Quality Content is not just Keywords
For the past several days I've been having this massive pain in my left hip. I know what it is...I've been sitting at my computer for far too long every day trying to get my business up and running. I have not been working out or even going for a walk.
This morning I decided to google some stretches for my hip flexor, hamstring and quad and I came across a site that promised to teach me some great stretches. As I was reading I got really irritated and very shortly left the site.
Why? Because although there was probably great content, the grammer, punctuation and spelling were atrocious and I just didn't believe that the person writing this article was an "authority". I could not trust the content.
Now some of you many say "Shut-up Cherie Judgey-McJudgerton!". But here's the thing...you want to be seen as an authority on whatever subject you're writing about and if your writing looks like my 4 year old great-niece did it, you will not be taken seriously and people will click away from your site.
Here's some tips for making sure your content is up to scratch:
1. Proofread your article. If there is a red underline, that word is spelled incorrectly...fix it!
2. Text writing - this is not an acceptable form of writing unless you are trying to make a point. "UR" is not acceptable, "you are" is.
3. A period "." is followed by 2 spaces before the new sentence starts. A comma "," is followed by 1 space. Here's a great site to help if you aren't familiar with the rules
http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/punctuation...
4. Run on sentences. If your sentence takes up a whole paragraph of 5 or 6 lines, it needs to be broken up into smaller more readable sentences. Chances are you have too many thoughts for just that one sentence.
5. A capital letter follows a period, is used in the word "I", and is used for people's names and for places (eg. I come from Calgary, not calgary).
I'm not saying that you have to be English-Professor-Perfect in your writing. But you must show some professionalism to be taken seriously. If people take you seriously, they will trust you, and, if they trust you they will buy.
I must go and do some stretches now.
I hope this was helpful! Have a great day.
Cherie
Recent Comments
7
I agree, Cherie. If the grammar, spelling and punctuation is awful, I won't stay. It's just too hard to read.
Barry
the more I study the language, on the same course as many here EnglishPapa, the more I understand that a lot depends on the content in each particular section, both in terms of learning spelling and vocabulary, and in terms of grammar, so before writing an article, I would still first study the language, and then develop all the other professional features
Well, Cherie,
I do agree with you on grammar. I find that when people write there will be mistakes, but proofread and if you do not know grammar very well then use a grammar helper. Grammarly is good but still there are mistakes with that program.
It definitely would help some people!
Sheila
We are but human and there will be mistakes. But if we take a little time and effort our content could be better. Thanks for the tip about Grammerly!
Cherie
See more comments
Hi Cherie
I know what you are referring to about the stretching, I am in the same predicament. Since starting at WA I bearly come up for air.
As for my proof reading abilities it's not perfect! I have a tendency to go back 2-3 days later and proof read my material again. I'm always finding an error or two that I initially missed. I think if I slow down I'll get it on the first go.
Because my posts are automatically posted socially I have to be so careful with errors! Awesome reading and a great reminder Cherie.
Kind Regards
Michelle
P.S there is no spellcheck on here, it's not my fault lol
Thanks for the reply Michelle. Honestly...I don't expect perfection, cuz that would be silly! Everybody knows that I'm not perfect, that's for sure. But I do think that folks need to take a bit of time to proof read, edit and get it as good as possible.
I know sometimes I'll be proofreading something and my brain is telling me that the word I'm seeing is there when in fact it isn't. Probably a good idea to go back the next day and give it a read.
Cherie