by Michal Lusk, Featured Contributor
I LOVE LINKEDIN articles. From lists to how-tos, secrets to questions, and everything in between, the range and wealth of great business articles you publish on LinkedIn astounds and enriches me. I enjoy time spent reading, digesting, and commenting on your work, whether you’re an influencer, thought leader, or someone like me trying out publishing on LinkedIn. But I have one little issue. I’ve got a beef with the quality of many posts, and from comments I see, many readers would agree with me.
Don’t get me wrong. Most of these articles start with great ideas. But, unfortunately, something often gets lost in the translation, usually through sloppy execution. Typos, misspellings, misused homonyms, bad grammar, and sometimes just awkward or confusing use of language abound. Since we all make mistakes (our brains move on while our hands are still typing), seeing one or two errors in your post lets me know you’re human. But sometimes I read an article and wonder if the author bothered to read it herself before hitting the publish button. And occasionally I wonder if the author knew what he was trying to say. So to all of us publishing on LinkedIn, please slow down, and do it right.
So you’ve written a post. What, exactly, should you do before you hit publish?
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread, and Proofread Again
I can’t see my own errors on the first read-through. Or the second. And sometimes even on the third go-round. But by the fourth and fifth read-throughs, my mistakes usually percolate into my consciousness and I can see the error of my ways. Once or twice just isn’t enough. If you have something valuable enough to share on LinkedIn, I encourage you to read it multiple times, preferably over a couple of days, before you hit publish. Thorough proofreading is the best way to ensure the quality of your writing does justice to your concepts.
Take a Break
Once you’ve written your article and read it through a couple of times to find glaring issues, take some time off. Let your writing rest long enough to see it with fresh eyes when you come back to it. This “perspective shift” allows you to see what you really said rather than what you think you said. More work and extra time to produce an article? Yes, but an easy-to-understand finished product, expressing your ideas clearly, is worth the extra time.
Get a Second Opinion (and a Third)
A second set of eyes on your article does for your writing what a second opinion does for a medical diagnosis: confirms what’s right and challenges anything “off.” Because we know what we want to say, sometimes we can’t see we didn’t make it clear to the reader. Letting a trusted friend or colleague or two, with an eye for proofreading and a bent for editing, give constructive criticism can elevate your writing to “influencer-worthiness.” Note: if you tried this in high school or college and everyone sat around looking at each other, I’m sorry. Get over it and get better second-opinion givers, even if it means hiring a proofreader.
If your reader gets to the end of your article and shakes her head, or worse yet, can’t finish, your article has failed and you’ve wasted the work you put into it. Taking the extra time necessary to polish your piece before you publish is a must!
To be continued…
