Contributed by Alexis Ravey
Consider yourself a super speller or grammar guru, noting each “i” before “e” mix-up or dangling modifier saying that “the car,” not “you” drove? Even if you aren’t an English expert, you likely notice typos and other errors in marketing collateral. Don’t think your company’s prospects care? Think again.
Consider these comments on the mainstream network Linkedin from all types of people that tell a whole story on the damage typos can do. Simply said, they won’t support companies that “can’t” spell. And according to a BBC News article, “An analysis of website figures shows a single spelling mistake can cut online sales in half,” as readers doubt the credibility of the website.
Keep in mind that spell check may not be enough. Only using it could make the difference between writing “pubic” vs. “public.” Ew, but it’s true.
Though you can likely overlook certain traditional grammar rules—especially to maintain a conversational tone in select marketing pieces, you should follow the more widely known rules, such as noun/pronoun agreement. Why? To protect credibility, promote readability and prevent distraction. After all, you certainly don’t want the reader to focus on the error rather than your message.
Poor spelling and grammar can also affect your website rankings on search engines, according to Google. “We noticed a while ago that, if you look at the PageRank of a page—how reputable we think a particular page or site is—the ability to spell correlates relatively well with that. So, the reputable sites tend to spell better and the sites that are lower PageRank, or very low PageRank, tend not to spell as well,” said the company’s webspam head, Matt Cutts. So even if you put tons of work into your website and SEO, errors could negatively impact the perceived importance of your site.
In other words, if your company seemingly doesn’t spend time and effort on conveying information through accurate, readable writing, why would your prospects think you’d spend time and effort on earning and keeping their business? Avoid eye rolls, maintain interest and most importantly, make sales by writing and editing to the rules, proofreading your work, proofing it again and asking others to proof it. One fool-proof way to ensure intelligent copy? Seriously consider using a professional.