Weather posting a page to your Website, writing a letter to a customer, or submitting an article for publication, it is extremely important to demonstrate how professional you are. Not only does a series of spelling and grammatical errors show a discourtesy to your readers, it makes you look amateurish. Potential customers will lose any trust they may have had in your business. Only a week or so ago, I read a classified ad asking me to visit their "sight" - needless to say I did not bother. If someone does not take care over their advertising, how reliable is the rest of their business?
Perhaps you are not very good at spelling - or typing - and your articles and letters are riddled with mistakes (probably when you were working for an employer you had a secretary to type your male) so, what are you going to do?
The first thing, but NOT the only thing, is to use your spellchecker. This is fine to get rid of the typos and obvious spelling mistakes, but does not correct any instances of you typing in the wrong word e.g. there (denoting a place) or their (belonging to them).
So, read your work back after you have written it. Many people find that actually reading out loud is a great way of spotting errors. If it is an important item, print it off and read it a little while after you have typed it. Ideally, get someone else to reed it and mark off any errors. When I was involved in publishing, it was always a strict rule, even with the most experienced writers, to get someone else to check their work. It is surprising how often one is unable to spot one's own mistakes.
So to summarise, use your spellchecker, re-read the item yourself, print out and proof read and ideally get someone else to do the proof reading.
One last point, make allowances for the fact that some articles are written in "British" English, as opposed to "American" English. So if you see colour spelled color, or centre spelled center, the author has not misspelled the word, he is just likely to be American (or at least has the American version of English on his spellchecker.)
And finally, there are three deliberate mistakes in this article where I have intentionally used the wrong word (at least I HOPE there are only three!!) in order to demonstrate the point I am making. The first three readers to email me detailing the errors will each be given a FREE ad in my newsletter and in the classified sevtion of my Web Site. murtagh@bigfoot.com?subject=tad
About The Author
Tony Murtagh has spent all his career involved in sales, sales management, marketing and PR. He was a UK National Sales Manger (Major Accounts) for a mobile communications company, had his own publishing company producing a monthly Business to Business magazine and has acted as a PR consultant for a number of small businesses. He is now sharing his wide experience of sales, marketing and promotion in his new web site: - murtagh@bigfoot.com?subject=tad and in a weekly e-ezine Aardvark Marketing, which you can subscribe to from the site.
shuttle from O'Hare Brocton .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareEveryone has a book inside them, or so the saying... Read More
Do you know what a query letter is? If so,... Read More
The dash--that curious mark of punctuation people use in their... Read More
Day after day, writers tend to sit for hours writing... Read More
When I asked new ezine subscribers, "What is your Number... Read More
No one is born a novel writer. But do you... Read More
All Writers need the press, especially new writers. As a... Read More
When my first book "Starting Your Own Business" was published... Read More
The following answer sounds simplistic?but think about it. The single... Read More
1. Remember publication is a business; writing is an art.... Read More
Communication is effective when we follow certain rules. These rules... Read More
Many of us have always wanted to write. We have... Read More
Agents and publishing houses have their best interests at heart,... Read More
Style manuals are all well and good, and in fact,... Read More
"You should write a book." For years, I had been... Read More
If you are a serious writer who wants to publish... Read More
Persisting With Bulldog Determination [Book excerpt from Successercising} by Rick... Read More
May I tell you about a writing technique shared by... Read More
Okay. So I'm not David Letterman. But I doubt if... Read More
Every morning I excitedly get out of bed. Just a... Read More
Creative Writing Tips ?By now you should have an idea... Read More
1. Before you write anything down define not what you... Read More
Right off the bat, I want to say that there... Read More
If you are a serious writer who wants to publish... Read More
I just finished to read a book. A story for... Read More
Chicago charter limousine service Hickory Hills ..The Big IdeaOkay. So youve figured out that you would... Read More
"If you're like me, than I'm sure you're pretty familiar... Read More
"This is just brilliant. The whole interview is incredible? I'm?... Read More
He ran up the steps and knocked on the door.... Read More
~~~Old age, to the unlearned, is winter; to the learned,... Read More
Prolific authors write; they don't just dream about it. A... Read More
People can't believe I did it, but I did. I... Read More
Everone knows that comedy is mostly about timing. If you... Read More
When one population in one century survived five wars, two... Read More
The only way to become a writer is to write.... Read More
ACCEPT, EXCEPT Not commonly seen even from unpublished writers, who... Read More
My article this issue is an excerpt from a book... Read More
I???ve spoken to hundreds of editors, employers, and project managers... Read More
Ever wondered how the most successful children's book writers get... Read More
How to avoid mistakes that undermine your credibilityYou're probably already... Read More
I'm willing to bet that quite a number of you... Read More
Or do you?Writers write. You shouldn't wait around for inspiration... Read More
Authors need to write their book according to their target... Read More
Tips for your writing journeySo, you'd like to be a... Read More
A friend and I were talking the other day about... Read More
Kallu was a tenant of Santosh Kumar Nayak. Santosh Kumar... Read More
It would be very selfless or noble of me to... Read More
When you write for international audiences, mainly directly in English,... Read More
So, the decision is final. I am a writer.Actually, I... Read More
If Ben Franklin were alive today, he would be...uh, very... Read More
Writing |