Business Success Tips – Are These Proofing Errors Hurting Your Business?

Are you missing the mark with your image? Are you allowing errors and a lack of updates spoil your good impressions? If so, you need to make changes quick. Today, there are so many more things to consider than in the past. It used to be as long as your website was good, you were good. But today, you have to take into account not only your website, but your newsletter, your blog, your social media, and even your marketing efforts. That’s why it’s so important to take the time to continually check and make sure the image you project is a good one and consistent with your brand.

When prospects or clients visit your website or review your social media sites and see outdated information or typos, they immediately lose confidence in your services. In fact, many will bolt, never to return. But here are a few tips which should help in your efforts to keep things updated and accurate. Many you might not have considered.

Tips for checking your website:

• Make sure the copyright date is current. This is often in the footer of every page. Nothing shouts “I’m out of date and not up to speed on things” more than a 2009 copyright notice.

• Your page titles (metatags). Every time you update a web or sales page with a new product or service, make sure the metatag description matches the updated information. Why is this important? A good example would be if you use social media to promote your products and services. When you use this tactic it's most likely you will use links back to your website or sales page. If this is the case, and the title does not match the link, it could be confusing for your prospective buyer. It is also unprofessional to have this conflicting information and you may lose any SEO advantages you may have had if you had used the correct metatags.

• Typos. Not much more needs to be said about this. Typos are never good. They do happen, but the risk can be minimized. That’s why it can be beneficial to have someone else (such as your online support specialist) proof your materials. You might be too close to the content to notice. A fresh pair of eyes can find the obvious grammatical errors and incorrect punctuation. Here’s a common one that sends up a red flag every time—The punctuation should go before the quotes in most cases (.” ?” !” etc.)

Tips for checking your social media efforts:

• Again, take the time to review your blogs, Facebook profiles, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, etc. Are the links working? Do they still represent what you are doing today? Did you find any typos?

• Are your pages updated? You may have run a class months ago yet neglected to remove the information, even though it’s no longer relevant. Once again, it sends the message that you’re not on top of things.

It’s a lot of work to keep up-to-date and accurate. This is one area where you really should consider partnering with an online support specialist … someone who has your back because they are routinely checking these things for you and keeping you up-to-date.