The importance of proofreading your company website

So you’ve set up a new business, and you’ve built your website. Now you’re ready to publish it and start sharing it far and wide on social media, right? Wrong. It’s crucial at this stage to proofread your website or better still, pay a professional proofreading company to do it for you.

Many websites are known to contain errors, which will result in you losing your audience, which in turn may cause loss of business and revenue. Business owners often assume that website content doesn’t need to be proofread because errors can always be fixed quickly; however, there are numerous reasons why this is a flawed thought process. In this article, we will look at some of those reasons.

 

Your company’s credibility and trustworthiness are on the line

First impressions count, and this is especially true online. Your website should always display a sense of credibility and trustworthiness. Grammatical mistakes and typos endanger both of these, even once you’ve amended the error.

Website visitors evaluate a website’s integrity and credibility within mere seconds. If they happen to spot any typo or other mistake in content during their first visit to a website, they are likely tolack trust in the site, and their chances of returning to the site in future are slim to none. And can you blame them when thereare likely thousands of other more credible sites they couldchoose from?

 

You increase the chances of your website beingfound online

When you proofread your website content before publishing it, you’re more likely to include keywords and phrases that are spelled correctly and deemed more appropriate. You’re also more likely to include unbroken and correctly spelled hyperlinks. This ultimately makes it far easier for search engines to find your website, assisting people who are searching for your content and helping it achieve higher search engine rankings.

 

Your website layout with always be first class

Website visitors are always quick to leave websites where the content isn’t easy to read or navigate and has a poorly designed layout. But if you always ensure extra steps are taken to proofread your website’s content, you’ll be aware of where images, links, videos, headers, sidebars, etc. sit in relation to that content. This will result in a more visually appealing website that’s easy to scan, read, view, and navigate in general. This will also decrease your bounce rate (people who leave your website immediately after clicking on it).

 

Consistency is key when it comes to your website style

A website tends tohave numerous pages and it’s imperative that you follow the same language, spelling, punctuation, and grammar rules across all pages. For example, you wouldn’t want to capitalise Professional Services on one page but not on any other page. Such inconsistencies will undermine the overall credibility and trustworthiness of your website, and make you seem unorganised.

In summary, it is crucial to proofread your company’s website prior to going live. Checking it yourself is sensible, but ideally investing in a professional proofreading company will help ensure that your website presents your business in a professional light.

Nick Jones – Managing Director, Full Proof