You’re a fairly decent writer and know the basics of English grammar, plus you’ve got a friend who can look things over for you, so you really don’t need to hire a proofreader, right? Not necessarily. Here are five reasons why hiring out proofreading services can gain you business while saving you time and money.
A Professional Appearance
The most important reason for hiring a professional proofreader is for the expert appearance it gives your writing. Not only will a proofreading expert catch your mistakes, they’ll make suggestions on how to improve your writing. This also includes how contemporaries in your field are writing their projects. When viewers are looking at your website, proposal or literature, errors in grammar, style and spelling often jump out at them, giving them the impression that the work you do for them may be as haphazard as your content.
Catching Common Grammatical Mistakes
Do you mean to use it’s or its? Are you consistently sticking to AP style or need to use serial commas for a particular publication? Proofreaders use a variety of styles and are attentive to small differences that you or a friend may not notice. These mistakes can be embarrassing and drive your viewers crazy, making them doubt your professionalism.
Saving Time
Because proofreading services make a business out of proofreading, they’re very efficient at it. This means that it will take them less time than you would need to finish the same amount of work. Not only are you saving time on the proofreading, you’re also able to get other work done in the meantime. When you rely on a friend to look over it for free, it’s not their main priority and it can make it harder to make deadlines in a reasonable manner.
Saving Money
You could proofread and edit your own work, but it’s harder to catch mistakes when you’ve been working on a piece for awhile. In addition, professional proofreaders spend their days doing exactly what they are paid to do, so your writing can be proofread accurately, allowing you to keep working and making more money instead of slaving over a document you’re afraid to make mistakes on. What’s more, you’ll actually make money because of the increased professional appearance a properly proofread document provides.
Sense of Urgency
Because it’s their primary job, a proofreader will get your work done quickly and competently. Unlike having your aunt, who is a grammar fiend, proofread your work, it won’t end up sitting on the end table in her living room for a week or two before she can get to it. Instead, it will be proofread and returned in a timely manner with corrections ready to go.
Now that you’ve had a chance to think about how professional proofreading can help facilitate and improve your business writing, why not investigate professionals offering proofreading? You’ll improve your business’ prospects while saving yourself time and money.
