1950 Marketing

You should care, especially if you’re involved in Internet marketing, blogging, web site building or article writing.  That being said, my conclusion is that very few do care nowadays. Sad.

Here’s The Way I See It

A great thing about the Internet is it has made it possible for anyone to be an instant author and publisher. And a terrible thing about the Internet is it has made it possible for anyone to be an instant author and publisher.

And notice, I didn’t mention editor; that’s the one role people seem to have forgotten ever existed. Write it and post/publish/send it. Spell check it? Maybe, or maybe not.

I can’t remember the last time I read a web page, blog post or email newsletter without at least 2 or 3 typos or other errors (and often 10 or 12!) that could easily have been caught and corrected by the writer simply by reading what he or she wrote.

The Idea Killers

I suspect often errors occur when a person changes a sentence or two and accidentally takes out too many words, doesn’t take out enough or they insert text in the wrong place. They end up with a word missing, a word in the text that doesn’t belong, etc.

What happens when the reader encounters this type of error is, the point the writer is trying to get across gets lost. If your writing is intended to convince someone of something, you want your thought to flow right into the reader’s mind, unimpeded. You don’t want his or her train of thought to be derailed by their having to stop, go back and attempt to figure out what you were trying to convey.

As an example, I’m going to take the previous paragraph and edit it down to the quality I see daily. See how hard it is to follow the thought:

What happens  the reader encounters this type of error is, the point the writer is trying to get across gets lost. If you’re writing is intended to for convince someone of something, you want your though to flow right into the reader’s mind, unimpeded. You don’t want his or her rain of thought to derailed by there having to stop, go back up and attempt to figure out what you were trying to convey.

The Sale Killer

The writer writing the last error-filled paragraph might even be trying to convince someone to buy something. Don’t they realize what it does to their conversion rate when readers have trouble understanding them or simply give up reading because it’s too hard to follow? Apparently not.

I’m personally amazed at the lack of care on the part of information marketers who are trying to tell me how to make money on the Internet and not only don’t mention the importance of proper English and correct spelling, but who fill their own material with sloppy verbiage.

I also find it difficult, as an affiliate marketer, to send my reader to a sales page that makes me cringe. It doesn’t matter if the product is good, I just think the folks I refer to that product page deserve to be treated with more respect than that. Heck, I WANT them to feel they’re getting the kind of respect they deserve. After all, I want them coming back to my site to read about the next product I found to sell them.

Let’s Talk About Respect

If you, or any other writer, can’t be bothered to read through his or her own writing to make it clear, concise and readable for the person they want to sell to, I think it shows an inherent lack of respect for the reader. “You’re not worth the effort and I don’t think you’re smart enough to notice or care.” Isn’t that insulting? I think so.

I’ve recently read that in Internet marketing you should write to a fifth grade level, because many of the readers can’t follow it if you exceed that. Really? Well, don’t forget, a lot of your readers certainly CAN follow intelligently written copy. And they’re not terribly interested in reading something written with the skill of a fifth grader, or being talked down to as if they’re at that level.

In Conclusion

If you have a quality product to sell or a worthwhile idea to convey, you’ll only convince someone of that if your writing is of equal quality. Take that further, and you can convince people the product is better than it is if your sales page is well-written. Case in point: In July or August I bought a self-help product for $97 after being sold by a well thought out web site and sales letter, only to find the ebook itself is slop.

To Your Success,

Owen