The Power's in the Prose (so get it right)

By: Carol Dorman

Have you ever stumbled across a website that seemed wonderful when you first saw it? Graphics engaging, colours spectacular - almost emailed your compliments to the Webmaster... until you saw the first spelling error. You kept on reading; after all, typos can happen to anyone, right?

Then you spotted another, and another. What's more, apostrophes seemed to jump out from nowhere and randomly land out of bounds, in words like: "who'se" or "want's" or "it's".

**Okay, "its" is a tricky one, being the only instance where an apostrophe shouldn't be used to indicate ownership.
For example: "The dog found its bone."
The apostrophe in "it's" simply abbreviates two words: "it is".
For example: "It's cold outside."**

But I digress …

Spelling errors and wayward apostrophes were not the end of this web page's troubles. Awkward grammar, confused punctuation and a First to Third person identity crisis all led to one very frustrated website visitor, no longer eager to invest any more time there.

The saddest thing about this scenario is that the product or service being peddled on the website may, in fact, have been very good. Unfortunately, neither you nor the Webmaster will benefit from it. The Webmaster won't sell it and you won't buy it. All because the message was lost in a mire of mistakes.

What does this teach us?

• Never underestimate the power of correctness to sell when crafting your sales messages.
• Never underestimate the power of correctness NOT to sell when crafting your sales messages.

Visiting a website where the message isn't clear is like walking into a shop and finding all the labels written backwards. You will eventually be able to read them, after spending time deciphering them, but would you want to? Would you not rather exit the store and patronise one that cared enough about you to ensure your convenience?

So, let's hear it for the humble dictionary and a few good proofreading sessions. More than a match for whizzing and banging flashing graphics.