Use this quick guide to the most commonly misused words and misspelled words we’ve found on websites. Your spell checker won’t catch most of them (you ARE using your spell checker on your website copy, aren’t you?). So go find them and fix them and you’ll automatically smarten up your site.

Wrong                    Right
alot                              a lot
definately                    definitely
should of                     should have (would have, could have, etc.)
use to (past)                used to
your’s                          yours

Confusions

anecdote A quick story of something that happened, often used as an illustration of a point.
antidote A drug that counteracts a poison.
He told an anecdote about how they discovered which antidote the patient needed.

complimentary Free; or saying nice things.
complementary Related to; going well with something else.
She was very complimentary about the main course and the complementary side dishes.

everyday Commonplace, not remarkable.
every day Two words meaning… well… every 24-hour period.
I call it my everyday china, but I eat out so much I don’t use it every day.

farther Describes physical distance.
further Anything other than physical distance.
The farther I traveled from home, the further I came to understand how others live.

home in To get closer and closer to a target, as in radar.
hone To polish or perfect.
I’m honing my skills at homing in on a niche market.

i.e., That is… in other words… what I really mean is…
e.g., For example…

X and I Use “I” when you’re performing an action.
X and me Use “me” when you’re the object of the action.
X and myself Wrong in all circumstances.
Simple rule: if you eliminated the “X and” part of the sentence; which word would you use?
The tickets were given to Jarrod and me, but Lisa and I went to the show.

its Belonging to it. Possessive, but there’s no apostrophe.
it’s It is. This a contraction, so the apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters and sticks the two words together.
It’s rumored that the company will lay off half its workforce.

lay, laying, laid You lay something down, you were laying something down, you did or have laid something down.
lie, lying, lay, lain You lie down, you were lying down, you lay down in the past, you have lain down.
I always have to lie down after I lay tile.
He was just lying around when he was supposed to be laying down the rhythm tracks.
After the paramedics laid him on the stretcher, he lay there, terrified.

peak The highest point, the ultimate.
peek A quick look at something. (So you want to invite people to take a sneak peek, not a sneak peak.)
pique Annoyance (noun); to provoke, invite, or arouse (verb)

their Belonging to them.
there Over there, there is.
There’s a spot over there where they keep their tools.

whose Who owns it.
who’s  Who is. That contraction thing again.
Abbott and Costello are the act whose classic bit was “Who’s on First.”

your Belonging to you. But almost universially misused in Internet communications to mean…
you’re You are. Again, it’s a contraction so it gets an apostrophe.
You’re about to get a big credibility boost to your site if you fix this one mistake.

A word about apostrophes. You don’t need one when you turn a singular noun into a plural.

It doesn’t matter what letter the word ends with; it doesn’t matter if it’s a proper noun; it doesn’t matter if it comes from another language; it doesn’t matter what part of speech it is when it’s not busy being a noun.

Videos have been replaced by DVDs.
The Cratchits had us over for Christmas dinner.
Petunias are easy to grow.
Fastenings gave way in the storm.
Porsches and Mercedes Benzes are in demand.
Opt-ins signed up in droves.
The ten-year-olds hated the clown.
Cafes are open for breakfast.

See? Not an apostrophe in the bunch.

Finally, don’t capitalize random words. If it’s a proper name of a person, place, or thing, capitalize. If it’s just a regular run-of-the-mill word, don’t. If you’re in doubt, check the dictionary.

So there you go! Just take just a few minutes to clean up these very common errors in your copy and you’ll put a professional polish on your site.

This comes from the results of a recent study published in Psychological Science. The subjects looked at  two made-up names for food additives and had to decide which would be more harmful. Another experiment did the same thing with roller coaster names, asking which ride would be more exciting and more likely to make people sick. It didn’t matter whether the risk was something desirable (a more exciting roller coaster) or undesirable (something harmful in your food) — hard-to-pronounce words = risky.

Definitely something to keep in mind when you’re naming a product or buying a domain name! It also means you should check out all the copy on your site and try to replace any hard-to-pronounce words with more familiar ones. Use the common names for things. If you absolutely have to use a word that’s hard to pronounce, say what it rhymes with, or give the pronunciation (pro-nunce-ee-AY-shun). It’s also a good idea to break it down and say what each part of the word means so readers will get familiar with it. Two points here:

1. People view whatever is familiar as less risky and more comfortable.
2. People make decisions even when they have no information to base them on, so they’ll decide based on things like the “comfort factor.”

Clicking through to a website, deciding to stay or go, reading the copy, and buying the product involves a whole cascade of decisions. So everything about your copy has to make visitors feel comfortable.

