No one is perfect, and by no means is HubSpot exempt from these problems, and it’s the results of which we should be acutely aware.
Just recently there have been several examples of how these errors can be embarrassing and potentially harmful to brands.
On Sunday night, the NBC-owned @BreakingNews Twitter account sent out an update saying that the President would have a “personal” statement on Monday. The problem is, it wasn’t a “personal” statement, but a “personnel” statement.
It was only two letters, but those letters changed the message entirely. Many people who saw the message on Twitter speculated what the statement could be, but also wondered whether it was, in fact, a typo.
Will it have lasting effects on the @BreakingNews account? Probably not. Did people write about it? Absolutely. ( Mediaite and Politisite )
In Australia the government may have egg on its face because of a typo. The badges on the Royal Australian Navy have an extra “L.” Australia’s 7News talked with the Shadow Defence Minister who said this about the incident:
"To have a badge on their upper arm that misspells our country ... it doesn't get any worse than that.”
What does this do to the integrity of the Navy? Does it affect their ability to defend the country? Probably not. But again, does it get people talking – and not in a good way? Absolutely. Check out the comments on the 7News story to see prime examples.
But according to one entrepreneur who runs websites in the UK, spelling errors could account for thousands of dollars – or in his case, pounds – worth of lost revenue.
Charles Duncombe says misspellings “put off customers who could have concerns about a website’s credibility.” He said this is clearly apparent when revenue per visitor was twice as high after an error was fixed on the website tightsplease.co.uk.
It's not just spelling that people notice, it's grammar, too. One point my mother's English book drove home: "Never a sentence end a preposition with." Don't use 'good' when 'well' is correct. And make sure your nouns and verbs agree -- a company is an 'it.'
While those mistakes can be sloughed off as “typos,” “being busy,” or even "the way people talk," it can also result in the loss of sales. Nothing any of us want.
So what should you do to avoid these errors?
- Spell check. Seems obvious, but there's more to it than just running the spell check within the program. Actually make sure the words you have are the words you want. Don't confuse 'their' and 'they're' or 'it's' and 'its.'
- Have someone else read your work. By the time you've finished writing something you're not likely to see your own mistakes. Missing words, sentence fragments and other errors fill themselves in in your head, but not in someone else's, so they will find those and point them out to you.
- Find an English major to read your work, especially if you're concerned about grammar. They know the rules and will make sure you're following them.
- Be gracious and thankful when someone points out an error on your site, and FIX IT IMMEDIATELY. There is no "I'll get to that in a minute" when talking about an error on your website. As mentioned, errors could cost money.
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
C. Jane Taylor 4:02 PM on July 20, 2011
I once worked for an environmental consulting firm that published a print brochure concerning its sciencetits in the field. This was 15 years ago. The Internet is simultaneously more forgiving and much more brutal...
Kim Phillips | Lucid Marketing 4:03 PM on July 20, 2011
I once pointed out a heinous homophone error on the blog of a public relations firm (no less) and the owner jumped all over me. And these folks write for a living!
anne 4:07 PM on July 20, 2011
I agree with you completely. Nothing loses my respect more quickly than poor grammar and spelling in professional writing.
"No one is perfect, and by no means is HubSpot exempt from these problems, and it’s the results of which we should be acutely aware."
Here's a perfect example of writing that makes me just want hit delete. What does this sentence mean?
Keegan 4:34 PM on July 20, 2011
Thank you for encouraging this! I'm an English major and it drives me nuts when people act like spelling and grammar don't matter.
I can't help but feel that text messages and Twitter have discouraged people from caring about spelling and grammar by forcing them to compact their sentences. But if you cannot write clearly, people won't care what you are saying.
Kim Phillips | Lucid Marketing 4:39 PM on July 20, 2011
@Anne--There are at least three examples of that in this blog post.
Conni Eversull 5:18 PM on July 20, 2011
Kara: I wrote a blog post referring to this article last week as I was glad to see someone (other than us) recognize the potential effect bad grammar and spelling can have on a business. We've been HubSpot customers since 2009 and I've been trying for all that time to get HubSpot to try out our proofreading and editing services. We can help HubSpot and all marketers avoid these embarrassing mistakes. Thanks for your post.
Jen Hofer (Plum Tree Communications) 5:52 PM on July 20, 2011
Good stuff, Kara. I blogged about "its" and "it's" myself a few weeks ago. Quality of writing goes a long way toward convincing people to take you (and your work) seriously.
FMJohnson 6:01 PM on July 20, 2011
"Never a sentence end a preposition with."
