English Is Hard! Grammar, Spelling and Content Marketing

Grammar, Spelling, Proofreading and Your Content Marketing

Grammar and spelling aren’t just elementary school subjects.  They play a very important part in content marketing.  From your insurance agency website to your blog, grammar and spelling should be given a great deal of attention.

Bad grammar, misspelled words and incorrect punctuation can ruin first impressions. For example, when a visitor comes to your website, your Facebook page or your insurance agency’s blog page, the last thing you want them to do is leave because of poorly written content.

Here are a few tips to remember:

1.  One of my pet peeves is the misuse of You’re and Your.

It’s really easy if you say it in your head before typing it out.  You’re is short for “You Are”.  If you read your sentence out loud, say “you are” instead of “you’re”.  Does it make sense?  If yes, you’ve used it correctly.  

• If you’re texting and driving, your chances of having an accident are greatly increased.

Your indicates something belongs to you or is related to you.  Your home, your auto. Your precedes a noun or a pronoun and shows that it belongs to you. Your is a possessive adjective.

• If you’re texting and driving, your chances of having an accident are greatly increased.

(P.S. - Don’t forget to double-check for any grammatical errors with There, They’re and Their)

2.  I Before E, Except After C (Unless it sounds like an A)

This is one I say in my head quite often.  I’ll admit, I don’t always get it right.  

I Before E

It’s a piece of cake.  Believe me.

Except After C

We received your payment after we gave you the receipt.

Unless it sounds like A

The weird clown yelled, “seize the day!”.

3.  The plural of words that end in -s, -ss, -z, -ch, -sh, -x

Words would look quite odd if it weren’t for this rule.  Adding -es to these words prevents the clashing of letters. Here are a few examples:

Box - Boxes
Quiz - Quizzes
Watch - Watches

English Is Hard!

It’s often said that English is one of the hardest languages to learn. Many say spelling is hard because words that end in the same combination of letters aren’t always pronounced the same.  I can’t imagine learning how to speak and spell English as a second language. I’m very impressed by those who have.

These are just a few tips to consider when you write and publish any content for your agency.  I highly recommend using spell check and always proofread your content several times before publishing. I’m guilty of not taking the time to proofread. It’s not uncommon for me to publish a blog and later have to go back to correct a mistake and then republish. I'm going to make a 2018 proofread resolution!