With any piece of professional writing, the bare minimum expectation is to ensure that everything is spelled correctly, requires precise proofreading.
Whether website content, an email newsletter or personal resume, a single misspelled word or phrase can haunt a content page, scaring off prospective clients or even cause potential employers to move very easily to the next resume.
Rather than rely on spellcheck, make proofreading a priority and master these commonly misspoken and miswritten words and phrases.
Picture This…
Imagine perusing the web for a certain service. This service, let’s call it a bank membership, features many different competitors across cyberspace. If you discover a misspelling on any section of their web copy, that may be a red flag giving you good reason to move on to a different bank altogether. After all, if their copy is sloppy, what might that say about their attention to other details or commitment to customer service?
While it’s no big deal for you, as a consumer, to click off and scroll to another bank’s website, consider what bouncing off that page could mean for the business.
Typos Can Be Taxing
From a marketing standpoint, current research shows that “U.S. businesses with bad grammar and spelling mistakes on their websites will lose almost double the number of potential customers than those with typo-free sites.”
That’s why a single spelling error could prove costly to companies, which makes proofreading so important.
Similarly, as a job applicant, you need to present a polished, near-perfect resume to the hopeful future employer. One spelling error can result in your resume not being taken seriously, or worse, not even considered beyond the error.
No matter your reading level, degree, or if you were the spelling bee champion in the fifth grade, we all make spelling errors. We type too quickly, don’t have time to edit, or maybe there are just some words we cannot master no matter how many times we use them.
For instance, consider the following common offenders. Recognize any?
The Common Offenders
The following words are commonly caught by professional proofreaders as potential pitfalls when reviewing all kinds of copy. How many of these common misspellings do you struggle with?
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
- Accommodate: Any word with double letters can easily make a person question if they are spelling it right. The easy thing to remember with ‘accommodate’ is both times when you think there is a double letter… there is!
How to Catch the Culprits
Spellcheck tools like autocorrect or Grammarly can be helpful while you’re drafting your document; however, these can’t compare to the precision promised by professional proofreading.
Other tactics include printing your draft and reading the hard copy out loud for spelling errors. Better yet, ask someone else read it!
At Waypoint Writing, we are big believers in a second set of skilled eyes for proofreading purposes. Contact us if you need professional proofreading to help showcase your strengths… especially if spelling isn’t one of them.
