The Proof Fairy: working magic with words

Time for a Change!

Alison — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:45:34 +0000

One of the wonderful things about having your own business is that you don’t have to keep treading the same path and doing the same things. Businesses grow organically and being your own boss means you can respond to change really quickly. And that’s what’s been happening with The Proof Fairy.

When I first started this business it was as a sideline to something else I was doing, but for the last few months it has become my full time business, and I’ve started putting in place new elements to make it a “proper” business rather than a “bit on the side”! You’ll probably already have noticed the new logo, designed by Gareth Coxon of Dot Design; you may also have spotted a slight change in the services I offer, including the addition of two blogging packages.

Well, over the next couple of weeks you’ll notice a few more changes – in particular, this website. To tie in with the direction the business is now heading, the website will be moving away from the lovely wordpress.com to the even lovelier wordpress.org. I hope the transition will be smooth and problem-free – but if you notice any irregularities over the next few days, rest assured, they will be sorted out pronto!

So, that’s about it from this site for now … see you on the other side!

Blogging for business – are you doing it?

Alison — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:55:20 +0000

Most people have heard of blogging; lots do it. But plenty of businesses don’t realise just how useful a regularly updated blog can be, and now I can help.

So why blog? What benefits will it have to your business? Well to start with, blogging for business is great for improving your search engine ranking. Updating the content regularly means the spiders keep visiting; they know your site is active and that improves your position in the rankings. You can also include plenty of important keywords in your blog posts to improve your position when people search for the services you offer. For example, this article is all about blogging for business; by including a few mentions of it and including “blogging for business” in the URL, it’s likely to score highly when people search for that term.

OK, so keeping an updated blog can improve your search engine ranking which pulls visitors in to your website – and blogging can also keep them coming back. Everyone coming to your site is a potential customer but they may not yet be ready to buy what you offer. If your website is static and nothing ever changes, they aren’t likely to come back again. If you have an informative and entertaining yet educative blog that they can take something from (Lord Reith was talking a lot of sense!) then they are more likely to bookmark you and come back regularly, or perhaps subscribe to your RSS feed so they can see when you update. The more they visit your website, the more they’ll get to know and trust you and the greater the likelihood that it’ll be YOU they do business with when they want what you’re offering.

Of course, the other advantage of blogging for business is that you can engage with your customers in a way that static websites can’t. You can use your blog to introduce new products and services; talk about interesting projects you’ve worked on; give people a glimpse of the person behind the business; or comment on an interesting and relevant news story. Blogging gives your visitors the opportunity to comment and that opens up a conversation between you both, which helps the relationship develop even faster!

Blogging also helps you link up your website with any other social media marketing you’re doing. For example, when you blog you can announce it to the world via your Twitter or Facebook account and that will pull people into your website. You can use your blog articles in your e-newsletter. You can even post your blog articles on other websites, for example 4Networking or Ezine Articles, and that will increase visitors too.

So you can see why blogging for business can be really useful; but what if you don’t have a blog set up and don’t know where to start, or don’t have the time or the inclination to keep one? That’s where I come in. I now offer a couple of blogging packages aimed at small businesses. One provides you with a series of articles you can use on an existing blog; the other includes complete setup and maintenance, as well as regular articles posted on your behalf.

Blogging for business is a great way to promote your company, attract new website visitors and engage with your customers. If you’re not doing it already, why not?!

Putting the customer first

Alison — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:03:52 +0000

“Don’t forget, it’s not what you like but what your potential clients like that matters.”

That is probably the most valuable thing I have learnt this week.

I’m going through a rebrand for The Proof Fairy, and asked Gareth Coxon of Dot Design to come up with a new logo. I had one idea – involving a “mini me” character – and left it to Gareth to come up with some others. He sent me four designs, but two of them didn’t feel right so I ruled them out straight away. The third logo – featuring a pen and stars – was lovely, but the fourth was THE ONE, it was EXACTLY my idea come to life. So that was it – I had my new identity.

I showed a few people and they all loved it too. Then one of them – Jez Hunt of MetaMorph – suggested that I run a poll on which of the two designs people preferred. After all, as he said, “It’s not what you like but what your potential clients like that matters.” Good idea.

So I put the two designs up on my personal website, and posted on the 4Networking forum, Twitter and Facebook, asking people to vote for the one that best represented The Proof Fairy. I was sure “my” idea would be the clear winner.

I’ve never been so wrong! Fifty people voted – and 92% voted for the other design, the pen and stars! People remarked that it worked well for my business and that the “mini me” was just not very professional. So now Gareth is working on some variations of the pen and stars logo, and I’m confident that my new image is going to be perfect for The Proof Fairy.

But boy oh boy, that could have been an expensive mistake. If I’d gone with my own choice, I could have seriously damaged my business, because I just wouldn’t have been projecting the right impression. I’m so pleased that I decided to open it up to the public vote!

Whenever you’re working on your business, whatever you may do, always think about what your customer will like or need. What you like doesn’t really matter. Of course you can’t completely go against your own judgement, but sometimes you need to take a step back and look at your business from a different perspective. Perhaps the lesson to be learnt here is that whatever we may think, the customer usually is right!

And what do YOU do?

Alison — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:07:29 +0000

Recently I’ve been to a lot of different networking events, as well as my regular 4N ones. Now I love going out and meeting new people, but it does get a bit wearing when everyone keeps asking you, “And what do YOU do?” Normally I say, “Well, I do some proofreading, copywriting, editing, that kind of thing,” … and then watch as their eyes glaze over.

Time for a change, I think. So now I’ve started saying, “I work magic with words” … and the difference in people’s reaction is incredible! Instead of looking bored, people want to know more – they ask what sort of magic I do, how I do it, and can I do some for them please!

