Email marketing can be tricky business if you use words that scream SPAM.

If you don’t want your emails to be deleted, don’t use spam words in your subject lines.

email marketing (Photo credit: opportplanet)

This marketing strategy can save you time and money in the long run.

Below is a list of 50 email marketing spam words you don’t want to use.

If you use spam words, your email blasts and newsletters will end up in the “Land of Email Marketing Misfits,” known as the Spam folder.

50 Email Marketing Words That Scream SPAM

1. Free or F R E E
2. Buy
3. As seen on
4. Urgent!
5. Make money
6. Make money online
7. Make money fast
8. Extra income
9. Extra cash
10. Be your own boss
11. Affordable
12. Quote
13. No hidden fees
14. No hidden cost
15. Get out of debt
16. Get paid
17. Hello
18. Dear (fill-in-the-blank)
19. Increase sales
20. Increase traffic
21. Network marketing
22. Multi-level marketing
23. Fast
24. Easy
25. Lose weight
26. Weight loss
27. Thousands
28. No experience
29. Off shore
30. Limited time
31. Limited time only!
32. Act now!
33. Offer expires
34. Offer expires soon
35. Don’t wait
36. Order today
37. Order now
38. Bonus
39. Please read
40. Guaranteed
41. Risk free
42. No obligation
43. Free quote
44. Free gift
45. Compare today
46. Compare
47. Risk free
48. Trial offer
49. Free sample
50. Please read

Most email marketing services such as Constant Contact give users the opportunity to check their email blast and newsletter for spam.

A low returns indicates little or no spam. A high return means your email blast or newsletter contains spam words. Ouch!

Before you send out your next email blast or newsletter, make sure it’s not filled with spam words.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes: They’re probably bombarded with emails on a daily basis. They have information overload! Give them a reason NOT to delete, or even worse, put your emails in the spam folder.

Once you end up in the spam folder, you’ll stay there forever. You don’t want your company’s email marketing materials banished to the “Land of Email Marketing Misfits,” also known as the ‘Spam’ folder. Do you?

What spam words do you leave out? Share.

Related email marketing articles

• Email Marketing: Is Free a Powerful or Spam Marketing Term? (savvy-writer.com)
• Email Insider Summit: Email deliverability panel recap (blogs.constantcontact.com)
• Email Marketing Helps Constant Contact Customers See Higher Revenues (blogs.constantcontact.com)

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Your company may have incorporated a blog on its website or have a blog linked to your company’s website. Your company probably uses social media, hoping it will increase your web traffic, sales, and revenues. Unfortunately, if a blog post (or other web content) isn’t compelling or you don’t have enough posts, your blog will remain stagnant.

Follow the five blog post tips below to increase web traffic.

5 Blog Post Tips to Increase Web Traffic 

Content-Content Interaction (Formal) (Photo credit: jrhode)

Select the right primary and secondary keywords/phrases.

You’ve probably heard this a million times already, but it begs repeating. Selecting and optimizing the ‘right’ primary and secondary keywords/phrases for your blog posts can increase web traffic.

To find out which keywords/phrases work for your company, test them by using the “A/B Testing” method.

Select a couple of keywords/phrases and use them within pages and Google AdWords (if you advertise on the web) in addition to blog posts.

Look at the number of clicks and impressions for the keywords/phrases. Which keywords/phrases receive the most clicks and impressions? What are the conversion rates? Knowing this information is useful when your choose keywords/phrases.

Once you have your primary and secondary keywords/phrases, hire a freelance writer, content manager, or social media manager to write your company’s web content, ‘tweets’ and Facebook status updates.

Optimizing ‘tweets’ and Facebook status updates with your keywords/phrases can increase web traffic. Try it today!

Write a blog post in a conversational tone.

Writing for the web is different than writing for print. A blog post should be written using simple and short sentences. If you don’t already use the Flesch-Kincaid method to analyze your blog posts, you may want to consider it.

Flesch-Kincaid Score 

90-100 : Very Easy

80-89 : Easy

70-79 : Fairly Easy

60-69 : Standard

50-59 : Fairly Difficult

30-49 : Difficult

0-29 : Very Confusing

It’s important to write web content that has a score of at least 60 or higher. The higher the number means the web content is easy to read.

Most journalists write newspaper and magazine articles that score a 70 and above. They use simple language to get their point across.

Pay attention to the word count of a blog post.