That is the sort of pedantry up with which I shall not put. (Winston Churchill)
The Price of Typos (NYTimes): http://nyti.ms/pruhGx
Sounds almost as if they're rationalizing or at least excusing mistakes and plain sloppiness.
Morgan 7:37 PM on July 20, 2011
The fact that this article was written at all is very disturbing and sad to me and reflects a major decline in writing and journalism in the U.S. And unfortunately, there are not many discussions going on about this trend, which could harm a person’s chances in getting a job and/or being promoted.
I was an English major in college. My father and mother and my mother's father were all very experienced and accomplished writers/editors. My grandfather was the editor and publisher of the major Reno, Nevada newspaper. Besides writing for various newspapers, my parents wrote books. So I grew up with extensive exposure to good writing.
My writing in college included producing articles and news items for the college newspaper and Yearbook.
Since graduating from college, I have produced articles, case histories, news items, bios, etc., for newspapers, web sites, magazines, PR agencies' clients, and two multinational professional services organizations as an employee and as a freelancer.
I think many factors are contributing to the decline in the quality of writing in this country at this time, including blogging.
I think that there is a huge difference between being a professional writer/editor/reporter/researcher and somebody who essentially decides to produce a blog about his/her favorite subjects.
Blogging has essentially lowered the barrier to entering the writing field.
I think texting and Twittering are also contributing significantly to the decline in writing, particularly to the increasing use of acronyms in emails, conversations, etc.
In news reporting, I see more and more basic Who, What, When, Where and Why data left out.
To me, research (such as phone and in-person interviews) is a vital part of non-fiction writing. It is just important as spelling and grammar.
Today, however, much of the stuff on blogs and web sites appears to be plagiarized or are Opinion pieces without any mention that they are such pieces.
When I see an article on a web site, especially those operated by “content farms,” I quickly review it. If I don’t see any persons quoted and/or organizations cited as information sources, I don't read those articles. And I see an increasing number of non-researched articles on the web. Scary to think that upcoming generations may be mainly reading and producing poorly written, non-researched news items and articles.
Gordon G. Andrew 10:39 PM on July 20, 2011
The quality of the written word has tangible business implications.
In a recent discussion on WNYC regarding the economic impact of restaurant reviews, Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon claimed there is research to support the counterintuitive notion that the most important aspects of online customer reviews on Yelp.com and other community opinion websites have less to do with whether the reviewer pans or praises the restaurant, and more to do with how well the review is written – in terms of its sentence structure, grammar and spelling. In other words, people are more likely to try a new restaurant that has well-written customer commentaries, regardless of the reviewers' opinions.
Let’s assume this consumer behavior – driven by form rather than substance – is based on the likelihood that review readers conclude that if the restaurant’s online reviews are well written, that the restaurant’s clientele are educated, well-heeled, with discriminating taste and likely to eat at only the best restaurants. So regardless of any online reviewer’s advice, positive or negative, the restaurant is likely to be a “safe bet” in terms of food, service and ambiance.
This “Snob Effect” may also have implications in other businesses, where socio-economics and personal status are factors in the selection of a product or service, and where online customer reviews for those businesses are readily available. Those product categories might include automobiles and computers & electronics; service categories might include hotels, resorts and health & beauty spas.
Steven Pofcher 11:19 PM on July 20, 2011
Huh? ==>
"No one is perfect, and by no means is HubSpot exempt from these problems, and it’s the results of which we should be acutely aware."
Maybe you were just testing us or slyly presenting an example of bad grammar (or just bad writing).
Otherwise a good, oops, well written post.
Spelling and grammar errors take away from an otherwise well written document. The reader will focus on the "trivial" faults rather than the message.
Mary Cullen 7:46 AM on July 21, 2011
Thanks for this important reminder! Proofreading is challenging when everyone and everything is time-crunched, but an errors are embarrassing and costly. I wrote an article, "Proofreading When Time is Tight," which should help: http://www.instructionalsolutions.com/blog/bid/61890/Proofreading-Techniques-When-Time-is-Tight
Being a strong writer is a huge career advantage.
Janet 11:07 AM on July 21, 2011
What a wonderful post! Big thanks from a proofreader in the UK!
Web Marketing Montreal 12:06 PM on July 21, 2011
Finally, someone else who thinks like me that spelling grammar is an important criteria to make a good impression to people.
I think that even with all the people chatting and texting, we are loosing a bit of our spelling. However, it is still important to have a good knowledge and a good using of our spelling.
Thank you for this great article!
