If you are writing content for your company or your blog, there is an easy way for you to set yourself apart from your competition: proofread what you write before you publish it. I find it unfortunate that it would even occur to me to point that out, but I have noticed an alarming amount of careless spelling and proofreading lately, whether in blogs, online news sites or even the hard copy of the newspaper here in town, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (Maybe especially the hard copy of the newspaper here in town, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as they have been terrible offenders the last few weeks).
Let me first pause and point out what this post is not about: grammar. Grammar is another issue entirely and another post, and while it is not necessary for you to be an expert on the subject, you should read up on it a little and brush up on the basics. If you run a Google search on the topic, you will find that there are lots of helpful articles written about avoiding the most common grammatical errors. Make sure you aren’t making any of those and you are probably alright. Anything more that you can learn is a bonus. My knowledge and use of grammar is far from perfect, but I think I avoid the obvious mistakes and you should strive to do the same.
Now back to the story at hand. I am not going to call anyone out by name, (other than the St. Louis Post-Dispatch), but I see a lack of proofreading before publishing everywhere. I have become a more careful checker of my work because of my experience in the printing field, where I have literally paid real dollars for not proofreading before publishing. It may not be an issue of real dollars for you, but you should become a nit-picky checker of your work before you publish it as well.
So what can you do to avoid proofreading mistakes? How about I start my answer with a question. How many times do you read back through your posts before publishing? I would recommend a couple at least. Additionally, use the preview feature if you have one. I preview my work so I can see what my post is going to look like when I publish it instead of trying to check it in the composing window with all the html code mixed in between the text.
Using a spell checking program is a good start, but only a start. They work to some extent, but not completely. If you misspell a word, but do so as another real word, like typing gown when you meant town, the program is not going to catch that. Nor is it going to catch your mistake if you leave a word out, or add an extra one. You have to search manually for those.
Sometimes it helps to change the medium. If you have a hard time catching mistakes on the screen, print out your post. If you find that you are still having a hard time catching errors, have someone else proofread your articles for you. Again, armed with knowledge from my printing background, I have come to learn that some people are just better proofreaders than others. If it is not a strength, ask for help. Sometimes it is also helpful for me if I come back to a post after taking a break from proofreading it.
Don’t rush out a post. If you can not take the time right then to carefully inspect it, don’t publish it. Wait until you have more time to devote to it, because if you are rushing, you are making mistakes somewhere.
Finally, I would recommend that you check your posts a day or two after you publish them. If a mistake slips by you or a picture goes haywire, edit the post to fix the mistake. That happens to me all the time, and while some people surely saw the mistake, at least it is correct going forward.
The bottom line is that I am not trying to be a know-it-all, I am just trying to help. I have made plenty of mistakes myself. But I am becoming increasingly vigilant about making them going forward, and you should be as well. Correct spelling is one of those things that your readers won’t notice, until you make mistakes. Mistakes cause your readers to lose focus on what you are saying, and think about your spelling errors instead. With as much competition for eyeballs as there is out there, you can not afford to let that happen.
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