Most freelance bloggers and freelance writers will tell you a blog post should be 300 words to 700 words. However, I’ve read many blog posts that are over 700 words. Heck! I write blog posts that exceed 700 words.

Tip: About Pages, Bios, and other pages are usually 500 words.

Base the word count on your audience.

Ask a question at the end of a blog post.

If you want to start a conversation, ask a question at the end of a blog post. This is a good way to entice visitors to post comments which begins a dialogue between you and your target market.

You could automate an email response such as, “Thank you for reading our blog. We appreciate it!” However, you may want to answer a few emails personally or have your social media or content manager respond.

Tip: Ask a question or take a poll on your social media networks.

Speaking of responding … Make sure your content manger or social media manager responds to comments. Readers who make thoughtful comments want to know if someone from the company is paying attention to them.

If you receive too many comments (100 or more) you could always close comments.

Bold headlines get attention.

Writing headlines takes patience and practice.  A bold headline will stop readers’ in their tracks — they’ll have to read your web content.

Most copywriters will spend at least 30 minutes or one hour writing the perfect headline. This may seem outrageous, but it really isn’t.

Think about it. How much do you think the writers at top selling magazines earn for writing headlines? I won’t keep you in suspense — they earn a boatload of money! It is worth it to pay writers a high salary if a magazine receives a high ROI.

It’s all about ROI (return on investment). If your company wants to increase their ROI, it’s worth it to pay a copywriter top dollar for writing headlines.

These are some blog post tips that can increase your company’s blog web traffic.

Make sure your freelance writer or staff writer keeps the company’s target audience in mind when writing a blog post.

Writing a blog post is different from writing an editorial article. Most of the time a blog post will be shorter than a 1,000 word print article. However, there are exceptions to the rule. This is why it’s important to know your target audience. Write for them!

What is your biggest challenge with blog posts? Share.

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Effective communication is important for both print and web copy writing. The most important aspect of writing is creating an eye-catching headline. A freelance writer who’s skilled in writing for the web understands that it’s important to write headlines that get noticed. It’s also important to optimize a headline for SEO purposes. Below are a freelance writer’s ‘secrets’ to writing a headlines for the web that will grab the attention of readers.

How a Freelance Writer Writes Headlines for the Web 

oDesk Freelancer-RJ Nieto (Photo credit: thumbbook)

Reads tabloid magazines

A freelance writer knows that tabloid magazines have the best headlines which is why they’ll read them. Are you shocked?

Tabloids grab a reader’s attention and don’t let go. This is why they sell! The headlines ‘hook’ a reader and beckons them to read the articles.

Effective communication such as headline that grab’s your target audience’s attention is important when you write for the web.

It’s important to ‘optimize’ a headline with one or two keywords/phrases. The key is to place the primary keyword in front and the secondary keyword at the end. Or, you could just use the primary keyword.

Here’s an example:

Web Content Writers Crash SEO Companies Server for the Second Time

The primary keyword/phrase is ‘Web Content Writers’ and the secondary keyword/phrase is ‘SEO Companies.’

A freelance writer reads Cosmopolitan 

The publishers of Cosmopolitan magazine understand the importance of effective communication. Their writers create headlines that make readers want to read the articles.

They may even shock them. Talk about effective communication!

Some freelance writers have been known to subscribe to Cosmopolitan and other magazines, only to rip-off the front covers and toss the magazines. This is how a freelance writer builds a ‘headline reference’ file. It’s good for those days when a writer needs help or inspiration to write a headline.

Reads blogs

A good freelance writer reads other blogs. They pay attention to a bloggers writing style to see what attracts readers to a blog.

Effective communication is highly important when a freelance writer writes for the web. Readers want quick information that’s helpful.

In order to grab their attention, a write must create a headline that makes readers stop what they’re doing. Of course, converting them to a customer is another goal as well.

Continues their freelance writing education

A good freelance writer continues their freelance writing education by doing the following:

• Attending writer’s conferences and workshops
• Enrolling in writing classes
• Reading books about freelance writing
• Networking with other freelance writers
• Enrolling in communication classes such as public speaking

Specialize in Freelance writing

You may be surprised (or not) to discover a freelance writer began their writing career as a journalist. It’s not unusual for a newspaper or magazine writer to transition into a freelance writing career.

They’re used to meeting or turning in work ahead of time (deadlines increase, it happens) and understand the importance of writing for a targeted audience. A ‘good’ freelance writer can adjust their writing style to ‘fit’ your company’s audience. Of course, they can write headlines that get noticed!

