26 Jul Spelling mistakes are costing us millions!
Online entrepreneur Charles Duncombe has released information about the shocking state of spelling on websites. Following an in-depth analysis of website figures, it has been revealed that the use of bad spelling can actually cut online sales by half. This news is rather worrying – to put it mildly!
So what exactly is going on here? Are we forgetting the basics of the English language, and if so, why? While many people will blame the Internet for the shocking standards of English today, perhaps it’s not solely responsible. After all, the Internet has provided us with a quicker way to communicate, but there really is no excuse for using poor spelling and grammar – it’s just plain lazy.
Have you ever visited a website and seen occurrences of bad spelling? I have – and the mistake may as well be highlighted in yellow and shouting out your name, it’s so obvious to the eye. The worrying thing is – many of these mistakes can be found on websites that are promoting an actual writing or marketing service! I’m sure that you’ll agree that there’s nothing more off-putting to potential customers.
SEO companies realise that bad spelling is rife online– the problem is so widespread that many will use incorrect spellings on purpose when marketing websites – but is this just encouraging us to behave badly, rather than pushing us to correct a growing bad practice? And what exactly can we do to improve on our poor literacy standards? Time certainly seems to be a problem – we all have busier lifestyles, and emphasis is placed on getting results – quickly. However, is a quick result really worth it, if we are filling our online spaces with rubbish?
If you’re a regular Internet user, you’ll know how frustrating it can be to spend hours wading through ‘filler’ to get to the information that you really need – certainly, Google are working hard to improve the quality of online data. However, the onus really is on us – the people creating the online content. Yes, the old adage is true, time is money, but perhaps we should all learn to slow down, just a bit, to avoid these potentially costly mistakes.