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Would give $1,000 To This Guy?

by lcombs
31 replies
He's a well-known, very successful IMer who I respect very much.

However, this gives some serious doubt.

Here's his latest headline:

Your competitors are making MORE MONEY THEN YOU Because they are not afraid of living on the EDGE


I did the italicization and underline.

I've posted about this before but, this drives me CRAZY!

Not knowing the difference between;

Then and Than
Sit and Set
There, Their and They're

And a multitude of other grammatical errors.

Even typos.
We all make typos, etc.
But, as "professionals" shouldn't we either double-check ourselves or have someone else proof-read our stuff before we put it out there?

Maybe I'm nit-picking, but, this stuff puts me off and I'm sure it has caused me not to purchase something I might otherwise would have.
#give #guy
  • Profile picture of the author butters
    The original title of the post doesn't help to get your point across to be honest... I try my best to spell correctly and use the correct grammar but I am not perfect, far from it. If it is something like a sales letter, I would pass it out to friends or family to look over it and get a number of eye balls back on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sparhawke
    I findd ovious erors anoying to, butt wat can yu relly du abut it? :p

    Everyone makes an occasional mistake but I agree, if it is in the title line I start wondering about the rest of the content
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    Typos turn me of as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anon7
    A blatant error in the headline won't cause me to lose any sleep, and if the copy got me excited enough to want it, I may still purchase, but it would dim my first impression of the marketer or their product. I would then have to wonder if the same amount of care was given to the product itself as well.

    -Jack
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    • Profile picture of the author innocent07
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Anon7 View Post

      A blatant error in the headline won't cause me to lose any sleep, and if the copy got me excited enough to want it, I may still purchase, but it would dim my first impression of the marketer or their product. I would then have to wonder if the same amount of care was given to the product itself as well.

      -Jack
      Thats similar to how i see it. Dont shoot the guy for it, if the product seems ok, consider it.

      AWWW @ your baby
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  • Profile picture of the author jimh1626
    You butter spel evry word corectly or i ain't gonna by.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kecia
    You could probably just chalk it up to the dude's copywriter making the error...
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  • Profile picture of the author Dital
    I agree, typo's and grammatical errors do put off buyers who look for something excellent and reliable.

    Such small things can really make a difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
    Originally Posted by lcombs View Post

    He's a well-known, very successful IMer who I respect very much.

    However, this gives some serious doubt.

    Here's his latest headline:

    Your competitors are making MORE MONEY THEN YOU Because they are not afraid of living on the EDGE


    I did the italicization and underline.

    I've posted about this before but, this drives me CRAZY!

    Not knowing the difference between;

    Then and Than
    Sit and Set
    There, Their and They're

    And a multitude of other grammatical errors.

    Even typos.
    We all make typos, etc.
    But, as "professionals" shouldn't we either double-check ourselves or have someone else proof-read our stuff before we put it out there?

    Maybe I'm nit-picking, but, this stuff puts me off and I'm sure it has caused me not to purchase something I might otherwise would have.
    This stuff bothers the heck out of me, as well.

    (Edited for the Spelling Error...lol...at least I changed it...)
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    • Profile picture of the author WikiWarrior
      I would never give $1000 to a guy who can't be bothered to proofread his work (or get someone else to do it for him/her), purely on principle. It's lazy, arrogant and unprofessional. Call me a pedant but I find it quite insulting and I don't buy into the whole 'Ima small town hick that cant spell so if arr can make a bunch of green wit this here system joo can too' patter'.

      Having said this I'm sure it wouldn't bother many people and some people wouldn't even notice. It does seem amusing though (and pretty sad) that from what I've read on these forums it actually seems worth split-testing sales copy with and without spelling and grammatical errors.
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      • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
        Originally Posted by YOUniversityLife View Post

        I would never give $1000 to a guy who can't be bothered to proofread his work (or get someone else to do it for him/her), purely on principle. It's lazy, arrogant and unprofessional. Call me a pedant but I find it quite insulting and I don't buy into the whole 'Ima small town hick that cant spell so if arr can make a bunch of green wit this here system joo can too' patter'.

        Having said this I'm sure it wouldn't bother many people and some people wouldn't even notice. It does seem amusing though (and pretty sad) that from what I've read on these forums it actually seems worth split-testing sales copy with and without spelling and grammatical errors.
        ...and THAT is probably one of the worst parts about this. lol.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    I know plenty of millionaires with a grade 6 spelling level. I would only judge a writer on that headline not a marketer
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  • Profile picture of the author chrislreeb
    I believe that professionalism attracts the same. If you are going to present yourself as a professional you need to put your best into everything that you do. If the person running the ad doesn't practice good spelling and grammar techniques they could easily lose sales that could have been converted with a little more professionalism on their part.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
    Your definitely nit-picking. I wish you would not of posted this silly thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Dear Friends,

    Excuse me, but...
    ...life is too short to worry about other people's typing and grammar mistakes!
    Thank you very much.

    Best to you, Dennis

    PS - Feel free to quote me on that.

    PPS - The title of this thread, "Would give $1,000 To This Guy?" seems to be missing something. Oh, the irony!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I don't worry about bad spelling and grammar in sales pages - but I'm not likely to buy from them. A simple typo or two is no biggie - but blatant errors of spelling or grammar can turn off some buyers.