Now you know the secrets a freelance writer uses to write headlines for web content.

What challenges does your company face when it comes to writing headlines? Share.

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As a freelance writer, I work with clients in various industries. A month ago, I started working with a client in the travel industry. I’m thrilled because not only do I get to write quality content such as editorial articles and blog posts, I get to teach everyone about SEO and social media. I enjoy teaching and have taught classes such as Blogging & SEO at a recreation center in Downtown Chandler in Arizona. Below are ways a freelance writer can help grow your business, and perhaps, teach you and your employees’ new skills such as social media and social networking.

A Freelance Writer Increases Business Results and Profitability

Amandah Blackwell, Freelance Writer and Ghost Writer

1. A freelance writer is objective. Since a freelance writer isn’t a part of your organization, they’ll have an objective viewpoint of your projects whereas employees could be too emotionally attached to certain company projects.

2. A freelance writer has a high accountability — writes quality content. A freelance writer does not get paid unless a project is completed Most freelancers charge 1/2 or 1/3 up front; however, they won’t receive the final payment until the work is completed.

On the other hand, employees get paid either way. In the end, organizations could pay a lot more, especially if an employee quits or is fired. Plus, there are costs such as PTO, health care, continuing education, etc.

3. Experience. A freelance writer has a wealth of experience writing quality content. They could also have experience with graphic and web design, social media, SEO, and other professional skills. Your freelance writer can help you increase business results and profitability in the short and long run.

Tip #1: A freelance writer is probably familiar with social media and SEO along with providing quality content such as blog posts, articles, eBooks, white papers, newsletter content, and more. You may be surprised how many skills they possess.

4. Adds value. A professional freelance writer understands the meaning of value. Not only will they write quality content and eye-catching headlines, they can provide suggestions for blog posts and articles. They could rewrite web content if necessary.

A freelance writer could assist with keyword/phrase research to make sure the ‘right’ keywords are being used.

Tip #2: Social media is great way to promote a company’s services and products. Ask a freelance writer to write ‘tweet’s and Facebook status updates to increase web traffic and sales. They could manage all of your social media accounts.

5. Can fill-in for staff writers. A freelance writer can fill-in when staff writers go on vacation or a leave of absence. This way the remaining staff writers won’t feel that much pressure to pick up extra work.

Have you hired a freelance writer? How are they adding value to your company? Share. 

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Writing content (seo) for the web is different than writing for print publications such as magazines and newspapers. Remember, readers use different types of devices such as laptops, iPads (and others), cell phones, etc. to read information online. Even the internet browser makes a difference. Information may appear differently when viewed in Google Chrome vs. Internet Explorer. The biggest obstacle is that readers could become impatient if they have they have to take a lot of time to read a blog post or article. They prefer information that’s quick to read.

Follow the 7 easy steps below to improve your web content writing. Your customers and readers will appreciate it.

Writing Web Content That Works in 7 Easy Steps

Content-Content Interaction (Formal) (Photo credit: jrhode)

Know your target market. Before you write content for the web, know your target market. If you don’t know ‘who’ the target market is, the content will be irrelevant.

Write catchy headlines and taglines. There’s a reason why tabloids, entertainment magazines, women’s magazines, men’s magazines, etc. sell. The catchy headlines and taglines ‘hook’ readers over and over again.

Writing headlines and taglines can take anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour. Yes, it can take that long to write an award-winning headline for an award-winning article.

Get to the point. When writing for the web, it’s important that content gets to the point. Don’t use industry jargon, unless of course, your target market is professionals who’ll understand what the content. Use simple language that can be read quickly.

Link to helpful internal and external links. Make sure to link to internal pages and posts within your website in addition to external links that will be helpful to readers. Look for web content that is clear, concise, and precise. Make sure it’s targeted to your market.

Use the ‘right’ keywords and phrases. Web content writing includes incorporating the ‘right’ keywords and phrases for your company. Don’t stuff content with keywords because Google and other search engines will penalize you.

When using keywords and phrases within web content, make sure it flows and doesn’t sound forced. Sometimes, it takes experience when it comes to web content writing. Your company can always hire a freelance writer to handle all of your web content writing.

Write short paragraphs and use bullet points. Web content (seo) needs to be easy to read; otherwise, you may lose readers along the way. Use bold headlines and bullet points to get your point across.

