Being your own proof reader is fraught with danger. I know, because I’m the sole proof reader of my own work :). Spelling mistakes don’t just look bad, they can be bad for business.

Sometimes after cranking out an article, I’ll go over it 3 or 4 times and still miss glaring errors. When the error is brought to my attention, I usually smack myself in the head and think “how the hell did I miss that!?”.

It’s a common problem, a form of store-blindness whereby your brain knows what’s right and how things should be and then imposes an incredible form of wishful thinking during your review. If you were to give someone a piece you had written and then asked them to rewrite it using different wording, but with any mistakes left intact - chances are you’d pick up on the spelling errors without a problem.

Spelling mistakes can be a minor embarassment, but they can also impact on your sales when it comes to more scrupulous buyers.

1 mistake in a paragraph could be seen as a typo; people may forgive it

2 mistakes - it may be perceived to be someone who doesn’t care about their work; therefore doesn’t care about the quality of their products and services.

One misplaced letter can also distract the person from your message. Here’s an example

“Don’t shut yourself out from this deal!”

… now replace the “u” in shut with an “i” and read the sentence again. It has quite an effect, doesn’t it?

So that’s an extreme example, not one I can claim I’ve seen, but it does illustrate how powerful a distraction and impression a spelling error can have.

If you don’t have anyone to review your work; the best strategy I’ve found (which I still often fail to do), is to not publish right away, but leave the piece overnight and review it the next day. This really does work; give it a whirl.