Writing Great Content: Know Your Editing
When I’m reading something on the internet, I can deal with a few typos. One or two words that have transposed letters or an omitted word here and there I’m basically fine with. I even do it myself from time to time. I won’t lie, it bothers me. I notice it and cringe and wonder why didn’t they catch that when they proofread it, especially when its my writing (it makes me shiver just thinking about it), but I can deal with it.
But that’s it. Anything more than that and I’m a goner, never to return, adios muchacho, goodnight and goodluck.
Am I being unreasonable? Is my reaction unusual? You know, I don’t think it is.
If you look around the internet at popular blogs one thing you will notice about all of them is that they are well edited. Is that a coincidence? I, again, think not.
There are plenty of blogs out there that are full of typos and misspellings and horrific bone chilling grammar and, lo and behold, none of them ever amount to anything. Some of them may even express some interesting concepts and offer great insights into particular niches but it doesn’t matter. If your blog is not well edited, it will never be successful.
That’s why the most important step to creating great content for your blog is to make sure you edit, proofread, edit again, spell check, edit, read it aloud and then do some editing. Okay, that might be overkill, but I hope you are getting the idea that good editing is crucial to the success of your blog.
Its not that people are inherently grammar Nazis. Its just that reading is a lot to ask of people. If they don’t think you are putting forth as much effort in producing the words as they are putting into reading them, you aren’t likely to attract many return readers.
In my opinion, the best method for self editing your content before posting it to your blog is to first use a good spell checker and then read the writing aloud. By actually speaking the words aloud you will greatly improve your chances of catching omitted words or improper usages.
Whatever method you use just make sure you take the time to edit to the best of your ability. Trust me, there is no such thing as great writing that is full of errors and there is no error free writing that is all that bad. If your content is well edited then you are already over halfway to the well written, informative and interesting content your blog needs to be a success.