Recap

• Know your target market.
• Create catchy headlines and taglines that will hook readers.
• Use the right keywords/phrase (seo) for your web content.
• Web content writing (seo) may take more time if you’re not experienced writing for the web.
• Write short paragraphs. Use bullet points.
• Link to helpful internal and external links.
• Get to the point.

Subscribe to Amandah Tayler Blackwell Savvy-Writer by Email

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Do you need to fire your SEO company? If you’re not getting the SEO results or customer service support you deserve, it may be time to fire your SEO company. Here’s how to know when it’s time to say goodbye:

• You never receive timely responses to your emails.
• It’s always another person’s job within the company to handle whatever it is you inquire about, i.e., keyword analysis, web design, SEO, etc.
• They always have an excuse as to ‘why’ something wasn’t done. For example, “The web design wasn’t completed because so and so is still out of the office.” Most SEO companies have more than one web designer.
• They outsource SEO services to contractors in other countries which creates a communication barrier.
• They thought you were doing the SEO work they were supposed to have done.
• Contracted employees aren’t familiar with your website.
• You’re not seeing the results promised to you when you signed the contract for SEO services.

If you’ve identified with more than two of the above criteria, it may be time to find another SEO company.

How to Fire Your SEO Company in 3 Easy Steps

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Be professional. There’s no need for petty name calling or pointing the fingers. All you have to say is, “It’s time for us to find another SEO company that fits our needs better. Thank you for your service.” Don’t go into details if your SEO firm doesn’t ask for them. End the relationship and find another company.

Stick to the facts. As Sergeant Joe Friday from Dragnet would say, “All we want are the facts, ma’am?”

Contrary to Point #1, your SEO firm may ask, “Why are you unhappy with our SEO services? Stick to the facts. If keyword analysis was supposed to be completed each month but isn’t, mention it. If the web design wasn’t completed on time, mention it. If you’re tired of playing ‘email tag’ with their contracted employees, mention it.

Customer service

Do you have to babysit your SEO company? If you constantly need to ‘check up’ on your SEO company, it may be time to part ways. While you should know what your SEO firm’s doing for your company, you shouldn’t have to babysit them. You shouldn’t have to send them email after email asking the same question over and over again such as, “Is the keyword analysis completed? Is the web design completed? If they can’t give you an estimated completion time, it’s time to find a new SEO company.

You decide it’s best to hire a local SEO firm. Perhaps, your SEO company is located in another state. Sometimes, it’s better to hire a local SEO firm because they’ll be able to visit your offices should you need training or want to have a meeting to discuss your SEO. There’s nothing wrong with hiring a local company. It’s a good way to grow your area’s economy.

Fact: If you’re a part of a trade association/group or barter group, understand that your company may not be a ‘top’ priority.

Firing your SEO firm may not be easy, but it could be in your company’s best interest to do so. Before you hire another SEO company, ask questions such as:

• How long does web design (redesign) take?
• What programs do you use for keyword analysis?
• How will you help us determine the ‘right’ keywords for our company?
• Do you outsource SEO services to contractors located in other states and or country? If yes, where are your contractors located?
• How long does SEO take to implement?
• What are the benefits of your SEO services vs. your competitors?
• What am I responsible for?

Make sure you understand exactly what the company’s SEO services are before signing a contract. Your company’s SEO is important to the growth of your business and online presence. Find a SEO company that will work for you and with you to increase your organic web traffic. With the proper SEO strategy, your company’s web traffic and profitability will increase.

Subscribe to Amandah Tayler Blackwell Savvy-Writer by Email

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Consider this Amandah’s Freelance Writer’s SEO guide to optimizing your company’s blog/website. Take the struggle out of optimizing your blog/website with these ridiculously easy SEO habits.

SEO doesn’t have to keep your management team up at night. Although there’s a science behind SEO, it doesn’t have to be tricky or complicated. Basically, you use keywords/phrases and tags within web content to drive traffic to your website. The caveat is to have well-written content and not a bunch of copy stuffed with keywords and phrases. Google’s not fond of that.

Ridiculously Easy SEO Habits to Start

1. Review the company’s current keyword/phrase and tags. Perhaps, it’s time to analyze the effectiveness of your current keyword/phrase and tags. If your company’s website isn’t receiving the web traffic you thought it would, it could be your keywords/phrases and tags.

2. Review web content. How well are the keywords/phrases and tags incorporated into blog posts, articles, and pages? Your optimization is too low. Or, the content may not be that compelling. Don’t forget about writing SEO headlines. It’s important to put the keyword in the beginning of the headline. If you’re using a secondary keyword, place it in the middle or end. It’s not a good idea to have the primary and secondary keywords next to each other.

