Small business owners wear a lot of hats. As an expert multitasker, you’ve probably learned that there are times when you can manage two or three things at once. Then, there are those jobs that need your full focus. We are thinking, bookkeeping, inventory, and content editing and proofreading. If you’re involved in both creating and posting content, wearing both hats at the same time can cause confusion in the final output. With years of experience creating content for a range of industries, here are proven tips from our SEO copywriters for editing content and then proofreading content; because they aren’t the same thing.
Editing Content – 7 Key Steps
Master chefs take a few ingredients and transform them into a culinary masterpiece. Making the perfect roast chicken doesn’t come without practice and testing different herbs and spices, though. Editors do the same things with words, sentences, and paragraphs. The editor takes the content written by the best SEO writer and revises it for style, wordiness, jargon, and general flow.
- Read through the content before making any changes. Know the goal of the content. Who is the content written for? Why was the content created?
- Think like a reader would when you read it the first time.
- Reread. This time, think like an editor. Make sure the content has a singular theme. Is every sentence compellingly aligned with the theme? Does the content flow smoothly? Does the opening grab the reader? You only have about 2 seconds to get your audience’s attention. Is there a call-to-action at the end to tell the reader the next step?
- Does the content represent the brand?
- Rewrite the content or send it back to the writer.
- Set it aside for a time before reading through the content again to make sure it flows well.
- Review the content one last time for:
- Style errors
- Factual correctness and accuracy
- Proper credit
Proofreading Content
If the editor is the chef, the proofreader is the server for your content. It’s time to make the dish look nice for presentation. The proofreader polishes the content for grammar and spelling. The proofreader can also check for flow and style, as extra eyes. The proofreader should also check how the content looks in its final published form. Do the links work? Are the headers consistent? Proofreading is the final step, because you’re fixing minor errors that maybe weren’t caught in the editing phase. If you do the proofreading first, you may be wasting time because the SEO content could change before publishing, after the editor has had a go at it.
Editing and Proofreading Are Separate Tasks
In many small businesses, the same person is responsible for writing, editing, and proofreading. To make your content team work more effectively, take the time to pause between tasks to put on the right hat. Your content will reflect the time you put in it. Trying to wear all hats at the same time will make your content unfocused and unpolished. Find out how a content agency can give you more time to create high-quality content to increase your audience. Contact MintCopy for more information.
Use our online form to get in touch. You can also follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to stay up-to-date with the latest content marketing trends.
Resources:
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2021/04/how-to-proofreading-editing-copy/
Sheetal Pinto is the founder of MintCopy, a content agency that has been helping businesses communicate effectively since 2008. With a passion for words and a knack for SEO, she’s worked with companies around the world to craft copy that not only engages but ranks. Whether it’s blog posts, website content, or social media updates, Sheetal has a talent for turning complex ideas into compelling stories. When she’s not optimizing content or editing for clarity, she’s probably daydreaming about the perfect headline or debating the Oxford comma. With over 16 years in the business, she’s seen the digital marketing and SEO content landscape evolve and grow. Sheetal’s mantra? Fresh copy, refreshing results!
