The post is done. The ‘publish’ button is going to be hit… Wait! There are still some things to do – things that would make the post better. In this post, you will learn the things you should to do before you publish you post.
Check Your Post
Before I hit the ‘publish’ button, I always checked for misspellings.
Misspellings are ridiculous. Although most writers check your spelling, they don’t check miss-misspellings. Miss-misspellings is a word I made up, which means instead of typing bet, you type vet. The spelling is correct, but the meaning is wrong.
Make sure the message is delivered properly and clearly
Write posts that everyone, not only you, can understand. Make sure the message is delivered in a way that all your readers find clear. Add more details to the part your readers might not understand.
Avoid using very complicated English and too many idioms. Not everyone is an English expert.
"Could this post be improved?"
Before publishing, I always ask myself, "Could this post be improved?" I then add more information that can improve my post, making it clearer or simply giving my readers some ‘extra knowledge’. I delete unnecessary information.
If you can find a picture, you can also add it to a post, as long as it describes the post.
Imagine you are the reader
After I added more information and modified the parts, I see myself as the reader. I pretend I didn’t read the post before. I then read it. If I find something offensive, not clear enough, or need more details and advice, I modify the post so that my readers wouldn’t find any problems reading the post.
Then, I read it again, and see if the post is okay.
Don’t publish it yet?
The longer a post stays, the more it can be improved, and the better it will be. The reason I put a question mark above is because if you really think your post is ready to be published, you can go on with the publishing. But if you leave your post for further improving, it will be better.
For example, you finished writing a post in the morning, and improved ‘all’ the parts that could be improved, but you decided to leave it unpublished for further study. At evening, you read your post again, with new eyes, and found more parts of the post that can be improved.
The reason you see your post with ‘new eyes’ is because after you finished writing a post, all you are focused on is your post, and your brain gets a little tired. After quite some time, your brain will get a little rest, learn new things, refresh itself, etc. When you come to your post again, your brain will have new ideas; new things that improve your post.
This is recommended if you are writing your best post ever.
If you are unsure whether a post is to be published, it is best to leave it in the workplace for further reading. But if you simply leave the post in your workplace, and do not improve it, the post would not get better.
Conclusion
If I already clicked publish before you do the actions above, the post would be good. But wouldn’t it be better if I did all the things above? I hope this post will inspire you and make you a better blogger 😉 .
Miss-misspellings are the ones that trip you up. Typing “form” instead of “from” and “manger” instead of “manager” are two big mistakes to watch out for.
I always check the misspellings by Microsoft word and the built-in Toggle spellchecker from my dashboard, and I also read the post to check the “Miss-misspellings”. I like your “Imagine you are the reader” part which helps providing more value for readers.
I agree, besides writing in such a way that both the British and American readers understand the writing, grammar and spellings should also be thoroughly checked before publishing. Taking a short break before proof reading is usually recommended by professional writers. A blogger/writer cannot afford to publish a poor post even if he/she publish only once a week.