4. Stylistic consistency
Another key area that is often overlooked is stylistic consistency. English may be the language of the world, but it has plenty of national variations which can affect everything from the way certain words are spelt, to how such things as dates are expressed.
Likewise, there are many accepted ways of expressing such figures as currencies and percentages.
There’s no right or wrong when it comes to choosing one style over another – you simply select the one best suited to your site and its readers. But it’s a choice that has to be made, and duly applied across the site as a whole.
This is often easier said than done – especially if your site employs a team of writers – but the results are usually worth the effort. Not only will such consistency give your site a more professional feel, key information such as dates, figures and values will stand out more in a body of text if the reader’s mind instinctively knows what to recognise.
Additionally, idioms, clichés, sayings and catchphrases should generally be avoided. Although there’s a temptation to believe they’ll allow you to better connect with your reader, using them can make your text appear sloppy and lazy.
5. And finally: proofreading
Above all else, the best way to ensure the quality of the content on your site is up to scratch is to actually read it. Ideally, this should take place before publication, and should be read by someone other than its author. But even if this is not possible, simple steps, such as reading your own work out aloud to yourself, will often highlight any errors in it.
Of course, nothing is completely foolproof. And even the best sub-editing processes in the world will still let the odd stray apostrophe or misspelt name slip through unnoticed. Indeed, look hard enough, and you may well find errors in this very article.
Mistakes will always happen. But by defining certain standards for your site, and ensuring its content is properly researched, structured and thoroughly checked prior to publication, you can help keep this to a minimum.
Achieve this, and you may well find that as the quality of the copy on your site increases, so too does your revenue.
About The Author
A professional journalist since 2005, Mark has covered many aspects of the entertainment industry, ranging from videogames to films. He now writes for BestOnlineCasino.com, reporting on online and land-based gambling.