Why failing to proofread is losing you business

Mistakes in your marketing cost you customers and sales. Online errors can affect your search rankings, and sloppy spelling drives potential customers to question your credibility – and buy from your competitors.

We’ve all seen examples of pitiful proofreading that make us cringe. How do you make sure your business isn’t next in line for the hall of shame?

The reality

You’re under pressure.

Your inbox is full of unanswered messages, your ‘to do’ list keeps get longer and there are never enough hours in the day… it’s no surprise you end up cutting corners.

You’re too close to your own work to proofread it yourself, and your colleagues are just as busy so there’s no point asking them for help.

Avoid the pitfalls of pitiful proofreading

Your marketing literature, website and social media accounts are often the first contact potential clients have with your business.

You budget for design, print and copywriting – yet how often do you risk your investment by skimping on proofreading…

…then find embarrassing typos in the finished product?

A 2022 study found 97 per cent of UK consumers were put off by bad spelling and grammar.

Can you afford to lose business?

Spellcheck schmellcheck

So you don’t have time to proofread but you’ve run a spellcheck so it’s okay, right?

Wrong.

Spellcheck doesn’t know if you’ve used the right word, or missed one out – it only knows whether the words you’ve used are spelled incorrectly (that’s one C, two Rs).

Computers can’t check context: they don’t know if you meant there, their or they’re, affect or effect, loose or lose.

And – oops! – you just spelt manager as manger. Sorry, it won’t spot that either. P45 anyone?

Each time you rely on spellcheck you risk mistakes and errors in your writing.

Homophones – words that sound the same, but have different spellings and different meanings, like the examples below – are partly to blame:

• your, you’re
• to, too, two
• there, they’re, their
• sight, site
• board, bored

But don’t worry! The Little Book of Confusables 1 + 2 have your back!

For just £11.95, my four-times award-winning books take the mystery out of over 1,000 misused words with fun, memorable tips that’ll help you avoid embarrassing mistakes.

So, don’t sack your spellchecker, but don’t rely on it to do your job for you – it’s never a substitute for proofreading.

Consider professional proofreading as security on your investment. It may be another expense, but it’ll pay for itself many times over.

As the saying goes, ‘There’s never time to do it right, but always time to do it again.’

Talk to a professional – don’t learn the hard way.