I think it is appropriate for the first blog in what will be an ongoing series about writing and editing to be about something so simple and basic, yet increasingly rare: proofreading.
In the age of spell check and autocorrect, proofreading seems to be going the way of the typewriter. With technology available to help us, many people think manual proofreading is obsolete, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Computers make mistakes just like the people who operate them. Or sometimes they just don’t catch your mistakes. It’s easy enough to mix up “effect” and “affect,” and your spell checker might not always catch it, especially if you spelled the word correctly. This is becoming increasingly true for AI as well. AI is one tool of many, and sometimes, it’s not the right tool for the job. AI can make mistakes, and it’s even gotten lawyers sanctioned. While AI has it’s uses, in the legal realm, it’s a few queries away from getting your law firm in trouble.
Grammatical Mistakes Are a Turnoff for Website Visitors
A surefire way to bring down credibility fast? Leave typos on your front page.
We all make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean they don’t look sloppy on your website. Would you hire someone with typos in their resume? Probably not, right? Employ the logic that if you wouldn’t hire someone who doesn’t take the time to double-check their work, someone else is probably thinking the same thing if your website contains typos, bad formatting, or poor grammar.
If I go to your website and see a bunch of typos, there is a good chance I’m going to leave your website and find another one. Your website is an asset; it’s what potential clients come to before making a decision about whether to call you or not. If you fail to catch grammatical or spelling errors on your website, those mistakes could mean the difference between landing and losing a client. Long gone are the days of letting a paralegal or secretary create a website. Your website must be able to grab potential client’s attention through content, design, and usability, and make the choice to hire you easy and effortless.
Your website needs to make an effort to enable contacting you as easy as possible, and typos and grammatical errors can make the messaging confusing and unprofessional. This is why proofreading is so important. It’s a critical step not only in writing content, but in user experience, as well.
Proofread! It’s Worthy of Your Time
Proofread, proofread, PROOFREAD. Proofread it once and then give it to someone else to read. All you need is a second pair of eyes to tell you that you misspelled “Wednesday” or that you mixed up “there” and “their.” You can even write it up and then check it the next morning with a fresh pair of eyes.
Take ten minutes to proofread your work. You won’t regret it.
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