It’s not uncommon for anyone with a blog, myself included, to get reader feedback about a typo or grammatical problem with a post.
Most of the time, this feedback is helpful. You can correct the error, thank the person, and move along with your day.
Occasionally, you’ll get someone who is a self-appointed Grammar Gestapo and is a little more intense.
Regardless of where or how the feedback comes in, the question is: should you hire someone to proofread your blog posts?
In my view, no. I have a few reasons for this:
Don’t Delay Publishing
Many people, myself included, struggle with perfectionist tendencies.
You can keep going back to and edit a post over and over again, which results in it not being posted on time. (Don’t ask me how I know this).
Or, you can hit publish and move on to the next thing you need to do.
At the end of the day, perfectionism is just a fancy way to procrastinate.
Remember the Primary Purposes of the Blog Post
Blog posts by physicians should serve three primary purposes:
- To help educate/answer common patient questions.
- To attract patients to your practice by being publicly helpful.
- To benefit you in the way of local SEO
Your posts are not journal articles or books. And, no error in a blog post is permanent. You can correct them quickly if need be.
Proofreaders Aren’t Perfect Either
I’ve seen everything from website copy to book manuscripts that still have errors after going through the proofreading process.
Nobody’s perfect, and even having multiple sets of eyes on something won’t guarantee perfection.
There’s A Solid Software Alternative
My company has used Grammarly for years. I personally use this incredible tool as well.
In about two minutes, I can have all the significant typos and grammatical mistakes corrected with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Obviously, you don’t want to publish something without having read it several times. But it’s not the end of the world if there are some small mistakes.
The better strategy is to utilize that time in creating more content.