Why Mistakes Happen
The English language is not an easy one.
It provides pitfalls galore for all of us.
Even the most well educated and intelligent website owners can make what I call “grammar glitches.” These are minor errors that, despite their apparent insignificance, may deter website visitors from staying on a website. If they would stay, those visitors might discover the excellent quality of the goodies that you are offering. Alas, when they don’t stay, grammar glitches and typos are sometimes – I might even say “often” – the reason.
The English Language Itself:
There are specific problems caused by the English language that can trip us up, and contribute to our words being less easy to read than we had intended. English is frequently illogical. Homophones, acronyms, even gender issues, are just a few of the many traps that the language can set for us. As a result, our wording, intended to attract, may fail to do so. Because of the wide variety of environments in which I have lived and worked over the years, I am usually able to help with this when needed.
Time is often the Enemy
It seems as though there is never enough time to get everything done. Fine-tuning a website’s content is often near the bottom of people’s priority lists.
One of the advantages of working with me is that the search for possible website grammar glitches becomes top priority on my calendar, not on your “when I can find the time” list.
Focus on Website Technicalities
I have worked with quite a few “techies” whose high confidence in their ability to build a site is well deserved. Technically most of them have been far beyond my site development abilities. On the other hand, when it comes to the written word, that is not always the case. Similarly, those who are new to website building are often far too concerned with “How does it look?” and “Do the links work?” to worry about “How does it read?”
Beware the Negative Effects of Errors
To illustrate the negative effects of grammar glitches on your business, the Words Do Matter page offers links to a number of business articles on the financial effects on business of… well, they don’t call them “grammar glitches.” If your page is not converting as well as you had hoped, this might provide an explanation. There is also a sub-link that takes you to the responses to a brief survey that I posted on social media some time ago. It vividly demonstrates how people react when they encounter grammar glitches and typos on a website. Those responses are, for the most part, not what any website owner would hope for.