OK, you've got your website up and running, and are ready to start uploading articles and other page content.

Before you hit send though, take another good hard look at what you've written.

Nothing destroys your and your website's credibility more easily than BAD GRAMMAR, BAD SENTENCE STRUCTURE and frequent, obvious MISSPELLINGS!!!

After a lifetime in newsrooms, public relations and communications, I guess I've become a bit of a pedant over spelling and grammar but it irritates me no end when I see (in most cases avoidable) grammar and spelling clangers on websites I'm visiting.

We've all had the emails from 'banks' 'credit card companies' etc which are easily identified as scams because you know that no self-respecting organisation would possibly allow such grammar and sentence structure garbage to go out under its name.

But even legitimate sites can face consumer wariness and suspicion, killing its ability to generate sales.

Just a few days ago I was in a forum where someone expressed deep concern about the legitimacy of a site and product, simply because of bad grammar, bad choice of words, and some misspellings. Now, I have actually bought the product involved (a revolutionary new genealogy program), and I also know that the program developers are based in Belgium, and that English is not their first language.

How accurate do you think you'd be if your native tongue was English, but you had to write an article in Flemish or Dutch?!!

To make money on the net, to maximise sales and referrals you need maximum credibility. People who land on your pages need to be able to trust you, so make every effort to build that trust, and avoid anything that might create suspicion about you or your products.

I realise that there are many Wealthy Affiliate members for whom English is a second language, and they particularly need to be vigilant.

So at the most basic level, USE YOUR SPELLCHECKER!!

Most text editing programs like MSWord will also tell you when your sentence structure and grammar don't make the grade.

READ OUT LOUD WHAT YOU'VE WRITTEN!

Does it sound right? Is it fluent?

GET SOMEONE ELSE TO PROOF READ YOUR CONTENT BEFORE UPLOADING!

Fresh eyes will often spot what you've missed through being too close to your %u2018babies'. If you have a friend who has more knowledge of English than you, ask for their help.

Alternatively ENLIST THE HELP OF WA COLLEAGUES such as me to cast a quick eye over your material. (Don't worry; I won't pinch any of your ideas!!)

Make 'WRITE IT RIGHT' one of your WA mantras!!



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raven354 Premium
So, what is all this jibberish in your article?
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It is also important that you do not make a mistake with any code you use to format your website or else you might have it spread across the screen as gibberish.

CW
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greg mc Premium
It is also important that you do not make a mistake with any code you use to format your website or else you might have it spread across the screen as gibberish.

CW
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ellyngeorge Premium
You are so right about spelling and grammar! Spelling is one of my "things" when I look at a website because, as you say, no self-respecting business person would present some of the websites I've seen over time.

Even allowing for someone not yet fluent in English, the lack of correct spelling and grammar sticks out as a huge warning signal for me.
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Premium
You are so right about spelling and grammar! Spelling is one of my "things" when I look at a website because, as you say, no self-respecting business person would present some of the websites I've seen over time.

Even allowing for someone not yet fluent in English, the lack of correct spelling and grammar sticks out as a huge warning signal for me.
Reply
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