Proof Reading Trick

Typos in ads are surprisingly hard to find. Our minds sometimes play tricks on us when we are proof reading. We will read what we expect to see, rather than what is actually on the page. If we know the line is supposed to say "Cheese Pizza" that is what we will see, even if the type says "Cheese Piazza". To avoid this problem I like to read all of my ads backwards. We learn to read from left to right, top to bottom, as we get older this pattern becomes automatic. In the interest of speed we stop focusing on individual words and begin taking in information in "chunks." This is why if a word is close to correct we may gloss over it. By reading each line from right to left, we break our normal pattern and force ourselves to read each individual word. Taking a few minutes to do this can prevent typos in your ads and save you a lot of grief from customers.

Keep selling, keep smiling.

Thanks--Jim Busch