Bad speling, poor gramar good??

Actually, on the contrary... Websites with poor grammar tend to turn me away.

No.

Using a conversational tone with simple language is a better approach.

I think AWAI teaches its people to start sentences like this: "And, yada yada yada." I die a little every time I see that. :rolleyes:

Depends on your market.

You don't want to begin a sentence with 'And' if you are selling to recovering teachers, otherwise, it's usually good colloquial writing. Colloquial is the key word. You want to write in a way that's colloquial to your market.

It seems that nowadays typos are a mark of genuineness and lack of pretense. I don't think that's true for misuse or misspellings.

Cannot stand either bad grammar or spelling. Spell checkers only make sure that a word is spelt correctly but it many not be grammatically correct. If you are weak with either spelling or grammar, why not get someone to proof read your work?

Are you sure they actually meant to purposefully use incorrect grammar or that they meant to use slang, niche only words, and acronyms to build a connection with your audience?

It's always a good idea to check your own spelling and grammar when pointing out other peoples poor spelling and grammar

Lik wot I juz did ere

Steve

I don't know if my attitude about this is anything like the usual, but to me, poor spelling in an ad is like an unswept floor in a store, and bad grammar (not slightly off, or slangy - bad) is akin to dirty dishes in a restaurant. The first implies that the people running the business don't care enough to do even the basics; the second says that they're incompetent.

A small mistake or two is not that big of a deal - but it's a warning sign that makes me look for other problems. More than that triggers the "scammer!" alarm in my brain. At that point, barring some exceptional circumstance, I won't be doing business with those folks.

I read something like that too, and wasn't sure if the guy really believed that, or was just trying to excuse his own messy grammar and spelling.

In today's age of cheap, disposable communications, sales messages tend to have a short shelf life. Many marketers take the attitude that a few mistakes won't matter, since the message will be forgotten in tomorrow's deluge of hot new offers anyway. There might be some truth to that.

But for longer-lived messages such as direct marketing campaigns and professional promotions, misspellings and grammar errors are glaring signs of inattention to detail. Tsk tsk. What do they pay that review staff for?

If you review the most successful ads of the past, you'll see very few (if any) spelling or grammar mistakes. It really seems to depend on the level of business professionalism, as well as the target audience.

That's not to say error-riddled marketing can't work, because it does, given the right audience, but don't expect a major mailer to have many typo and grammar mistakes, especially not on purpose.

I've actually learned to make more "mistakes" grammatically. Long flowing sentences just don't hack it on the 'net.

And, I would never have previously started a sentence with "and", but it seems to work well, imo.

I think I'm fully adjusted into US English too, though my slang and comma use aren't perfect yet.

There's a similar thread running here already. I HATE people using bad grammar and spelling. If they do it deliberately, it makes me wonder why and what other things they may be doing badly. I never buy off people like that and I never recommend others to buy either.

As a proofreader/editor myself I know I do a good job of finding errors...not bad for a guy with only 1 working eye.

So you two-eyed people have no excuse.

Did you ever read any of Frank Kerns copy? The guy uses "Gonna" more than anyone I've ever seen and I don't even think that's a word.

Write like you talk and get your point across. Avoid major spelling errors (which is easy with spell check) and you'll be good.

The most important thing is to know who's reading your copy. If I'm sending to people I've known for a while and who've experienced me before, I can write the F word 10 times and it will still work. If I'm sending to people who just got on my list, that might not be a good idea.

Let's imagine that you're selling an ebook or series of videos on how to catch more crappie in your favorite pond or neighborhood fishing hole.

Which sells better:

A) Kinda sloppy, reads like it's written by your average backyard fisherman

B) Perfectly formatted and carefully edited to satisfy all Wombat scrutiny

Same question - but offer is now for Business Development.

Different horses for different courses.

Pusateri nailed it above, I think.

As far as grammar is concerned, personality comes a lot into
play as well. Usually those who are sticklers for correct grammar
are also big on rules in other areas. For example, they may be
neat freaks and are usually first borns (eldest among siblings.)

But as far as copy is concerned a mistake here and there
shows you as "human" and more authentic. In general,
ANYTHING that is too "perfect" gets less attention EXCEPT
it is among all flawed elements. That's why we mark up
sales letters and make them look "dirty" because they
get more ATTENTION from the reader.

