Few people find the process of editing content to be particularly exciting. It is –– generally speaking –– decidedly unglamorous work. And yet, editing is vital to the success of any piece of professional writing.
Editing obviously allows professionals to correct mistakes, but it also affords them the opportunity to improve upon their work and add key components when necessary.
With all that in mind, today we’ll explain how professionals can become better editors of their own work. Check out our top four tips on the subject here:
Consider Your Audience
Professional content is always written for a reason. Social media posts may be designed to attract a consumer’s attention; a blog may answer a relevant FAQ; an ad may contain new information about a product or service. In any case, whenever a professional writes something, they should keep their target audience in mind at all times.
This will help you decide what information to include in your work, what context you need to provide, and how detailed your content should be. Remember, don’t write for yourself –– write for others.
Take Your Time
Quality work calls for time and patience. Whether you’re writing an advertisement about microplates, or you’re crafting a new email marketing campaign, don’t ever rush to complete a writing assignment.
Proper editing requires some distance from your content, so give yourself enough time to get away from your work. Doing so will help you approach the editing process with “fresh eyes.”
Recognize Limitations
The great should not be an enemy of the good. By this, we mean it’s not a wise idea to spend all of your time and resources trying to perfect a piece of content that is already of a high quality. Not only is this an unsustainable approach to editing, but it’s an incredibly inefficient way to use your time.
Yes, do your best to catch glaring errors or omissions when you sit down to edit, but don’t delay publication unless you have a very good reason to do so. Keep in mind also that you can always go back and revise old digital content after it goes live if need be.
Read it Out Loud
Simple? Yes. Effective? Very much so. If you want to make sure that your work is ready to share with others, then stop for a moment and read it out loud to yourself. This may only take a few minutes per article, but it can vastly improve the quality of your writing.
Conclusion
Normally, professionals can call on coworkers or programs like Grammarly to help them bolster their writing abilities. At the end of the day, though, learning how to edit yourself will help you become a better writer, a more detail-oriented professional, and a more engaged team member.
I always use grammarly but yes, editing your own work helps a lot. I do read my work aloud and it helps.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing this. I use Grammarly but also reading aloud is a great ways to pick up mistakes.
Reading it out loud is a great idea and effective indeed. Sometimes having someone to criticize or judge our work is better.
Reading out loud really does help! And if I’m not sure about something, I have my husband read it. He has a very good critical eye.
Reading aloud and Grammarly have been life-saving techniques for me and the hundreds of kids I have taught over the years!
Great tips! I love the one that you need to recognize your limitations! I need to learn it!
I try to take my time with my work. I see it with others where they’ve rush and it’s obvious. I’m more of a perfectionist.
Those are all good tips, but reading it out loud is definitely the way to make sure you haven’t made any mistakes. Letting it “sit” for a little while when I am tired and then coming back to it helps too.
I love these ideas. I always worry about mistakes, so grammarly is a must. I also make sure I don’t do too much–because that’s when mistakes are usually made!
Reading it outloud REALLY does work. There are also built in software on most modern computers that will read it for you as well.
These are some great tips – it is amazing how much reading aloud can help, that is definitely something I need to try and remember to do more when I have finished a post.
I always find it is better to let an article rest overnight and read it again with fresh eyes in the morning. If I have someone else to read it that always helps too.