As an online marketer, there are numerous areas to test, check over and tweak for all campaigns. One of these areas that should never be overlooked or left to chance, is the spelling and grammar in your email newsletters, online surveys, Tweets and even your text messages. Everyone falls into this trap, even veteran content writers. So, it's nice, every now and then, to take a refresher course and ensure that you remain on top of any mistakes. Any of these spelling or grammatical mishaps screams, "amateur hour" and "I don't care or have enough time to check my work!"
Even spelling correctors in your word processors can't save you every time. Sure, you spelled the word correctly, say "your" but what you really meant to write is "you're." Without an eagle eye and a figurative red pen, your content may be beautifully spelled but entirely confusing. Not to mention the fact that ISPs use bad spelling as a flag for overall deliverability.
Check out how we updated this post as part of our Flashback Friday series: 10 More Common Mistakes in Content Writing
Here are 12 of the most commonly misspelled and misused words in content writing:
1. Your and You're: "Your" means that you own or possess it, and "you're" is a contraction for "you are." So, is it your dog or you're dog?
2. Their, There and They're: "Their" implies ownership; "there" is a location; and "they're" is a contraction for "they are." They're sitting over there, next to their dog.
3. Judgement and Judgment: You'd like to think it that adding a "ment" to a word means that the original word doesn't need to change. Wrong! You have to drop the "e," so the correct spelling is judgment.
4. Maybe and May be: "Maybe" is like "sure." Where "may be" implies that something might be something. Your dinner may be late because I'm still working.
5. It's and Its: This one is counterintuitive. Normally, an "'s" means ownership. But here, "it's" is a contraction for "it is" and "its" is possessive.
6. Affect and Effect: To make this distinct, think of "side-effect." The side-effect of your medication you're on may make writing more difficult. "Affect" implies emotion, like, the music affected me so much that I sang along.
7. Accept and Except: "Accept" means to receive something while "except" means to exclude something. Think of the difference between these two in this way: "I accept your apology except for the last part."
8. Capital and Capitol: One refers to money and the other, government. "Capital" refers to currency and "capitol" is those buildings and monuments that represent the country.
9. Elicit and Illicit: "Elicit" draws out and "illicit" is, well, dirty. "The song elicited deep emotions, but the illicit lyrics kept it from pop stardom."
10. Than and Then: "Than" compares more than one thing, where "then" is an result of something. "This rose is redder than the one you have." For "then," think like this: "If I take your rose, then you'll be mad at me."
11. To and Too: "Too" means also or a lot of something. The couch is too big to fit through the door. If you remember "too," then "to" becomes easier to distinguish.
12. Anyway and Anyways: Simply, there isn't an "s" at the end of "anyway." Those who add the "s" are doing so incorrectly.
So, how did you do? Are there any mistakes listed that made you double check your last newsletter? Don't worry, as we mentioned, everyone does it at some point. That is why we are refreshing your brain so you can fix it next time.
