Editing is an important part of the online content writing process. Not only do you want everything polished and error-free but you want to also reach your goal of appealing to your desired target audience.
When you don’t have anyone proofreading your work, this leaves room for errors that you might not catch. Here are some tips for editing online content…
Let It Rest
Rushing to publish leaves room for error. After you’ve written something, it’s a good idea to let it rest before you proofread it. It’s often easier to see errors once there has been some time and space between the initial draft and the final edit.
Spelling And Grammar Check
Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar check feature is good but it’s not without fault. It may suggest grammar changes when you know that your text says precisely what you want it to say and it may overlook errors in typing. Beyond trusting it to tell you when you’ve made an error, it’s important to read your text thoroughly as well.
If you have trouble with this, you can also download programs that read your text aloud to you. When it’s read to you, this can help you uncover problems you’ve overlooked.
Preview Content Before Publishing
If you are adding content to a system that allows you to preview before publishing, take advantage of this. By previewing, you can see if you’ve got proper line breaks, a photo in the right spot, and determine whether or not the formatting is to your liking.
In WordPress, you might find that pasting from Microsoft Word leaves a bunch of strange characters. In this case you might prefer pasting from Notepad (available under accessories in the Windows operating system menu) instead. When previewing, don’t forget to check your links to ensure that they’re not broken.
Content First – SEO Second
Very often, the purpose of online content is to drive search engines to your sales pages. But don’t make the mistake of putting SEO keywords ahead of a quality piece of writing.
If you’re writing something to have a high keyword density, write the piece first and add keywords second. This can result in a more polished and readable piece of writing that has the impact you want.
We’ve all made online blunders with writing and editing online content, do be sure to also read it once it’s live to see if you need to go back and fix anything. Another good idea is to ask a friend to check it for you as well.
About Sean Rasmussen
Sean
I learnt not to copy from word to the blog. It just completely screws up the format.
When running the grammar check over my posts I will leave any suggested changes alone if I think that is how I want it
I don’t see the need to get another program
Getting a proofreader helps too. It can be someone at home, in the office, or another IM’er friend who you can send it to. My proofreader is called my husband… Or should that be the other way around?
Yes I think we are all aware of how important it is to try always to have the content accurate in every way. The obvious tools, like you mention, are certainly there to help. But, I agree they must not be treated as gospel.
Personally I find that the best thing for me to do, because I want my content to retain something of my own style and personality whenever possible, is to read it out loud and quite slowly. It is amazing how much I have discovered of pure and unadulterated crap that I have written when I hear it spoken as if in a speech to some esteemed audience.
So, in addition to grammar, spelling and such things, I feel that originality and personality are best felt when heard and not read. We are all having to read far too much to actually read every word properly. But when orating we have to actually see and say every single word.
I promise not to read this out loud because I would probably delete it.
Hi Sean,
I think you’re right about letting your post rest before you publish it. I often make numerous edits as I go along. So much so, that by the time it’s due to be published I’ve seen it so many times, I do miss my mistakes.
I read it aloud and I get someone else to read the post for me. Usually between the two of us, I find most of my mistakes.
These are great tips for editing your online content. I am delighted to learn that I have disciplined myself to do all of them (well most of the time anyway). Even tho I take such great care in initially preparing a post, invariably I see something that needs changing after I actually post it.
Hi Sean,
I need to follow these rules more closely for better results. The “let it rest” rule is very wise advice. I believe following this can improve the quality of my writing tremendously.
It can be so tempting to publish a new article right after creation and not follow the let it rest rule. If I do I usually pay the price by finding embarrassing mistakes.
I agree Jill. Also, apart from ‘embarassing’ mistakes, letting a piece rest for a bit also allows time to reflect on whether there is more that should be added or if something can be expressed with greater clarity.
Hi Sean
I need to thoroughly check my online content for editing before I publish it. I have noticed a couple of spelling mistakes on these comments after I have pressed the submit button which makes me cringe because I know it’s happened when I get very tired and my vision get’s blurred. I won’t normally be typing in the wee small hours of the morning after this competition!
It is really important to have a perfectly edited article as spelling mistakes, words running into each other or poorly composed sentences are a turn off when they are happening consistently. We all make mistakes at times but it is a good idea to have someone preview the content before publishing.
This highlights one of my problems – proofreading and doing it carefully. I always use the preview at Ezines, Yahoo Answers (they don’t give you a choice anyway!) and on my blogs and websites – precisely because I can get careless when typing in content. A prime example of my need to do this is these blogs – where I leave oodles of typos – and there is no preview option!
Hi Sean,
I have learnt now to get someone else to proofread my articles, I can either send it to my son to check it out.
I do now rest it for a day or two and take a second or third look (except for the last time)
I liken writing to a painting, you can always find something to fix, something to add or something to destroy.
Hopefully we post our articles before we start wrecking them!
Editing online content that it is well written and without spelling mistakes is really important. Because it not only is courtesy but also shows that you really care about what you are doing.
I hadn’t thought about having my computer reading it out aloud to me, but I love that idea. Because that way I might catch something that I would have over-read, as I know what I wanted to write and might just read it even so it is not there
Thanks for the guidelines. What most of us miss: the preview button. It rests there for a reason. We, sometimes get too thrilled that we skip preview. You don’t want to run in circles, publish then edit, oh I miss that part! Edit again.