3. Check out the competition. What’s your competition up to? How’s their content? Read their web content and compare it to yours. If their web content is better, it may be time to hire a freelance writer to revise your company’s.

4. Review the number of internal and external links. Perhaps, your company’s link building isn’t what it can be. If you don’t link to high-quality pages within your company’s website, you’re missing out on the opportunity to optimize the website. Also, it’s important to provide customers with helpful, high-quality external links that complement your company. 

5. Look for ‘stop words‘ within permalinks. Search engines disregard common words as the ones listed below. It makes no sense to have them in your permalinks. 

Sample List of Stop words

about
above
after
again
all
and
for
get
to

6. The company’s website doesn’t have a search engine friendly design. It’s important that your company’s website is clean and easy to use. More importantly, it needs to be search engine friendly. If images are used it’s imperative to utilize the ‘alt text’ feature that’s available in blogging platforms such as WordPress and Blogger. This provides a text description of images.

7. Your company doesn’t provide transcripts of audio and video. Let’s face it; some visitors may prefer reading a transcript of an audio recording or video. More importantly, developing these SEO habit will help your company help search engine index these materials. This can lead to more web traffic which can increase customer conversion rates.

8. Your company doesn’t take advantage of SEO services. If your company doesn’t have an RSS feed (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication), they’re missing out on web traffic. These are easy to maintain and code. They’ll update when new content is added to the website.

9. Your company doesn’t take advantage of SEO tools. Most companies use Google Analytics to analyze their website’s traffic. It’s easy to set up and use. You receive information on keywords and searches. It’s a great way to set up an ‘A/B’ test to see which keywords/phrases work for your company.

10. Pay attention to Google Panda. This is a job for your web master. Rather than having as many URLs indexed as possible, your company should have its best, highest quality URLs indexed. Have your web master remove all unnecessary, extraneous, low ranking, and duplicate URLs from the index. As mentioned in Point #4, link to high-quality external links. Google Panda is pushing everyone to put their best foot forward and publish high quality content. 

11. Stay up-to-date with SEO trends. Technology trends come and go. It’s important to keep up-to-date with the ever changing world of SEO. I myself am self-taught when it comes to SEO. However, I’ve been looking into SEO certification courses and programs. I just began my search.  

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Question: Is article marketing dead?

Answer: According to Jeff Herring, “No, it’s not.” However, the way you approach article marketing needs to shift if you want to attract the ‘right’ people to your website. These people will purchase your products and services.

Article marketing includes the following:

• Content creation includes audio, text and video. Content is king; however, building trustworthy relationships trumps content.

• Online visibility means people need to be able to find you online. It doesn’t matter how good your web design or layout is. If people can’t find you, no one will purchase your products and or services.

FYI: Write compelling articles and you’ll have something of value to add to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Digg, your Blog, etc.

• Traffic generation matters. Even if you’re receiving 1 million hits per day, don’t stop utilizing article marketing because you want to continue to earn an income.

• List building: Who do you want on your list? It’s important to connect with the right clients and customers. Stop wasting time marketing to those who won’t purchase your products/services or can’t afford it right now.

Tip: Review the traffic rankings on Alexa. For example, Google is #1, Facebook is #2, Twitter is #9 and LinkedIn is #13. Post your articles to these websites or give a synopsis of your articles.

• Product creation:  What problems are you solving? You could solve your clients and customers problems by offering them a book, eBook, online or home study course, teleseminars and webinars, etc.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that article marketing is dead. What has changed is how articles are written. They have more of a ‘sales’ undertone to them without selling to your target market. Remember, most people are tired of being sold to. They want to know, “What’s in it for me? What problem are you solving for me? How does this benefit me? Why should I care?” Pay attention to the above criteria and you’ll be successful with article marketing.

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Are your email marketing campaigns opened all or most of the time? If you’re experiencing lackluster results, follow the guidelines below to increase the number of times your campaigns are opened. Remember to avoid SPAM words such as Free and Urgent. Proofread emails carefully — you never know who’s reading them!

How to Create Marketing Emails That Get Opened

1. Create an identifiable look and feel of email campaigns.

2. Use consistent a color pattern.

3. Use a short and simple subject line. Remember, mobile devices don’t read that many characters. Incorporate a specific benefit for readers. Why should they care? Why should they open your emails? What’s in it for them? Also, don’t forget to include your brand in your email campaign. Capitalize and punctuate carefully.

