Like any business owner, you want to improve your conversion rates. After all, the point of being online is to make your business more visible and bring the customers in. When there’s so much competition around though, how do you do it? The answer lies in the quality of your copy. When you show you care about what you’re putting out there, you show customers that you care about the details. Here are twelve tools you can use to improve your work and proofread your copy.
1. Pro Writing Aid
The spell check function on your text editing program is useful, but it can’t spot every error you make. This is where this tool steps in. Paste your writing in, and it will pick up everything that needs to be edited. This can include words that are spelled correctly but used in the wrong context, replacing words that are overused, or correcting grammatical mistakes. Using this tool regularly will improve your writing skills, too.
2. Grammarly
Grammarly has become the industry standard and go-to tool for many teams. Aside from helping you improve your writing, it offers a very clean UI that makes your work very enjoyable. It comes with a powerful free account features and pro features for those who want to work as a team or make their writing even better.
3. Language Tool
You probably write in many different text editors, and not all of them will have a spell check function. This tool can help you out wherever you write. You can use it on the web, download it onto your PC or laptop, or even directly into your browser. Then, wherever you’re writing, you can check your spelling and grammar before your text goes live. As a bonus, this tool is open source so it won’t cost you a penny to use. Great if you’re just starting up!
4. Proof HQ
This proofreading service offers a detailed and professional eye on all of your creative content, whether that’s text, photos, or otherwise. They offer feedback through their specially designed tools, keeping conversations about the work in real time. They even promise to keep email to a minimum, which in any business has got to be music to your ears.
5. Spell Checker
You can spell check your own work by reading it over yourself, but it can be difficult and as good as you are, you may miss a mistake. This app will help you out. Paste your work in and click ‘check’, and you’ll get a summary of the errors found in that text. It’ll also give you suggestions for different words if you click ‘thesaurus’, and grammatical advice when you click ‘grammar’. It goes more in depth than most spell checkers, meaning your text will be flawless.
6. 1Checker
The people behind this tool know that you need to make a good impression online at all times. Even if it’s just a Twitter update, proofreading can save you from embarrassing and potentially costly mistakes. This free to use tool can be downloaded into your PC or text editor of your choice, and can check for most errors. The makers of this tool promise that it will always keep your text private, vital when you’re proofing time sensitive announcements. It’ll also improve the readability of your text, something that’s of vital importance when it comes to conversion.
7. Byword
This writing app can be downloaded onto all your devices, meaning you can write copy wherever you are. It can even work on touch screen devices, so if you’re on the go and have a great idea for a blog, you can quickly get it down on your phone. It also syncs between all your devices, so when you get to the office you can then edit that blog on your desktop. You’ll never again have to dig around in document files or cloud services for that one file you were sure you’d saved there! Once you’re done writing, you can export directly from the app to several different platforms, including Blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress.
8. After The Deadline
If you’re trying to keep up with trends within your industry, getting posts and blogs out quickly is crucial. However, if you’re writing quickly how do you have time for proofreading? After all, getting online before your competitors is absolutely crucial. This tool is the answer. Paste your text in, and you’ll instantly be shown the errors in your work. They’ll even be colour coded, so spelling errors will be red, grammatical errors will be green, and style suggestions will be blue. You’ll be able to change these sections without fuss, and get your writing online as quickly as possible.
9. Spell Check Plus
Want a simple tool without all the bells and whistles? This is the one for you. Simply paste your text in, and your errors will be highlighted for you instantly. You can see what’s wrong at a glance, and edit it out without having to pore over your piece. When your time is at a premium, you’ll appreciate just how easy it is to use this tool. The clean interface and simple design mean it’s easy to get in, do what you have to do, and come out with perfect copy every time.
10. Slick Write
If you’re serious about improving your writing and proofreading skills, this app could be the thing for you. Write in the space provided, and you’ll get real time feedback on your text. Errors will be highlighted, and mousing over them will tell you exactly what the problem is. It also has a statistics page, so you can see all the hard data about the piece you’re writing. You can even see graphs that show you how well your piece flows. There’s plenty of tools in this text editor that can help you become a great writer, so it pays to play around with it. Using this tool will seriously improve the quality of your writing and proofreading.
11. Grammark
If you want a simple, no frills proofreading tool, this is the one for you. All you have to do is paste in your text, and it will search for a huge range of errors. These include run on sentences, transitions, passive voice, wordiness, and more. You can even customize the tool to look for certain errors, which is great if you know you have an issue with something in your writing. At 0.14 seconds to check your text, it’s one of the fastest proofreaders around. It’s probably the next best thing to having a real person check your work.
12. Document Grader
If you want some expert guidance on how to proofread your work, this tool will be able to help you. You paste your writing into the text box, and it will give you in depth guidance about what needs to be changed, straight away. It could just be one click fixes that take a second or two to complete. It can also offer step by step guidance on how to fix more complex errors. This tool is great if you feel you’re a bit rusty on your grammar, and could use a helping hand.
By using these tools, you’re achieving three different things:
- You’ll improve your own writing skills, and make fewer mistakes the more you use them. This will save you a lot of time in proofreading as you get better.
- You’ll write much clearer, accurate and readable copy. Your readers will get a lot out of it, and you’ll see your followers increase.
- Most importantly, your conversion rates will go up. As your writing skills increase, readers will be able to understand and be convinced to buy into what you do. More customers means more scope to go into your next exciting project.
Try these tools out for yourself and see what you can do. You’ll be surprised at how much your writing will improve, even if you’re fairly happy with your writing skills now. After all, to maintain a skill you must regularly practice it. Get into the habit of proofreading your work now, and reap the rewards later. And if you’ve used any of these tools before, share your experiences in the comments.