Guestblog by: Amy
If you’re looking for a way to make your site a bit more popular, try reading it. I’ve noticed online that a lot of people don’t proof read their entries and they’re full of typos, spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, and completely devoid of punctuation. No matter how good your design and content may be, if it can’t be read easily enough many people will simply give up.
While reading an interview on this site, I saw a lot of carelessness in the subject’s responses. Between not making full sentences, leaving out punctuation, and one word (or number) answers, I myself couldn’t finish reading it. And after reading it, I certainly wouldn’t go to his site. Why would you agree to an interview if you’re not going to put any effort into it?
Punctuation is the #1 reason I stop reading a blog. When you talk, do you keep talking? Or do you pause for a second, catch a breath? That, my dears, is where you enter a comma. Or a period, however the mood strikes you. And when you comma for a side note, make sure you comma again before getting back to the original idea. You don’t need to be perfect, I know I’m not, but the effort needs to be there.
Grammar is also important. I read on a website that people who have English as a second language often speak better because they’ve had to learn why. That’s not completely true, I remember middle school English class. We’ve all learned the same information about the language. It’s not that we’ve never had the chance, or that we don’t know it. It’s that it’s simply not habit. A bit more effort may just help you get the extra links you need.
Free Spell Checker: http://www.spellcheck.net/
Punctuation Tips: http://www.lrcom.com/tips/punctuation.htm
Grammar Tips: http://www.webgrammar.com/grammartips.html
I agree. Why should I take the time to read something when the person can’t make an effort for it to be legible?
April 30, 2007 @ 10:38 amTrue, however you have to make some compensation for over sights on mistakes. Not everyone is perfect.
April 30, 2007 @ 10:59 amI agree that all those should be looked over, but most of the culprits are like..15, 16 yrs old. Talking about boyfriends and going out and working. :lol: I make mistakes too every now and then, only because I’m tired and it’s always late at night when I post.
April 30, 2007 @ 11:03 amHowever if it is a blatant mistake, I add an extension into firefox for typos. I can’t do so much on common grammar mistakes, but I can watch out for my spelling.
April 30, 2007 @ 11:05 amI don’t think it’s about one or two.
I think it’s about it being riddled with them, like so many are.
I’ve seen it often in blogs just like this one.
April 30, 2007 @ 12:12 pmI agree, it’s very annoying trying to read a blog over a bunch of times to understand everything. I usually go back to my blogs hundreds of times to correct and tweak it. There’s an obsessive compulsive perfectionist for you.
Sho
April 30, 2007 @ 3:54 pmOh, how I hate reading websites with awful grammar and punctuation!
I’m Finnish and I’ve lived in Finland all of my life so to me, English is just a language I had to learn at school. I suppose the argument of us non-native speakers/writers having a better grasp of grammar is partly because we have had to learn why things are the way they are, but more importantly, it’s because we tend to be very careful and conscious about our writing. I suppose we pay much more attention to what we are writing in fear of native speakers mocking us. Or at least, that is what I do.
April 30, 2007 @ 5:04 pmYeah, I can see how that’s true.
I don’t get why English speaking people would be so careless with their own language. I realize I’m not the best, hell I barely finished high school, but at least the things I write can be read by the general public.
I hope it didn’t sound much like a rant, it really was meant to be helpful.
April 30, 2007 @ 7:03 pmThat’s why I love Firefox. Firefox has a spell checker so if I make a mistake it’s my own fault. Although when I’m using certain text fields it doesn’t allow FF to check my spelling but that’s what my Vista widget is for.
May 1, 2007 @ 4:08 pmTrue! Avoiding typos and punctuation errors in your written communication is very important. The first impression of you and the credibility of your opinion on an issue can be diminished in a moment if your communication contains typos.
In my profession, career consulting, written documents (speaking mainly of resumes and cover letters) that contain typos are a sure way to consideration disaster. So, proof - proof - and proof again. It can’t hurt.
Robin
May 4, 2007 @ 5:21 pmhttp://www.firedupcareers.com
[...] # 12 Amanda Harris presents Grammar and Punctuation posted at Make Money Online with The Blog [...]
May 7, 2007 @ 12:11 amMy TT last week had 13 quotes about grammar and punctuation.
I read your article and agreed whole-heartedly - blogging may be immediate, but we’re sometimes in too much of a hurry to publish our content. Spell-checkers can only do so much. I believe that we must edit our words and write with brevity in order to not only be read, but be read widely.
May 7, 2007 @ 10:13 pmIt is so often overlooked, and it DEFINITELY can kill your site visits. I’m glad to know that in that interview, the person interviewed was the one who made the mistakes and not the site owner. That begs a question: should the owner of a site “clean up” the content before it is posted? Or even after it is posted, when errors are noticed should they be edited? Hmm…
July 2, 2007 @ 5:20 pm[...] pro bloggers and their poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling. If you don’t remember, here it is. I own a few websites you’ve probably never heard of, Radkitten, As A Star, As A Mother, [...]
August 13, 2007 @ 3:47 pmWant to start your private office arms race right now?
I just got my own USB rocket launcher :-) Awsome thing.
Plug into your computer and you got a remote controlled office missile launcher with 360 degrees horizontal and 45 degree vertival rotation with a range of more than 6 meters - which gives you a coverage of 113 square meters round your workplace.
You can get the gadget here: http://tinyurl.com/2qul3c
Check out the video they have on the page.
Cheers
Marko Fando
October 2, 2007 @ 1:04 pm