What is proofreading and why does your business need it?
Whatever line of business you’re in, you’ll know that having an online presence is essential for retaining existing customers and attracting new ones. However, if your website or printed marketing materials are full of typos and other small slip-ups, you may be unintentionally putting people off your business.
Adding value to your business
Not everyone is an expert at spelling and grammar, and anyone can make mistakes with punctuation, so getting a professional edit and proofread of your online and printed marketing materials can have a beneficial effect on your business, instilling confidence and trust in your brand.
Quality control
Proofreading is basically quality control – it’s the final polish of your text before you release it to the world. Whether setting up a website, writing a blog post, putting together a proposal or designing a poster, it’s easy to underestimate how unprofessional and off-putting little spelling mistakes and grammatical errors look to both potential and returning customers.
As you’ll know if you've ever read anything sprinkled with typos, factual mistakes or inconsistencies, bad writing can actually be very distracting. You may not realise it, but it can also make your business look unprofessional and unreliable. It could even ruin your brand's reputation. Whatever you’re publishing, eliminating the errors in your writing reduces the risk of alienating your audience.
If you rely on your website or blog for your income, poorly written content can also affect your bank balance. It’s essential that your content is as error-free as possible to help instil confidence and trust in your brand – an important consideration to have for your readers and potential customers if you want your business to be successful.
Using a spellchecker
Free software packages (such as Grammarly, or the spellchecker that comes built-in with your word-processing software) are useful and do pick up errors. However, there are certain errors that these free packages can’t pick up, such as distinguishing the differences between correctly spelt words that have been used in the wrong context (known as homophones), such as three of the ‘favourites’ of pedants everywhere:
there, their or they’re
your or you’re
it’s or its
You can practically guarantee that if you didn’t spot your mistake, your readers almost certainly did, and in some circumstances, they will be more than happy to point it out to you (we’ve all seen the grammar police* out in force on social media!). A human with a trained pair of eyes hired to proofread your writing will pick up contextual errors such as these and will also fix any spelling, grammar and punctuation that doesn’t adhere to current principles or strays from your style guide.
*Don’t worry – proofreaders are not the grammar police! Neither are we pedants who want to shame you. We’re qualified professionals who simply want to help you to add value to your business.
Engage a professional
Unless you do it for a living, you probably wouldn’t install a new boiler yourself or rewire your house. We also know that we get much better results when we go to a trained hairstylist for a haircut or a qualified nail technician for that perfect manicure. The same theory applies to our business writing.
Not everyone is an expert at spelling and grammar, and anyone can make mistakes with punctuation. Hiring a qualified proofreader can add value to your business by tidying up your copy to help you project a professional impression across your digital and printed marketing.
During the proofreading process, your text will be meticulously reviewed, word by word and line by line. Spelling, punctuation, grammar and syntax errors will be identified, along with any style or formatting issues. Your words will also be checked for clarity, conciseness and consistency to make sure your writing flows. The end result will be professional marketing that will help you to advertise your business successfully.
As a trained proofreader and experienced content and editorial professional, I help all kinds of people from all sorts of different backgrounds – from sole traders and small businesses to freelancers and creatives – to get the most out of their online presence and printed marketing materials.
Take a look at the services I offer – no project is too big or too small, so do get in touch to discuss your requirements.
Hi, I’m Sarah – welcome to my blog!
Take a look around for resources and tips on writing, editing and proofreading.
