EMILY'S TIPS FOR TODAY:
In the course of the last week I have been looking at a lot of sites and products and blogs. The one thing that has struck me is that a great many of these have spelling errors and bad grammar and misused words. As soon as I see a site which either hasn't been proof read properly, or is written by someone whose English isn't great, I immediately lose a bit of respect and trust for it. Bad writing makes a site look unprofessional, and I'm not going to be inclined to purchase something from such a site. Here are a few tips on writing to make sure your work reads well:
1. Proof read! You may have to do this five times before you pick up all the mistakes. If you know your English isn't great, get someone else to do it for you. Don't rely on spell checks alone because they will miss certain mistakes.
2. Read what you have written out loud. This will tell you whether or not your writing flows well.
3. Know the difference between words such as "affect" and "effect", "their" and "there", "practise" and "practice", "it's" and "its" etc If you're not sure, look them up.
4. English (as in British) and American spelling for certain words differ. Pick either British or American and be consistent (eg don't write "specialize" and then "colour")
5. Consider your target audience when writing. This is really important. If you are targeting a wide audience then make your writing easily understood but don't dumb it down too much, people don't like to be patronised. Most people recognise and understand many more words than they actually use and if your writing sounds professional you're more likely to gain trust. On the other hand, unless there is an assumed level of knowledge for your target audience, don't go nuts with the jargon, you just end up sounding pretentious.
Considering about 20% of my traffic uses keywords that are not spelled correctly, could you see where this could actually be of benefit when the spelling is not always not perfect?
I really do anchor links with bogus spellings just to get this traffic.
I am 100% happy that the grammar police are on patrol (about 3%). I will take the 20 % any day. Now, If I have a site that is catering to people who have high level degrees, I would do what you say here, but if you have a common product or service, I would trade 3 % for 20 % at any time.
Just some food for thought.
__________________
Have you seen the new e cigarette?
Considering about 20% of my traffic uses keywords that are not spelled correctly, could you see where this could actually be of benefit when the spelling is not always not perfect?
I really do anchor links with bogus spellings just to get this traffic.
I am 100% happy that the grammar police are on patrol (about 3%). I will take the 20 % any day. Now, If I have a site that is catering to people who have high level degrees, I would do what you say here, but if you have a common product or service, I would trade 3 % for 20 % at any time.
Just some food for thought.
While I agree with what Emily said about the proper grammar, you give me a good idea to ponder, Jcorkern. I have never thought of making misspelled works for my benefit.
I believe both Emily and Jcorkern have a valid point, but are applied differently. As to Emily, I agree with her about the use of proper grammar and spelling to lend credibility to a product or sales page. I often get discouraged and frustrated when I read something and it appears the author or creator did not take the time to proofread properly. It is not that difficult to edit the content yourself or have someone else do it for you. And the errors are annoying to the reader, if noticed.
As to Jcorkern, I also agree to use misspelled words and typos as far as keywords go...potential goldmine. We all are guilty of typos and brainblocks and misspell words often. I just think those types of errors are justified in a search but not in content.
Linear Mode
