Why does your business need to hire an editor or proof reader?
Why does your business need to hire an editor or proofreader?
- If your business has a website, you need a professional editor to check the content of your sites is well-aligned to what you are selling or promoting, your business brand, and your target customers. An online editor will also be able to check correct usage of keywords and the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) within your sites, and change or improve the wording to suit what you need your website or Facebook page to do. The editor can also review or correct the structure of your website, fact-check, or edit to improve the metadata behind your site.
- If your business has a website, you need a professional proofreader to check the spelling, grammar and punctuation to make sure there are no errors. A clean, correct website will make you look professional.
Why your website needs not just editing, or just proofreading, but both
Getting your website edited then getting it proofread, in that order, is a bit like renovating a house.
If you’re not 100% sure the structure of the house is okay, you call in a professional to check that it isn’t eaten out by white ants, the stumps are okay, there are no cracks in the ceiling or leaks in the roof, etc. Then, once you are sure the structure is fine, you go to the next step of hiring people to do the painting, tiling, laying floor covers etc. to make your house look good.
Similarly, the first step in making sure that your website is up to scratch is to ask a website editor to make sure that the structure of your website is clear and user-friendly, the SEO has been done correctly, and your site showcases your business brand and attracts the customers you want. The second step is to ask a proofreader to do the final touches: dot your i’s, cross your t’s, and polish up the website so it looks professional.
If either the editor or the proofreading process is missing, your website may not be user-friendly, or clear, or informative, or look professional, which will turn your customers away in droves.
What if your business doesn’t have a website?
Then you need to get one. In today’s world, if you don’t have a professional-looking website, most customers will think you are not a legitimate business, or are no longer operating – even if you have a bricks-and-mortar shopfront.
There are a several Gippsland businesses that can write and design your website, or edit and proofread your website. You can find them right here, on Gippsland Business Connect:
- Website design services: GippsTech, based in Warragul, Gippsland
- Website editing services: On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading, based in Moe, Gippsland
Image: thanks to Gerd Altman from Pixabay
Sally-Anne Watson Kane
Writer, editor, proofreader, owner/operator - On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading
Sally-Anne Watson Kane owns and operates On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading (established as 'On Time Typing' in 2002) and Peewee Press (since 2003). Sally-Anne is a professional editor and full member of Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) Australia, based in Moe, Gippsland.
Our services: typing, scribing, report writing, minute-taking, transcription, copy writing, editing, proofreading, graphic design, and self-publishing.
Sally-Anne manages an Australian-based team of eleven typists, scribes, transcriptionists, writers and editors (all subcontractors) including typists in Gippsland as well as typists, editors and scribes in Melbourne, Central Victoria and interstate.
Sally-Anne is a professional member of Institute of Professional Editors and Editors Victoria, and a full member of Life Stories Australia.
Sally-Anne regularly writes articles about sole trader and small business management, writing and editing, self-publishing, and contemporary issues in Australia, across a variety of platforms.
Sally-Anne has 25 years' experience in:
- editing and proofreading publications, websites, policies and reports.
- audio transcription (dictation, transcripts of interviews, focus groups, investigations, hearings).
- recording, transcribing, compiling and self-publishing oral histories and anthologies.
- writing articles, websites, reports and publications
- scribing and writing selection, procurement and referee reports
- scribing, writing and editing self-published memoirs and life stories
- providing self-publishing services to authors, businesses and organisations from handwritten manuscript through to printed book stage, including: project planning, budget, typing, editing, proofreading, graphic design, printer quotes and liaison. We specialise in producing memoirs and life stories, local histories, and minority voices.