Do I really need proofreader? Can’t I just proofread my own work? How hard can it be?
So, you’ve written your copy and it sounds great. You’ve read it again and again (and again). Plus, you know how to spell and have a reasonable grasp of grammar. And, of course, you have spell-check and grammar checking software. So, do you really need a professional proofreader?
After all, everyone in every workplace is working to ever-tighter budgets – can you justify a professional proofread?
Well, spell-check software is great – to an extent. It has its place. It can pick up obvious spelling errors but, proofreading isn’t just about the spelling – there’s a bunch of problems that spell- and grammar-check software just isn't able to detect:
A spell check won’t find the errors that happen in real names.
A spell check won’t pick up when you’ve used two different – but correct – ways of spelling the same word (learnt and learned, focused and focussed).
It might not pick up the instances when you’ve duplicated a word in a sentence, or left it out altogether.
A spell check won’t pick up errors in consistency. (Consider hyphens – one of the most common areas where inconsistency crops up – co-operative or cooperative, geopolitical or geo-political… the list is endless.)
A proofreader can spot an awkward type of sentence that either doesn’t quite make sense or that just doesn’t read very well.
A good proofreader will spot factual errors in your writing – wrong dates for historical events, wrong names used.
Your text – particularly web content and marketing content – may have its own unique style which plays around with the usual rules of spelling and grammar – you may consistently not capitalise certain words, for example. A professional proofreader can work to your individual style – something that spell-check software can struggle with.
Proofreaders are great a spotting minor issues (and major issues!) with layout: the inconsistent use of fonts, the type and size, inadvertent use of bold, inconsistency in spacing, to name but a few.
Sometimes, errors can creep in after you have done your proofread. This is a particular problem when you have more than one person working on the same document. Versions can get mixed-up and chaos can ensue: people may be working on different versions of the same document and communication as to whether something has been checked/not-checked very easily becomes muddled.
Does the odd typo matter?
So, what’s the big deal? Does it matter? Everyone makes mistakes – will you really be harshly judged for a stray apostrophe?
Well, poor spelling and grammar never give a good impression. Sloppy spelling can impact the trust that people have in what it is you are trying to communicate to them. If you can’t get the spelling and grammar right they’re less likely to have trust in what you are saying to them.
Web content that is littered with spelling and grammar errors can be even more problematic. It can lead to a high bounce rate – a high bounce rate means people enter your website but quickly leave after viewing only a single page. And it stands to reason: if a website is littered with errors, it looks unprofessional and you are more likely to click away. It can also impact search rankings -
And this is not a problem that affects only small businesses – large businesses have made large, expensive mistakes: see H&M’s (not so) Genious T-shirt
After all, everyone in every workplace is working to ever-tighter budgets – can you justify a professional proofread?
Well, spell-check software is great – to an extent. It has its place. It can pick up obvious spelling errors but, proofreading isn’t just about the spelling – there’s a bunch of problems that spell- and grammar-check software just isn't able to detect:
A spell check won’t find the errors that happen in real names.
A spell check won’t pick up when you’ve used two different – but correct – ways of spelling the same word (learnt and learned, focused and focussed).
It might not pick up the instances when you’ve duplicated a word in a sentence, or left it out altogether.
A spell check won’t pick up errors in consistency. (Consider hyphens – one of the most common areas where inconsistency crops up – co-operative or cooperative, geopolitical or geo-political… the list is endless.)
A proofreader can spot an awkward type of sentence that either doesn’t quite make sense or that just doesn’t read very well.
A good proofreader will spot factual errors in your writing – wrong dates for historical events, wrong names used.
Your text – particularly web content and marketing content – may have its own unique style which plays around with the usual rules of spelling and grammar – you may consistently not capitalise certain words, for example. A professional proofreader can work to your individual style – something that spell-check software can struggle with.
Proofreaders are great a spotting minor issues (and major issues!) with layout: the inconsistent use of fonts, the type and size, inadvertent use of bold, inconsistency in spacing, to name but a few.
Sometimes, errors can creep in after you have done your proofread. This is a particular problem when you have more than one person working on the same document. Versions can get mixed-up and chaos can ensue: people may be working on different versions of the same document and communication as to whether something has been checked/not-checked very easily becomes muddled.
Does the odd typo matter?
So, what’s the big deal? Does it matter? Everyone makes mistakes – will you really be harshly judged for a stray apostrophe?
Well, poor spelling and grammar never give a good impression. Sloppy spelling can impact the trust that people have in what it is you are trying to communicate to them. If you can’t get the spelling and grammar right they’re less likely to have trust in what you are saying to them.
Web content that is littered with spelling and grammar errors can be even more problematic. It can lead to a high bounce rate – a high bounce rate means people enter your website but quickly leave after viewing only a single page. And it stands to reason: if a website is littered with errors, it looks unprofessional and you are more likely to click away. It can also impact search rankings -
And this is not a problem that affects only small businesses – large businesses have made large, expensive mistakes: see H&M’s (not so) Genious T-shirt
Bad spelling and grammar never give a good first impression. A professional proofread might seem like an unnecessary expense but it could save you a lot in the long run.
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Finally, something I’ve learned over time is that you can read your text again and again (and again) until you are convinced it is perfect. And a proofreader will – more often than not – find something. You become so familiar with your own work that you become blind to the errors. Your brain does this weird thing where it sees what it expects to see and not what is actually there in front of you, in reality, on the page.
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