Some incredible works of copywriting can fall victim to simple grammatical errors, inconsistent spelling and awkward phrasing that disrupts the tone of your writing.
Do you want to know five effective ways to prevent this from happening to your work, saving your craftsmanship from taints such as repetitive words and spelling mistakes? Read on to learn how to protect your projects!
1. Creating a Brief
Every well-executed piece of copywriting starts with a solid brief that will guide you to the very last word. Want to impress your clients, bring onboard new companies and create a strong rapport with those you work with?
The best way to begin your expansion is to exhibit the planning and organisation skills that a well-constructed brief presents.
We understand that the world of working in copywriting is challenging at the minute, and your workload may be drying up. Still, time spent developing your skills in proofreading will do nothing but better your quality of work and prepare you for your future success!
So how do you create or read a brief?
You may be trusted to write as you please for client work, or you may be writing for your platform on LinkedIn, for example.
No matter the case, there are some critical parts to a brief. A detailed overview, a specific target audience, the key message you wish to deliver, the tone and style of your piece, and project deliverables all work together to form your foundation to write.
How will this help you catch errors in proofreading?
Proofreading can become a difficult task if you are not informed about what corrections you are looking for, and understanding your well-versed brief created by you or your client will help you to catch those errors like a pro!
The clear guidelines and expectations of your finished piece will aid you in catching those off-brand sentences and phrases that just don’t quite fit the brief, making your work concise and well-crafted.
Nobody likes waffle!
2. Following the Formatting
Following your brief's formatting is a great way to catch errors within your work and can help reach your target audience.
As copywriters, we can alter our voice and choose to speak to our readers in whatever tone and style necessary - it’s what makes us good at our job!
Whether your formatting requires a tone of the utmost urgency, a caring and friendly hand to lend or an abundance of knowledge to enlighten the reader, you can do it all.
Proofreading your writing with tone in mind can change a simple sentence such as “sign up today” into a gripping call to action. For example, how does this sound?
“Have we caught your attention? Join our copywriting community today and continue flourishing and growing in your craft!”.
Editing tone and style like this is easy. Just make sure you proofread with it in mind!
3. Proofreading with a Fresh Pair of Eyes
We’ve all heard the saying ‘read it with a fresh pair of eyes’, but what does that really mean?
Writing can become almost robotic when you do it daily, and we’ve all had moments when the words are almost moving around the screen, trying to escape your gaze.
Sometimes taking a moment, and revisiting that article, blog post or social media advert after a break can be the best thing for its quality. Proofreading after a short break for a cup of tea or leaving it till later in the day is sometimes all it takes for those errors to jump out at you, we promise!
When you return to your writing, try to read aloud. We know it may feel silly at first, but presenting your content to a non-existent crowd (almost like performing a speech) is a fantastic way to help you test out sentence structure and ensure your work has a perfect flow.
Maybe even read to your dog! Anything that aids in your ability to proofread will be worth the results.
4. Tools to Help You Proofread
Some great tools out there will help you create a perfect copy, one of the most popular and known being Grammarly.
This tool will help you improve conciseness, fix tonal issues, and suggest different words and phrasing to optimise your writing. This is a must-have tool for proofreading those important texts.
An upgrade from Google Docs and its ‘spelling and grammar’ check for definite.
Another brilliant tool that is sure to bump up your copywriting is Surfer SEO. Their AI technology is great for those last-minute checks and integrating better keyword data.
Separate your writing from the crowd by proofreading on Surfer SEO and getting some brilliant suggestions based on Google search data, helping you get your work out into the world!
5. Clarity and Consistency
Creating clear and consistent copy is the key to copywriting success, so proofreading with these objectives in mind is the best way to pick out errors in inconsistent capitalisation and punctuation.
From using the wrong ‘your’ to double-check that you’re using one form of apostrophe… you’ll be surprised how often you trip up and use both ‘ and ' without knowing it!
Why is inconsistency so bad for your writing?
Copywriting is the art of creating content that persuades your reader to take a desired action, such as purchasing a product or signing up for a service. Inconsistency will deprive your work of credibility, and the brand it represents may be labelled as unreliable.
To the blind eye, mistakes like this can be difficult to spot.
Doing something as simple as proofreading with Grammarly will remove this worry by thoroughly cleaning your content until it's squeaky clean!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some Important Things to Look for When Proofreading Work?
When proofreading, try to look out for sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and commonly confused words. Errors may slip through the net if you’re not proofreading with full concentration!
What are 4 Proofreading Tips?
Four tips when proofreading your writing are to read your work aloud, print out a copy so that you are reading it from a different angle, check the spellings of proper nouns and take a break if copywriting for long stints.
How does Proofreading Improve the Quality of Copywriting?
Proofreading your copy ensures that you provide the best quality of work possible. Proofreading will provide clarity and conciseness in your work by fixing grammatical errors, technical linguistic issues and misused punctuation.
About Us
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