Carmen 12:12 PM on July 21, 2011
It annoys me when something isn't spelled correctly. Especially when it's on T.V. or in an advertisement. However, between Canadian and American written english, and considering the change in the language due to social media such as Facebook and Twitter, it can get confusing even for someone like me. Add to that my age, and my bad eyes, and oh Lordy! ;P
Diane 9:47 PM on July 21, 2011
re: "No one is perfect, and by no means is HubSpot exempt from these problems, and it’s the results of which we should be acutely aware."
As an editor, the writer is trying to avoid ending a sentence with 'of' but I'd recast it "and, we should be aware of the results." But I like some of the other points.
When I first began editing, I wrote a few people pointing out an error, thinking they'd thank me (and possibly hire me to double-check their writing).
Au contraire, mon frere, they were offended... So I don't do that, and I appreciated the examples of how people have lost money, lots of money, thru a misspelling. Although, considering my experience on this, even giving examples doesn't help.
So, few people (using my minimal marketing methods) value my services...so I'm looking for other work. Other reasons, too...but that was the main one. Keep studying your CMOS and grammar books! It's fun...especially sentence diagramming...there's a great little book out there about that. can't remember the name...Mrs. somebody's hedgehogs or something really funny.
If everyone knew how to diagram, they'd all be better writers. thank you for taking the time to read this; you appreciate this finer art.
Diane 9:51 PM on July 21, 2011
Should've looked up the source before posting...
Sister Bernadette's barking dog : the quirky history and lost art of diagramming sentences / by Kitty Burns Florey.
Ayush Gupta 5:23 AM on July 22, 2011
Yeah Spelling and Grammar matters a lot in Online Marketing.
Keegan 8:13 AM on July 22, 2011
"Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" by Lynn Truss is also an excellent and highly entertaining resource, which I would highly recommend.
P.S. @ Diane - please tell me that your use of the word "thru" as opposed to "through" was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. That's a common "alternate" spelling that annoys the heck out of me. :P
Diane 9:07 AM on July 22, 2011
@Keegan of course I was lapsing into txtspk...good way to see if anyone read it, and I was really tired. Editors spend hours a day typing and I took a shortcut. off to the springs to cleanse my brain. may all be happy!
Keegan 9:15 AM on July 22, 2011
@Diane - fair enough - I'd probably stop caring too, if I spent the entire day editing - it's not easy work.
On the other hand, you've helped illustrate how texting and a generally lax cultural attitude toward spelling (look at any drive-thru, for example) can affect even someone who is as careful with English as an editor. Excellent example! Go relax now. :)
Jey 4:30 PM on July 22, 2011
Great article.
In addition to Grammar and Spelling, Readability also matters. If you are using a Spell check in Word you can activate Flesch-Kincaid Readability Statistics option. This will display a readability score of your work.
Diane 9:09 AM on July 23, 2011
re: Flesch-Kincaid Readability Statistics @Jey, thanks for bring this up. I love the FK and try to get clients to think about this. So many writers think their book is for a certain age group, say,college-educated...but the FK is 4th grade. Would love to know more about FK (it's fun, like sentence diagramming.
@Keegan (and Jey) You sound very interesting,would love to chat more (off here). going to google FK now.
Diane 9:13 AM on July 23, 2011
bringing... and please...nobody rib me about missing a parens...I'm off the clock
Ryo Yamaguchi 4:24 PM on July 25, 2011
I'm so glad to see a post on this! As a word nerd myself (more of a word gardener, steward, ringmaster), I can't help but see the errors that float so casually through our social spheres in a glaring sort of way, and I, like many, cringe; at the same time, however, I do think criticism can get a little elitist and weirdly conservative, and I often feel critics throw the baby out with bathwater when they discredit a site, publication or company wholesale for a spelling or grammatical error. While I feel that, in practice, the language we use communicates not only our ideas but our competency within a subject, industry or discourse, I also quarrel with this "rule" as too simple a flag by which to navigate what we should and should not be engaging. The larger issue, as evidenced in your first example, is when an error hampers the actual communication of a message. That is worth the Twitter flames, edit and apology. It's/Its isn't.
Jennifer 4:20 PM on August 03, 2011
One of my favorite spell check disaster stories involves the student who confidently turned in his report on Martin Luther King. Unfortunately, the computer had christened the civil rights leader with a new name: Martian Luther King.
Davina Brewer 11:42 AM on August 18, 2011
Spellcheck isn't enough, basic grammar scans don't catch everything. These 'little details' matter, customers and readers do notice. It's important to stop, take the time and have a human proofread not just for spelling and grammar, but also for meaning, intent and accuracy. FWIW.