Several weeks back a friend questioned whether she should edit her posts, sharing that sometimes afterwards she is notified by readers of typos or simply corrections to her stats. I encouraged her to take advantage of the fact that her online presence is dynamic and make those corrections. Why? Because typos and inaccuracies reflected badly on her personally and professionally.
Last week I accepted an invitation from a client to proofread her website. “How long would that take?” she asked. I assured her that it would not take long and that she would receive value from my fee.
Today I finished proofing the site. It was an interesting experience because while the site was filled with some great thoughts and very detailed information, it was apparent to me that most of it had been written using a web editor or content management solution that did not have a spell or grammar checker.
How big of a problem was this for her business? I considered it to be fairly important because to me it speaks not only to her credibility but to her attention to detail. Would you hire a CPA who didn’t pay attention to the details? What about an attorney? Wouldn’t it concern you if your dentist wasn’t detail-oriented?
Now, to her credit, the site had just been completed and she was taking the important step of having it proofed. Unfortunately not everyone is so detail-oriented and in fact many folks deem proof-reading downright unnecessary. But, of course, you already knew that. You’ve been to their website, and subsequently decided to do business elsewhere, right?
Check out these tips for proofreading.
And if you hire a pro, here is a decoder for proofreaders’ marks.