I wouldn't go overboard in the bad grammar department
though because highlighting everything means that nothing
is highlighted.

-Ray Edwards

It only makes a difference for me on a brochure/authority style sites. If you have a brochure style site I always seem to judge the look and content on it more. I think most people do.

If I'm on a sales page, whether it's long copy - short copy - or video copy, I read it as you are having a conversation with me. Emotionally I don't care what words you use as long as it gets your point across.

But as soon as something doesn't make sense and I have to think about it (like words being out of order by a non-native-English writer), I have to use my logic to figure out what you are trying to say to me. Then you lost me...

As the reader, when I use my logic too much I'm no longer having a good time.
.
.
Huh, I've never realized until right now how much copywriting was similar to chatting with girls. (From what I remember anyways... I'm happily married J).

A guy drove onto the campus of Harvard. He stopped his car, got out and asked the first person passing, "Excuse me. Could you tell me where the library's at?"

The person he asked happened to be an English Lit professor. The man pulled out his monocle, sneered at the cretin and in his best Thurston Howell III voice announced, "Here at Harvard we don't end a sentence with a preposition."

The guy who asked directions took a deep breath and said. "Oh, right. Okay, do you know where the library's at, asshole?"

You've gotta write for your audience.

travilinguy
very funny

it really depends though i think
peoples attention will be drawn to the mistakes so you keep the attention
kind of like in a video where you can say 'wow do you smell that, it stinks'

its out of the ordinary and gets the attention

but used in the wrong setting or too often people might see it as unprofessional

You know one thing I always wondered is do bad grammar keep the product from false claim lawsuits? I have seen copy where someone body might say, "you too can make $5000 a mnth".

You get my point. Headline might be inconsistent with body of copy, or, portion of word/number/symbol is taken out.

Hey,

How something crappy can work at all?

People turn away from the low quality pages, no matter what the information is.

Simple language is fine, not incorrect formation.

Thanks.

i think what people mean in some instances is the fact that people tend to skim over text where exact words are not read...as long as the first letter and the last letter are in the right place people read the word correctly.....

Bad speling worked in my adveristhement!

.....said no one EVER.


You need quality, well-written material for any kind of written ad meant to drive customers and clients to a targeted point.

Whether that is sales copy...website copy...etc.

My team makes our thousands a month because we have excellent copywriters and a team editor that is the in-official, all-around "Grammar Nazi".

The issue is more about the abuse of language loosing its effect. Surely, as a professional writer you understand the effect that bad grammar can have. Rules are there to be broken, but not all of the time. By using 'bad' grammar we have been able to produce outstanding poetry and other texts. But if the misuse of grammar was to become normalized, breaking these rules would cease to have that effect.

I'd say post #15 has the big idea..

Hello. Maybe the writer or author of that pdf is not a grammar nazi and conscious. I always think of websites with grammatical errors were developed in the countries where English is not a primary language. Posts and blogs that is full of errors are considered spam and has no other intention but to insert links through writing crap materials and not offering value to the blog. Better for you not to read it anymore if it makes you irritable.

Big, big misconception about the bad spelling, poor grammar thing.

I think John Carlton first said it and he was right, but not in the
general sense. The idea was to talk as the prospect talks, in this
case, if I remember right, how "golf nuts" (no offense intended to
people loving golf, I like it too).

He said that the copy should be conversational, like two people
are speaking one to each other and not like a copy of a Great
American Novel.

That was the entire point. One is to talk like your prospect. Other
is to have so many mistakes that it simply "scratches" the brain of
an native English reader.

There is a reason why I consider that a copywriter must have a
read-proffer on staff all the time, I've blown too many opportunities
because of the grammar mistakes I considered that not mattered.

PLUS ... If you are writing B2B copy, you'd better write it as correct
as possible. It's best not to fall into the business cliches (the course
which taught me B2B writing was from AWAI and a large section of it
was to avoid talking legalese and "businelese") and to keep the tone
conversational but you don't want to sound like a car salesman (in a
b2b opportunity).

There are worse things. The critical test for me is... CLARITY. Does the message deliver the intended meaning both explicitly and implicitly? Everything else is pretty much window dressing.

For some audiences spelling and grammar do matter... for others, not so much.

A lot of writers try to break the "Rules". Know the rules if you plan on breaking them.

I am fortunate that my wife has a BA degree in English. She hates my writing and edits it for free... well almost