Friday Flubs: You Are An “Expert?” + Four Pro Editing Tips

Every Friday’s post is a collection of typos or grammatical errors I’ve spotted throughout the week. Sometimes they are things I find while out and about and sometimes they are things I find on the Internet. If you are anything like me, these typos drive you crazy, especially when they come from people who should know better.

If you cringe at misspellings, this week’s Friday Flubs may be especially horrifying to you. Everyone misspells a word here and there, but people who claim to be experts really shouldn’t make huge spelling mistakes.

If you are an expert, typos can take away your credibility in an instant. If you think I’m exaggerating, take a look at these.

 

Oh boy. I don’t even need to read this bio. I know what I need to know: you don’t edit your work.

 

This is part of a blog post. A post that makes me wonder how many families the author has.

 

Like English?

 

I don’t mean to be too snarky here, I just want to point out that some of these typos are really…scary. No one writes perfect copy on a first draft, but after a few edits, typos like this shouldn’t be an issue.

Before you run with a draft, here are a few things you can do to make sure your editing was thorough:

Photo by Ben Crowder.
  1. Read through the copy slowly, and even out loud.
  2. Walk away from what you’ve written and proof read it later.
  3. Have someone else read through your work, even someone who isn’t an expert on the topic, to catch simple mistakes you miss because you are caught up in the content.
  4. Read through the piece three times, editing for something different each time: content, grammar/spelling and tone.
A clean piece of copy exudes professionalism and expertise, and can do something poorly edited copy can’t do: draw readers in to rely on the source as an industry expert.

 

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