November 28, 2022

Introduction

Ah, typos.

We all make them. We all hate them. But can you really catch every typo in your writing? In this article, we’ll explore the various ways of trying to eliminate typos from your work, and whether or not it’s actually possible to achieve perfection.

Why Typos Are Bad

When posting on social media, quick emails, and text messages, typos are a part of daily life. For the most part, they’re excusable. If anything else, you can always blame the “autocorrect” feature of whatever device you were typing on.

However, when it comes to the writing you do for your business, it’s in your best interest to remove as many typos as possible. Here are some examples of how your business can be harmed by typos:

• Typos make your work look sloppy, unprofessional, and even lazy. This can reflect negatively on you as an authority in your niche and your business as a whole.
• Typos can damage relationships with clients, suppliers, and customers who may take the presence of numerous typos as an indication that their needs aren’t important to you.
• Typos in your contracts could leave room for clients to try and wriggle out of their terms by saying the terms were unclear due to the suboptimal writing.

Those are just a few off the top of my head. There are plenty more.

Even though typos can harm your business, they almost feel like an inevitability. As long as error-prone humans are typing on keyboards, there will be typos. So how do you do your best to make sure you clean up as many typos in your business as possible?

Word Count Considerations

First things first—does the length of what you’ve written have anything to do with your goal of removing all typos from your writing?

Yes, of course it does.

As an easy and obvious example, consider your business website’s headline. It may be a sentence or two describing your business in as few words as possible. It may even be a short phrase.

When you’re working with so few words, then yes, it’s entirely possible to eliminate all typos from such a short sentence or phrase. In fact, it’s much easier than if you’re writing a longer piece.

On the other hand, if you’re writing a full length article or book, then typos will be harder to avoid. Not only are you dealing with more words and more ideas, but you may also be dealing with research and citations. All those extra elements can lead to typos.

As a general rule of thumb, the more words you’re working with, then the more typos you’re likely to leave behind.

One obvious solution would be to write less words, but that’s not always the way to go. Sometimes, things just need a higher word count in order to be communicated thoroughly. Examples would be lengthy blog articles, complex contracts, and email campaigns.

So, Is It Possible?

In my opinion, no.

There will always be typos somewhere. The more you write, the more typos there will be.

That being said, does that mean you can sit back and ignore typos in your business writing?

No. Ample time should be taken to reduce the number of typos in your writing as much as possible, especially considering how typos can harm your business, as discussed in the paragraph above.

Tips For Reducing Typos

Proofreading

The most effective way to eliminate typos is by proofreading, or reading through your work before you publish it. This will give you the chance to spot any errors before they have a chance to be seen by anyone else.

A few tips for successful proofreading:

• Read your work out loud. This will help you catch typos in words or phrases that you don’t typically say when speaking.
• Take your time. Don’t just rush through it and call it a day. Take your time to make sure you look over everything.
• Make sure you have a clear mind. Don’t proofread if you’re tired or distracted.

Editing Software

Another way to reduce typos is by using editing software. This type of software is designed to automatically check and correct your writing based on a set of rules. Some popular editing software includes Grammarly and ProWritingAid.

Using this type of software can help you quickly identify typos, spelling and grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, and more.

However, while writing/editing software is useful, it still won’t catch everything. Trust me, I know.

Have Someone Read Your Writing

Get a critique partner (or two). This is, in my opinion, the best way to weed out pesky typos. The more eyes you have on your writing, the higher the likelihood that someone will spot something that you did not. For more information on the value of critique partners, read this.

Having someone read your writing will not only help you catch typos, but can also give you insight into whether or not your message is getting across. Oftentimes, what makes sense to you while you’re writing may not fully carry over to a third party.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while it may be nearly impossible to catch every single typo in longer pieces of writing, it is possible to greatly reduce the number of typos that sneak their way into your work. It’s worth taking the time to root out as many as you can find so that they don’t misrepresent your business to prospective clients an customers.

Reading and rereading the written content in your business is, admittedly, not the most optimal way to spend your time. For that reason, it’s best to get someone to help you with that particular task while you focus on more important things that move the needle in your business (such as marketing or designing new products and services).

Here at English Outsourced, we specialize in being that extra set of eyes for your business writing.

We implement all the suggestions mentioned above (and more) to make sure the written content in your business is as complete and error-free as reasonably possible. Click here to learn how we can serve your business today!