Why Is Proofing Your Work Important?

Proofing your work is important and you should never publish or deliver something to a client without doing this crucial task first. Even the most excellent web designer or writer makes mistakes from time to time. Whether it’s fair or not, mistakes can diminish your credibility and perceived professionalism. You cannot afford to hurt your reputation or your brand name, when there are so many competitors who are on standby ready to take your clients away from you.  Here are some other reasons why proofing your work is important:

Reason #1 – You’ll Look Competent

When you turn in work to a client or publish it online and it’s full of grammatical or spelling errors, you won’t be taken seriously. You’ll most likely be seen as incompetent and it will be difficult to close sales with prospective clients. For example, imagine sending a sample to a lead you generated online that’s full of errors. It doesn’t matter what your actual skills and abilities are. The prospective customer will have serious doubt, and either turn down your services outright or do some more shopping around to find out his alternatives.

Reason #2 – Your Clients will Trust You

Your clients expect you to be perfect and they trust you to make them look good. If you have trouble proofing your work, then they won’t trust you. Any long-term client relationship has to be based on trust. It’s not worth losing any trust built on something as simple as proofing your work. You should make the investment to hire a proof reader or another professional to proof your work, to ensure that you build a relationship with your clients that can last.

Reason #3 – You’ll Strengthen Your Brand

When you don’t proof your work, you’ll weaken your brand. You can throw a lot of money into marketing and advertising and ruin it all with work that contains errors. Instead of focusing on the message, your audience will focus on your flaws. The opposite is true when you proof your work. As part of the proofing process, you’ll work on revising your language to say what you mean in the best way possible. Conveying the message the right way and free of mistakes will make your brand stronger and more memorable.

Reason #4 – You’ll Avoid Gaffs

There are blogs dedicated to funny errors found in newspapers, on business signs, in marketing materials and websites. It’s not a laughing matter if you make an error that can cost you business. Some mistakes may be funny to some, but they can be offensive to your audience. It’s one reason why proofing your work is important. You won’t have a problem with that if you take the time to review your work for mistakes. Don’t expect your spellchecker to spot those kinds of errors for you. It’s not designed to pick up subtle errors.

Do everything you can to avoid delivering a product without proofing your work. It is important to your brand and your reputation. Your efforts will result in more credibility, which will result in even more clients.