Do you want to learn the best way to proofread your content before you hit publish? If so, you’re in the right place!
Whether you’re a blogger, marketer, or solopreneur, the quality of your content directly impacts your credibility and reader engagement. We found that nearly 50% of shoppers read 3-5 blog posts before making a purchase from a new business, so it’s easy to see why this aspect of your content marketing strategy is so crucial to your success.
In other words, if your content is polished and professional, you have a much better chance of turning first-time visitors into loyal customers.
Today, I will guide you through 8 proofreading tasks that will help you take your content from good to great. These strategies have worked well for me over the years, and we are confident they will work for you, too!
Why Proofreading Matters
Before we dive in and start sharing tips, it’s important to understand why proofreading is such an important piece of the puzzle. Here are a few benefits so you can better understand the value that proofreading brings to your blog as well as your content curation strategy:
- Improve Brand Image and Build Trust – Your content is often the first point of contact between your brand and potential customers. Polished, error-free writing will help you build trust and reinforce a positive brand image.
- Show that You’re Credible and Professional – Errors in your content can undermine your credibility and make your work appear sloppy. When readers encounter spelling mistakes, grammatical issues, or inconsistencies, they will likely question your brand’s authority and professionalism.
- Boost Reader Engagement – If your audience notices glaring mistakes in your article, this could distract them and pull their attention away from your content. On the other hand, a well-proofread piece allows readers to focus on your message and value proposition, which can increase engagement and comprehension.
- Increase Leads and Sales – 60% of marketers report that high-quality content generates demand and leads. So, well-crafted posts are more likely to help you reach your goals, whether that’s educating your audience, generating leads, or driving conversions.
Now that you know some of the ways proofreading can help you, let’s look at what you should perform before you hit publish on your next piece of content.
8 Proofreading Tasks for Improving Your Content
1. Check for Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar Errors
One of the first things you need to do when proofreading is review the content you want to publish for spelling, punctuation, and grammar issues.
There are plenty of tools out there that can help with this task, like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor. These tools can catch common mistakes and help you fine-tune your content. But remember, they are not perfect. For example, sometimes, it will ask you to change your wording to something needlessly complicated. You’ll need to use your best judgment when accepting changes.
This is exactly why you’ll want to flex your editing muscles alongside these tools. I suggest taking the time to read your content aloud, as this technique helps you identify awkward phrasing, run-on sentences, and other issues that might not be apparent when reading silently.
You should also pay special attention to commonly confused words, such as homophones like “their/there/they’re” or “your/you’re,” which can easily slip through automated checks.
It takes time and patience to be a good editor, but once you figure it out, this first task will become second nature.
2. Use Consistent Formatting
Consistent formatting is a must if you want to ensure people read your content to the end. On an involuntary level, we are all distracted when a pattern is broken, and that includes in what we read.
When a heading doesn’t make sense, or there’s an extra space between some paragraphs but not others, people are thrown off. Instead of putting your audience in this situation, take the time to make sure your post looks good and is properly formatted.
You can do this by checking the preview version of your post. You and a couple of team members should skim through it so you can identify any odd formatting gaps that need to be fixed.
This task doesn’t take a whole lot of time, but it’s an essential part of the process.
3. Review Sentence Structure and Flow
The structure and flow of your content should ideally keep readers engaged from start to finish. If all of your sentences and paragraphs are the same length, your post will look slightly ‘off,” which will make building engagement a bit easier said than done.
When you get to this step, read through your post and make sure you have a healthy mix of short, punchy sentences and longer, more complex sentences. This is the best way to keep readers’ attention.
You should also use this opportunity to make sure your paragraphs and sections all flow smoothly and logically. Poor transitions could confuse your audience, which isn’t good for you or them.
If you follow my previous tip and read your post out loud when proofreading, you can easily identify opportunities to improve your flow.
4. Assess Consistency in Style and Tone
I’ve found that maintaining a consistent tone and style throughout your content is crucial for creating a memorable user experience. If you switch between formal, professional, and casual without warning, people will wonder who you want to hear your message.
My advice is to take a few seconds to double-check that the language choices and phrasing align with this tone from beginning to end. Pay special attention to your use of industry jargon or technical terms so you can be sure they are relevant to your audience.
Also, if you’re writing on behalf of a brand or organization or mentioning them in your work, double-check that your content matches their style guidelines. Building consistency in tone and style helps reinforce your message and strengthen your connection with your readers.
5. Get Rid of Redundancies
Concise writing is often the best way to engage with your readers. So, while you’re reviewing your content, keep an eye out for unnecessary words or phrases that don’t add value to your content. You’ll want to be particularly mindful of repetitive concepts.
You should look for opportunities to consolidate information by combining similar sentences or removing sections that don’t benefit the audience.
Tightening your writing may seem intimidating at first. There’s a misconception that more words mean more value, but I’ve found that in most cases, you can make a much bigger impact by using fewer words.
6. Make Sure Facts and Data are Accurate
The last thing you want to do is put out content that could be construed as misinformation. Not only will this damage your reputation with long-time visitors, but it can also impact the way new people engage with your brand.
Imagine if a person’s first experience hearing about your company was about how you posted inaccurate information, and you can see why this is a big problem.
So, to maintain your integrity, double-check all statistics, dates, and other factual information in your posts. Taking a few minutes to do this during proofreading will lead to accurate, reliable content.
It’s also important to use up-to-date sources and citations so people can see where you’re getting your information. I found that this attention to detail will not only boost your credibility but also add value to your audience, which makes it more likely that they will turn to you in the future.
7. Verify Links
Now, let’s talk about verifying your links. Most web pages have a mix of internal links as well as backlinks to other websites. Before you hit publish, you should go through and make sure all of these links work as intended.
Failing to take this step could lead to readers ending up on the wrong page, which will steer them away from your content. Imagine you’re an affiliate marketer promoting a bunch of different products. One day, you post an article, and it’s the biggest one yet in terms of traffic and clicks.
But you forgot to check the links and half of your product pages are redirected to a 404 page, which means readers couldn’t buy with your code. Sounds like a nightmare, right?
Well, manually checking each link is the best way to avoid this situation. This task will also give you another chance to adjust your anchor text so each link is perfect for your audience and search engines.
8. Perform One Final Read-Through
The last thing you should do is give your content one final read through. My best piece of advice is you need to put some distance between the other steps and this one. You need fresh eyes so you can identify room for improvement or errors that you missed during the other steps.
It’s not a bad idea to pass the post to a couple of your colleagues so they can share their opinions. Since they didn’t write or do any other editing, they can give you the freshest perspective possible, which will help you refine your work so it’s ready for the public.
By the end of the article, you should determine that it’s readable, engaging, and ultimately accomplishes what you created it to do.
Conclusion
There you have it! The eight proofreading tasks above will help you create and curate better content for your audience. If you want to publish unique, engaging, and clickable content, you need to find a way to make sure your posts are high quality and stand out. In my experience, a rigorous editing process is one of the keys to making this happen.
Turn these best practices into habits, and you’ll have a much better chance at delivering polished, professional content that keeps readers coming back to your site.
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