12 things to do before you hit publish

 

Content is king. It’s old marketing wisdom bandied around most offices at some point. Here at Grammatik, it’s also a mantra we live by. Without good, quality content your marketing efforts can easily fall flat. Fail to take off. Stall. Stumble. Suffer. And other such cliches. Writing decent copy is central to any business’ marketing efforts, yet there’s a phase that’s so often rushed: editing.

Editing is everything that happens between the completion of your first draft and the moment your final piece is published. It’s not just one step, but rather a process made up of many stages. Daunting though that sounds, it’s actually pretty straightforward. If you’re disciplined about it.

 

 

So here are some tips, tricks, and general advice for you to follow before you go and publish that opus of yours.

 

0. Writing

It might sound obvious, but before all the steps involved in editing you should make sure that you’ve written your piece as well as you can. It’s so much easier to edit a well-written article than rework a poorly constructed one.

 

1. Walk away

No one – and I mean no one – can write a piece and immediately proofread it without bias. Take a break. We humans can only concentrate for so long, especially in today’s world, so it’s important to recognise when you need a mental reset. This could mean completing another task, having lunch, or simply making a cup of tea.

 

2. Sustain yourself

Too many times have I got wrapped up in work and forgotten to drink some water or eat… well, anything. But it’s the water that’s really important here. Just being 1% dehydrated can reduce cognitive function by 5%. So grab a glass of water and a healthy snack before you start your editing process.

 

3. Spell check

Use Grammarly, built-in spell checkers, or the tool of your choice. Get rid of the red lines that need to be addressed (remember: spellcheckers aren’t infallible) and make sure you’ve set your checker to the correct language. I’m looking at you, US and UK English.

 

4. Fact checking

Before you check for readability, check your facts. Make sure that anything you’ve said can be backed up or its source linked to, that dates are correct, figures are right, and that quotes are accurate. It helps to do this as a separate stage so you’re not distracted by another aspect of editing.

 

5. SEO

If you’ve been writing for a website then the chances are you’ll have an SEO strategy to adhere to. Make sure your keywords are present and integrated seamlessly. Add outbound and inbound links as required. And ensure your heading makes sense in context.

 

6. Change your reading experience

Before you proofread for the first time you should change something about how the copy looks. This helps to trick our brains into thinking we’re not reading what we’ve already written and gives us a fresh perspective. Change the font face, size, and even the colour. Read on a different device if you can. Read out loud. Or change your inner reading voice.

 

7. Proofread

Read your words from start to finish. Make a note of anything that doesn’t flow. There are two schools of editor here: those who make changes as they go and those who prefer to do it all at once. Whichever you are, do that. And be ruthless. Be mindful of repeated words or phrases, mixing tenses, active vs passive voice, and anything that your house style dictates.

 

8. Kill your darlings

Just because you love something you’ve written doesn’t mean that it’s needed. If something isn’t helping the narrative or facts, get rid of it. You’re not writing to hit a word count – quite the opposite. Brevity is the soul of wit.

 

9. Proofread

You can’t just proofread once. Well, you can, but you shouldn’t. You’ve made changes so you should check them over. If you haven’t made changes then you’ve definitely missed something. No good writer in the history of written language has ever thought, “yep, that’s perfect!”

 

10. Know when to stop

If you find yourself banging your head against the edit, then stop. Take a break. Return to step 1. Or hop on to step 11.

 

11. Give it to someone else

By this point, there shouldn’t be any more edits to make. So give your piece to someone you trust (or someone you report to) and have them read it. You might want to give that person some clear direction, like reading for flow or paying attention to repetition. Address any notes they might have, and keep in mind the differences between critique and personal taste.

 

12. Publish

That’s it – you’re ready. Your copy is as good as it’s going to be. Well done! And get publishing.

 

Need help with taking your content creation game to the next level? Check out Grammatik’s marketing and PR services.