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Woman holding megaphone on turquoise color background - shout about your success but remember the writing mistakes to avoid

The 5 writing mistakes to avoid

We all use language every day. From toddlers discovering how effective the single word ‘no’ can be, we’re also constantly learning how to use it more effectively – especially when it comes to carefully crafting communications for business.

 

And that means being wary of the most common writing mistakes: here are our five mistakes to avoid.

 

Scale down the adjectives

Stephen King famously said “the road to hell is paved with adverbs”. The same goes for adjectives.

 

We all want to talk up our achievements – no-one was wowed by a brand announcing they were merely OK at something – but it’s easy to get carried away with awe-inspiring launches, breath-taking ideas, or that abundant plethora of awards you’ve won.

 

Sometimes more really isn’t more: you can be justifiably proud of your achievements without breaking out the entire thesaurus. The right word has far more impact than an unnecessarily flowery barrage.

 

Ditch the jargon

Every industry has its own lingo, terms which are second nature to you and your colleagues – but often utterly baffling to everyone else.

 

So tempting though it is to show off your expertise with arcane acronyms and complex terminology, unless you’re speaking to an industry audience, clarity is key.

 

If someone has to read what you’ve written more than once to understand it, you’re well on the way to losing their attention entirely.

Sometimes more really isn’t more: you can be justifiably proud of your achievements without breaking out the entire thesaurus. The right word has far more impact than an unnecessarily flowery barrage.

Spot the typo

Every writer has done it – you write something you’re delighted with, read it back over to check for mistakes and confidently publish. Then you spot the glaring error… Or worse, someone else spots it for you.

 

It could be one of those words which you have an odd blank spot over spelling (ours include Machu Picchu, eczema and guarantee) or simply that you’ve read back what you intended to write, not what’s on the page in front of you.

 

It’s always best to get it looked over by a fresh pair of eyes: if you don’t have a handy proofreader on call, at least leave a gap between writing and checking. Sometimes reading a printed version helps typos jump off a page, when you might skim over them on screen.

 

It sounds right… but it’s not

If you’ve ever wondered whether to encourage people to take a peek or a peak at your new product, you’re not alone.

 

Homophones – where two words are pronounced the same but have different meanings – are one of the easiest errors to creep into copywriting. After all, it sounds right… as anyone who’s muddled up bare with me and bear with me, and unintentionally invited readers to strip off, can confirm.

 

High on the list of common writing mistakes, you’ll find these potential pitfalls everywhere – affect/effect, aloud/allowed and principle/principal turn up regularly, along with they’re/their/there and it’s/its.

 

It’s all about you

What’s in it for the reader? Put simply, why do they care about what you have to say? With endless demands on our attention, countless calls to action in front of our eyes, what makes you pique their interest?

 

That doesn’t mean trying to appeal to all of the people all of the time: a certain short-cut to appealing to no-one. From targeting demographics so you know precisely who your audience is to focusing on the benefits to them, it’s easier to capture the interest of the ones you want.

 

Because even if you think your latest piece of writing is the best you’ve ever produced, if the reader turns the page or closes the tab, nothing else matters.

 

For more writing tips, advice and copywriting chat, find us on LinkedIn

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