Layout of Email Marketing

Business to Consumer

1. Use a newsletter layout.

Incorporate equal images to text, i.e., lifestyle shots, product shots, etc. Remember, 60% of email readers view with images ON.

Business to Business

1. Use a card layout with ALL or mostly text.

2. Give facts about the product/service.

3. Have a clear call to action.

Note: Most business to business email readers view emails with images OFF. If images are off, type out your business name. Make sure your brand is present by including a description for an image; make it a clickable link. Also, add to Safe Sender List.

FYI: The text version is viewed by 15% of your list.

4. Place important links at the top. Include an engaging message before the links. Shorten the link it it’s too long.

FYI: Smartphones now show HTML emails.

LESS IS MORE! 15-20 SECONDS IS SPENT ON A CLICKED MESSAGE

LIMIT YOUR NEWSLETTER OR CARD 3 TO 5 TOPICS

5. Use power words such as New, Introducing, Save, Discover, Results, Top-Notch, etc.

6. Avoid weak words such as Maybe, Hope, Try, Wish, Perhaps, etc.

FYI: Assist email readers with scanning your emails. Be mindful of bullet points, whitespace, bold headlines, keywords and columns.

Calls of Actions … What’s the Objective?

• What’s the next step?
• What’s in it for them?
• What do you want the reader to do?

BE DIRECT AND SPECIFIC BY USING WORDS SUCH AS:

BUY NOW … LOYAL CUSTOMERS … LEARN MORE (Include multiple links for newer relationships)

Effective Calls of Actions

• Direct readers to the correct landing page by including the proper link.
• Typically, the home page isn’t appropriate.
• Use Readable URLs … must be a legitimate URL.

Insert a video in your Email because this increases click through rate by 300%.

Note: The video doesn’t have to be yours. It could be a video that compliments your business/industry.

Other

1. Include share buttons such as social media, forward to friends, etc.

2. Include a JOIN MY MAILING LIST button which makes it easier for people to join your list.

3. Preview emails BEFORE you send them out.

Related articles

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• Different Email Marketing Strategies (profitonknowledge.com)
• 7 Tactics to Delete From Your Email Marketing NOW (hubspot.com)

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I recently signed up for a newsletter and downloaded the ‘free’ eBook that was promised to me. I started reading and proofreading the eBook (habit) and found a couple of errors within it.  Mistakes happen from time-to-time; however, if they happen more than once, it may be time to pay closer attention to who’s proofreading your newsletters, brochures, web content, policies and procedures manuals, blog posts, articles and eBooks. Content matters — but error-free content matters more.

Five Surface Errors that Make You Look Unprofessional

1. Misspelled words. Let’s face it; spell check doesn’t catch all errors. Remember, some words sound the same (homonyms) but aren’t spelled the same. Examples are: there, their and they’re; pair and pear; know and no; its and it’s; you’re and your; hear and here; to, too and two; and many others. Proofreading your eBook or newsletter is the best way to catch errors. Spell check can only do so much.

2. Improper use of quotation marks. A period and or comma belong inside not outside of quotation marks. A semicolon does not.

3. Off-the-wall paragraph spacing. It’s important to have enough white space but too many spaces between paragraphs makes an eBook or other written material out-of-balance.

4. Too many spaces after a period. Most people were taught to use two spaces after a period; however, it’s best to use one space. You may be shocked to learn that some elementary and high school students across the U.S. are still being taught to use two spaces after a period. Only one space is needed.

5. Too many em dashes and exclamation points. Use em dashes and exclamation points sparingly; I even have to remind myself of this one. Too many exclamation points can be seen as obnoxious. Too many em dashes can overwhelm readers.

Surface errors happen; even Number One Best-Selling Authors aren’t immune to the occasional misspelled word. However, it’s important to present a polished end product. If your newsletter is filled with errors, your clients and customers may email you about it. Whether or not you pay attention to their complaints is up to you. Surface errors could deter clients/customers from utilizing your services or purchasing your products. Like it or not, presentation matters. Present a clean, error-free eBook, brochure, newsletter, direct mail card, white paper, etc. and you’ll make a good lasting impression.

Related articles

• What is being compared when you proofread (wiki.answers.com)
• 5 writing errors that destroy credibility (gracemyerswrites.wordpress.com)

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