‘fur’.
Don’t make reading a chore
When writing for customers, make sure that the information is in bite-sized chunks. The reader doesn’t want to think that the reading is going to be laborious. In this fast moving world, the reading needs to be instant too. To do this make sure that there is a gap between paragraphs but ensure that the writing is all evenly spaced to ensure that the layout is attractive and doesn’t deter from the content.
Editing makes all the difference
Whether you regard the editing as fun or just another job to be added to your workload, it is definitely worth doing. That polished piece of marketing is what will persuade the customer to trust you and believe in your service or product.