That is, unless you’re selling roller coasters. (Click here for a good article on the study.)

Here are a few more rules for good copy:

• Short words beat long words
• Short sentences beat long sentences
• Short paragraphs beat long paragraphs
• BUT mix it all up a bit
• Verbs beat adjectives
• Active voice (I did something) beats passive voice (something was done by me)

Does the thought of writing make you want to dive for cover?

If so, there’s a good chance you’re being held captive by memories of rigid grammar rules and a ruthless red pen.

Hey… it’s time to let go.

When you’re writing for the Web, there’s only one hard and fast rule you need to remember…

Write how you talk.

That’s right. Forget all the nit-picky rules your English teacher told you about. It’s okay to end your sentences in a preposition… or start them with "And" or "But."

Because on the Web, people read differently.

Hyper-correct formal writing actually STOPS people from reading… and if they’re not reading, they’re not buying.

Let’s take a look at four writing myths you can toss out the window when you sit down to write your next content article or salesletter…

Myth #1:
Sentence structure has to be sophisticated

Reality Check: Simple sentences rule in the online world.

On the Web, people want information — and they want it fast! And they DON’T want to have to work at deciphering it.

Keep your sentences short. They’re ALWAYS easier to read than longer ones.

Avoid complex sentence constructions. On the Web, "ing" words are the enemy!

Don’t say, "By following this program carefully, taking supplements religiously, and drinking lots of water every day, you will lose weight."…

… say "Follow this program carefully. Take supplements religiously. And drink lots of water every day. You WILL lose weight."

Remember, you’re not writing an academic thesis or applying for a government grant.

You want your readers to be able to grasp your main point quickly… whether it’s why they should sign up for your newsletter, trust your opinion over Joe Blow’s… or buy YOUR product.

Myth #2:
Writing has to be formal

Reality Check: Keep it real.

Readers respond best when they feel you’re talking to them personally. So write as if you’re talking to someone you really CARE about and…

Use a casual and friendly tone. Imagine that you’re talking to a friend or family member. To help your readers identify with your words on a personal level, use "you" as often as possible.

Mimic the irregular cadence of speech. Go ahead and write in sentence fragments. Feel free to start sentences with "and," "but," and "or." It’s simply how we speak, whether Miss Manners approves or not.

Use contractions whenever possible. "It’s" sounds way more natural and informal than "it is." And it’s an easy way to take an unnecessary word out of your sentences.

(And it is our opinion that you will sound stilted if you do not use them.

It’s okay to use slang. Just make sure the slang you use is appropriate for YOUR target market. If you run a surf shop, calling your readers "dude" is, like, totally appropriate.

Check your writing with the Flesch-Kincaid grade level assessment tool in Microsoft Word. (Set this up in the Spelling and Grammar tool in Word.)

Aim for a grade 6-8 level. (Shocked??? That’s what most newspapers aim for.)

Myth #3: Use proper punctuation

Reality Check: Use informal punctuation to mimic regular speech.

You know how your teachers always warned you against using dashes, ellipses, and bullet points, because they smacked of lazy writing?

… Here’s where you get to thumb your nose at them and say, "Phllllbt!"

When you write for the Web, you are writing for the LAZY READER.

(Well, not so much "lazy" as "bombarded by a relentless onslaught of information, and constantly pressed for time.")

So make their job as easy as possible by breaking up long sentences.

Dashes — like these — create white space between your phrases so each phrase stands out more.

Ellipses are a great for separating items in a list. Maybe you want to give the reader a set of options… Or create a sense of time passing within the sentence… Or build anticipation before getting to the "big reveal."

Use ALL CAPS to highlight the words you’d emphasize while speaking.

Put lists in bullet points so they’re easy to read. Bullets say "Hey look, here’s a list!"

Myth #4:People will read every word

Reality Check: People SCAN for the most important information.

Ever noticed how a single word can make your ears perk up when you’re half listening to a conversation?

Reading on the Web is just like that!

Certain words jump out at you to let you know when to pay closer attention. Format your text so your most important content leaps off your pages:

• Use a "choppy" structure that mixes up paragraphs of different lengths.
• Write your most dramatic ideas as stand-alone one-sentence paragraphs.
• Use subheads to pique curiosity and drive eyes down the page.
• Use bolding to highlight your most important ideas.
• Try to place the MOST important idea at the beginning or end of the paragraph where they’ll be noticed most.

If you’re not used to this kind of writing, hear the words in your head as you write. This will keep you from reverting to stiff formal writing! Then, read your work out loud when you’re done. Any stumbling blocks will become immediately obvious.

If you write the way you talk, your readers will "listen."