Do you ever consider the effects of bad proofreading on your business? It may be marketing material, pages on your company website, correspondence and emails that your staff may send or documents that you need to complete. Whatever it is can have a marked effect on the way your business is perceived by your customers and business associates. If you sell goods or services overseas then proofreading is even more important because however you communicate you will need to make use of translation services in Australia. Every mistake is magnified if there is an error in the translation because the material the translator has been given has been badly proofread.
One of the most important aspects of proofreading is the image your business portrays to the general public. Imagine a potential customer reviewing information from two or three different companies basically selling the same product for around the same price. For most customers these days, the internet is probably the main source of information about a product they are looking for. If your website has not been proofread properly, then it simply makes your company appear incompetent and amateurish, even if the products you are selling are of high quality and good value. It’s a bit like turning up badly dressed for a meeting with a potentially important business partner. It doesn’t matter what you say, you will be partly judged by the way you look.
If you make use of document translation services and leave the proofreading to the translation provider, make sure that they take the final proofreading aspect seriously. Good proofreading can have a significant effect on your total sales figures eventually.
So what is involved in proofreading? First and foremost it means checking that the document or text material that you have at the end is actually the correct one. A well-proofread piece of text should have no grammar, spelling or typographical errors in it. Effective proofreading services also mean checking to make sure that the language used is aimed specifically at those who will eventually read it. Legal or medical documents have to be carefully checked so that the right terminology is used in the target language. Cultural nuances and idiomatic expressions have to be taken into account.