The words you put out to the world are important to your business; they tell the story of your brand and reinforce the mission and values you’ve put in place for your company’s culture. You want potential customers to see the best and brightest messages you have to tell them, and sometimes, that means you need an extra set of eyes to look at your content before you set it free on the internet.
This is why editors and proofreaders are important.
Even the best copywriters make mistakes sometimes, so it’s often helpful to have a neutral party examine the words of your posts before you make them public. People often confuse editors and proofreaders, though. So, in an effort to dispel the veil of mystery between these two roles, we thought we’d provide this helpful quick guide.
Proofreaders
Proofreaders are the superheroes who swoop in and eliminate unnecessary apostrophes, correct comma goofs, and make sure the spelling in your post is on point. They give your hired writer a fresh set of eyes, ensuring silly mistakes don’t make their way into cyberspace with your brand attached to the grammatical accident.
Proofreaders aren’t there to make any significant changes; instead, they’re the people who do quality control on your content before you hit the “publish” button. They read and re-read writers’ submissions to make sure words are spelled as they’re supposed to be and punctuation lives in its proper places.
Generally speaking, when you hire a team of awesome writers, you only need a proofreader to ensure you don’t send anything grammatically goofy onto the internet.
Editors
Contrary to proofreaders, editors get into the nitty-gritty details of your content. Editors’ goals focus around creating brand cohesion. They understand your specific story, so they’re there to ensure all of your content speaks the narrative you’ve created for your business. Typically, editors have a relationship with your company, meaning they understand specific nuances you require as they relate to brand awareness and your overall company voice.
Editors become an inherent part of your team. Sure, they’ll correct spelling and grammar issues as they come across them, but their main purpose is ensuring every message you post has your company’s voice, mission and values attached to it. If you have a team of writers who “get you” from the very beginning, you may be able to forego editorial processes in favor of proofreading services.
A Second Set of Eyes
An editor and proofreader both serve very important roles in the content-creation industry. In either case, you’ll receive content that’s polished and publicly perfect. Above anything else, it’s essential to ensure you’re not putting words into the world that are riddled with ridiculous mistakes that can make you seem unqualified for whatever job you’re trying to win. If you think of these two positions like an onion, proofreaders peel back the initial layer. They ensure all the bad stuff is chopped away from your content, making it ready for an audience. Editors go into deeper layers, chopping up initial submissions and forming final products that have more cohesion for your team.
WriterAccess is a full-service platform that’s got everything you need to create awesome content that grabs readers’ attention. Whether you’re searching for content written from scratch or just need someone to give your already-written ideas a second look, we’re here to help. Check out the services we’ve put in place to help your business run better!
Kristin B is a niche cable nerd by day and content creator by night. She spends her time in Denver meandering from coffee shop to coffee shop, hoping to contribute to every small business in town, one cup at a time as she creates blogs, web pages, and marketing collateral for her clients.
