Spelling matters!

I have said so for years, and now I find that both Charles Duncombe, director of the Just Say Please group, and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) agrees with me: spelling does matter! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14130854

The sloppiness of bad spelling & poor grammar is not for me. Having been a lover of words all my life, I cringe at incorrect spelling and misplaced punctuation. My toes curl at jumbled prose or the use of the wrong version of a word. Everywhere I look I see examples - from sign-writers who cannot spell, to writers of websites whose text frequently not only includes errors, but also makes little sense!

It would seem that now there is evidence to show that such poor writing, spelling and punctuation does have an adverse effect on online sales, and therefore on a business's image and credibility.

I recall that, a couple of years ago, I emailed a large national clothing & housewares retailer about the number of errors in their website and how damaging I felt it was to their brand. The response from that company was mildly sarcastic, "We are sorry that spelling errors spoiled your enjoyment of our site..." It did more than spoil my enjoyment, their attitude also resulted in my not buying from them. If a business has so little respect for its customers that it cannot understand that their website had an issue which needed addressing, why should I spend my hard-earned cash with them and support such sloppy practices?

As a former web developer I know how important websites are as part of a company's image, and this is why I now offer copywriting services to other website builders. I will also proof-read and correct web texts before (or after) they are uploaded, and can create texts for email, marketing or other written word requirements. There is no excuse for poor written standards when services such as mine are available.