Proofreading is the bane of any writer’s life. No matter how hard we try, a simple re-read of our work usually brings to light a plethora of mistakes we swear we didn’t make. However, as tedious as the process is, it’s a process that needs to be completed nonetheless. This is especially important if you’re writing content for your WordPress blog.
It’s so important that this is a step that you don’t miss out as it can make the difference to a reader following your blog for life or simply dismissing your work for more internet garbage. Today, we’ll explore nine key ways to ensure you complete this task successfully without wasting too much time.
1. Change Your Formatting
This is easily one of the most effective ways to proofread. Highlight all the text on your blog and change the font, the size or the boldness. Now try reading through your work, and you’ll instantly notice that you’ll see it in a completely new light.
2. Mix It Up a Bit
One of the easiest ways to proofread your work is by changing the environment you’re working in. Maybe move from coffee shop to coffee shop. Move from your office to your living room or outside. Even the process of moving can reset your mind, enabling you to proofread more effectively.
3. Read Your Work Out Loud
One of the easiest ways to instantly notice errors is to read it out loud. This may seem silly, but by reading it aloud, you’re actually reading what’s on the page, rather than what you think is on the page, allowing you to spot mistakes much easier.
4. Read It Aloud Again
Don’t just stop there! Once you’ve read it through once, re-read it again, and again, maybe even three or four times. This will guarantee that your work is perfect for being uploaded and read by your followers, ensuring your credibility as a blogger.
5. Take a Break
There’s no worse than rushing through the proofreading stage simply because you’re trying to squeeze more out of your day. Instead, finish your piece, go and make yourself a coffee and return to it in five or ten minutes. This way you’ll have a fresh pair of eyes for proofreading.
6. Use Tools to Help
There’s nothing wrong with using tools that were built for proofreading to help your proofread your content. Here are some of the best;
Jetpack by WordPress.com
A great way to increase your traffic and monetize your website or blog, enabling you to save time so you can spend more time proofreading and perfecting your content. However, Jetpack doesn’t just stop there; it really pushes the boundaries when it comes to being feature-loaded.
For example, included in just the free version of the WordPress plugin, you’ll be able to see all your site statistics and analytics, allowing you to see how many users you have and where they are from, as well as what kind of device they are using.
You’ll also get a tonne of other features including automatic social media post sharing, and a related posts option whereas the paid option provides you with a boat-load of SEO tools and a paid subscription to a range of advertising platforms, making this one of the most fully featured plugins around.
Via Writing
Use Via Writing to follow guidelines and advice to improve your grammar skills, meaning you’ll have less to proofread when it gets to that stage. Additionally, you can also read through articles and resources, such as Affect vs. Effect.
These are common spelling and grammatical errors that people make, and it will affect your business’s credibility and reputation if you get it wrong. After all, nobody wants to read through your website’s content if it’s full of errors and mistakes, resulting in it being hard to read.
Academized
It’s renowned that the proofreading stage of any kind of ‘creation process’ can be time-consuming. When you’re trying to manage your business or set it up, this could be time that you simply don’t have.
In need of the latest and most effective proofreading tips? Academized is a great place to meet and talk to professional writers who can advise the best proofreading techniques and methods.
State of Writing
This easy to use website enables you to read up to date tips, guidelines and articles on the best methods for improving your writing, whether it’s your language, your skills, your grammar, your spelling or your proofreading methods.
To help you to improve your writing further, you’ll also be able to read through essential articles which includes information on dictionaries and thesauruses and a tonne of other writing-related resources that you can use, for free, to enhance your writing skills, helping you to boost the quality and effectiveness of all kinds of content on your WordPress website.
Easy Word Count
Sometimes it’s easier to break everything up into chunks. Copy and paste your blog post in 100-word chunks and proofread one bit at a time, making your content a lot easier to work on. This will help you to remain accurate during your proofreading process instead of ending up just glancing over your work and assuming it’s okay, only to find out that you’ve missed a crucial error.
This tool is also incredibly helpful since the length of your content posts directly affects your SEO ranking. Use this multi-functional tool to better your content for maximum effectiveness
Cite It In
If you’re looking to add professional citations or references to your work once you have entered the proofreading stage, Cite It In makes this incredibly easy to do and makes your blog posts really standout from the crowd.
When you’re going through your website, it’s important that you ensure that your quotes are correct and properly formatted, such as they are when using this kind of tool. This will help your WordPress site to read easier when your users access it and will help you to break up the section of your content, allowing for easy and accurate proofreading.
7. Be Ruthless
You may have just finished your pride and joy, but proofreading is by far the most ruthless part of writing. If you have any doubts about part of your content, don’t ignore that feeling and carry on, work on it, edit it and proofread it. Aim to have every piece of content you write a piece of perfection.
8. Give Yourself Time
If you’ve got a content posting schedule, it’s always good to have your content written up a couple of days ahead so you can be on top of things. This means having a few reserve articles that you can upload if you feel as though you may miss a day.
By spending the time on having these articles, you’ll have more time to proofread your work, ensuring perfection in every post.
9. Ignore the Content Itself
One of the best ways to proofread your work is to forget the story and structure of your content altogether. Simply take each sentence one word at a time and really ensure that every piece is perfect.
Break your work down in front of your eyes and build it up piece by piece. You should have already edited your content so you should need to touch the wording itself.