Having a catchy strapline – one that you can use verbally as well as on your business card – is a really useful way of bolstering your brand identity. It also gets people’s attention, especially if it brings with it a little intrigue. When you leave your strapline open to some interpretation you will get people asking you questions, and that’s always better than having them look disinterested in your business.

So of course now I want to know …. what do YOU do?!

Tips to help you with proofreading

Alison — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:44:14 +0000

Almost all businesses use the written word to promote themselves and most people rely on their spellchecker … but that can be a big mistake!

See, spell checkers are okay, but they’re not infallible. Much of the language we use is based on context, so a spell checker will not know if you’ve used “compliment” when you meant “complement”. It won’t be able to tell that you’ve missed the “d” off the end of “and”, or that there’s a word missing from a sentence. And it will often throw up odd grammatical suggestions that will turn your paragraph into nonsense.

And you can’t guarantee that YOU will be able to spot your own mistakes either! It’s true – when you’ve thought of the words, researched the words, written the words and proofread the words, you will see what you expect to see, not what is actually on the page. Here are five tips to help you spot those annoying typos and errors in your writing:

1. Read the text out loud. This forces you to read every word on the page; it’s much easier to skip over things if you read in your head.

2. Don’t proofread a document as soon as you finish writing it. Take some time away so the words are not as fresh in your mind.

3. If you’re checking a string of numbers, check them backwards as well as forwards. Or get someone else to read them out while you check them.

4. Print out documents rather than proofreading on-screen – it’s much easier to spot errors on paper.

5. Use the dictionary! Don’t be ashamed to look up a word up if you’re not sure of its spelling.
However, my most important tip would be to get someone else to proofread for you. A second pair of eyes is essential to prevent you letting typos go out unchecked. If you don’t have anyone around, consider using a professional proofreader; myPay As You Go Proofreading Service will help make your life typo free for a very small price!

How my editing service can help your business

Alison — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:25:13 +0000

People often don’t understand how outsourcing to or using an editing and writing service can help them with their business. I hope this little story will give you some ideas on how you can use my services to help you promote your business!

One of my biggest clients organises biotechnology events and recently went to an industry conference. She came back with reams of notes she’d taken and asked me if I could rearrange them – edit them – into a format she could share with her team. Despite not knowing much about biotechnology I put together a 1500 word report on the conference for my client to circulate around her company. They spotted three main topics running through the report – funding, research and the future of the industry – so my client asked me if I could rewrite it as three short articles that could be used on their website and in e-newsletters. Not a problem! I broke the report down into smaller, self-contained chunks in a more accessible style of writing, and those blog articles were used on the company’s website. They were seen not only by current clients but also by prospective customers who visited the site.

That was the first job I completed for this particular client and since then we’ve worked together often. I’ve created an exhibition programme for them, laid out badge templates, commissioned a banner and updated the text in pre-existing leaflets. From one small editing job we now have a solid working relationship and I have become their outsourced Design/PR consultant!

If you would like to find out more about how my editing and writing service could help your business, drop me a line or give me a call on 01367 888229.

How to stand out at networking events

Alison — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:57:53 +0000

I love seeing people who are really passionate about their business when they introduce themselves at networking events. I’ve always found it difficult to do the same myself though, even though I love what I do. After all, proofreading and editing just isn’t very exciting, is it?

I was proved wrong in a one to one session with Chantal Cornelius of Appletree earlier this week, which left me buzzing with ideas for at least a dozen different introductions. I was keen to try one out at my next meeting and it just so happened that Chantal was there too and had a surprise for me – a pair of sparkly purple deely boppers! I’m not really one for fancy dress but, as a Proof Fairy, I really should have some fairy-like accessories, so I donned the headwear and did my bit and it went down well. For the first time I talked about how I had helped one of my clients, rather than what I do – and of course the purple stars on my head certainly caught people’s attention!

I wasn’t the only one to do things a bit differently that morning; other networkers used props including an inflatable alien, a space gun, reindeer antlers, a space shuttle and a doctor’s coat to help them stand out. One member even went as far as starting a striptease act to grab our attention! (Luckily 40 seconds wasn’t long enough for him to get too far!)

I guess what I learnt this week is that you don’t have to be deadly serious to have people take your business seriously. Inject a little fun into your introductions and you’ll catch people’s eye. Make them laugh and you’re halfway to them wanting to know, like and trust you – and do business with you. You are unique, so use that uniqueness to make you stand out from the crowd!

I’m a mover and a shaker!

Alison — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:43:21 +0000

I’ve recently been promoted within 4Networking and am now the Area Leader responsible for all four groups in Oxfordshire. The Oxford Times decided to include me in their “Movers and Shakers” business section.

Here’s the website article

More proof that spell checkers aren’t perfect

Alison — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:37:41 +0000

This poem proves perfectly why you should never ever rely on a spell checker. A basic one will allow through all these words, even though over half of them are incorrectly used. A more sophisticated spell checker will pick up that words are wrong within the context … but would everyone know what to replace them with?

CANDIDATE FOR A PULLET SURPRISE

By Jerrold H. Zar

I have a spelling checker,
It came with my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when eye rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker’s
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if we’re lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know fault’s with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a wear.

Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word’s fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should bee proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw’s are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.

Title suggested by Pamela Brown.
Based on opening lines suggested by Mark Eckman.

By the author’s count, 127 of the 225 words of the poem are incorrect
(although all words are correctly spelled).

Published in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, Jan/Feb1994, page 13. Reprinted Vol. 45, No. 5/6, 2000, page 20.

The the impotence of proofreading

Alison — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:14:14 +0000

Yes, you did read the title right! This video, featuring American poet Taylor Mali, is a great example of why you should never trust the spellchecker!