      It's not always a grammar police or spelling cop mentality - to me it's a sign of sloppy work, a rush job or someone too lazy to read his own copy before putting it "out there". Makes me wonder if the product is sloppy, too.

      You never know if you lost buyers because you didn't take the time to proof your copy. If you don't care about it - that's fine, too. One size never fits all.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author Wesley Cash
    Not a huge deal to me if he knows what he's talking about. but on the other hand a typo on the main Headline can be a concern . Either he never looked at it again, or ..hmm cant spell than?..
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Moffatt
    True Story: About 2 or 3 weeks ago I asked my friends on Facebook to teach me the difference between "then" and "than".

    I honestly had no clue what the difference was. I'm sure I butchered it all the time in my writing.

    Lately I've been trying to make sure my grammar is not sloppy. I still use ghetto slang at times, but I definitely want the overall feeling of my writing to flow well. Therefore I've put some effort into learning how to use proper grammar, but it never really stopped me from making a bunch of money.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesMSpacey
      Whether it's something that will ultimately put you off buying depends on more than just spelling, but having said that it's sometimes not easy to overlook an obvious spelling error, particularly in a title, and wonder about the quality of the product. Better to spell-check than sow seeds of doubt with leads wherever possible.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
        It's lazy, arrogant and unprofessional.
        I sort of "get" the first and last, but arrogant? I'm not sure I can wrap my mind around the idea that a typo or spelling mistake is a sign of arrogance. That seems more than a little extreme, to me.

        As for the rest of this thread... Hey. Personal preference. If you want to judge a person's skills in areas outside of writing based on their grammar, that's your loss.


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        • Profile picture of the author TimGross
          Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

          As for the rest of this thread... Hey. Personal preference. If you want to judge a person's skills in areas outside of writing based on their grammar, that's your loss.
          Yeah, summing up a person's worth simply based on their spelling/grammar is silly. I've found a much better way: Knowledge of geography. Before anyone can purchase anything from me, there are two answers they have to fill in on the pre-order form:

          1) What is the capital of Finland? (Helsinki)
          2) What is the only city in the world located on two continents? (Istanbul, Turkey)

          It turns out I'm only kidding about asking geography questions before allowing someone to buy from me, that'd be an insane (and unprofitable) requirement...

          And while as a consumer you have the right to buy or not buy a product based on any criteria you choose (including use of bad grammar), if you're also a product developer (and most here are or hope to be) then over-focusing on perfection can be the kiss of death.

          Why? Due to "My-product-will-never-be-done-itis". If you're THAT worried about grammar and spelling (and if you hate to see someone else make a mistake, heaven forbid that anyone should ever find a mistake YOU'VE made!), you'll edit and tweak and fret and possibly give up without ever releasing your product because you'll want it to be perfect first, and it never will be.

          And that's bad.

          BUT, even if you DO finally finish your product and sales letter, if you obsess with perfectionism along the way your product will still suffer, because it takes away the energy and time you could have put into the meat of the product or the brilliance of your sales letter, and you fritter away your passion for what you're doing on nit-picky stuff.

          (It's like wanting to build an awesome house from the ground up, but you wind up spending so much time and energy on the paint job so it looks beautiful that you have to cut corners on the structure of the house itself.)

          Just for the record, I'm not saying you shouldn't have your stuff proofread! But there's a healthy, profitable balance to find. Unless you're looking for a job as a proofreader, don't get hung up on the details and just do it. (And as people tell you about the little mistakes they find, they'll tell you and you can fix as you go. That's how the most successful entrepreneurs do it. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    If you want to judge a person's skills in areas outside of writing based on their grammar, that's your loss.
    actually, i do....i don't think i would have fun debating politics or other matters with a person who cant even spell such things .... "socilism" <--- etc.
    But maybe its just because i was raised that way.

    As for the OP, i think the THEN is more a typo...
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    • Profile picture of the author FredJones
      Tough call...

      I would not judge from the headline. I mean, people at times actually mess up the spelling to draw more attention. Are you sure that is not the case?

      Having said that, genuine mistakes prevail (personally, I do a lot of typo errors) and lack of knowledge of language also prevails - "you're" and "your" is probably the most mistaken pair together as per my experience.

      But, remember, in international forums, there are people coming from multiple language backgrounds. English is a just a common platform conventionally used for convenience. If you go by number of native speakers, English comes only third in the world after Chinese (Mandarin+Cantonese) and Spanish. Then there are other close competitors such as Bengali, Hindi and Arabic.

      Imagine the total mass of talent in these 6 langauges, if you have seen English-speakers alone. And I am leaving out other languages with high volumes native speakers, which is also extremely significant.

      Would you want to ignore such sheer volume and talents? I would not. Not if I knew the copywriter came from a non-English background. In that case, s/he is probably doing a much better job in handling a foreign language compared to what most English-speakers do with non-English languages (in my experience).

      If this is the case, would you not add to your respect towards the copywriter rather than reduce it?
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
    People make mistakes. Maybe he overlooked it.

    To me, it's no big deal. If the offer is something I'm interested in, and will help my current business, I'd think about it for sure. I won't disqualify the offer based on the spelling mistake.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
      Originally Posted by Swastik View Post

      People make mistakes. Maybe he overlooked it.
      I agree with this too, but some marketers consistently make "mistakes" - especially in their emails. I don't know how many of them do it to give themselves a second chance at emailing you for the same product or download. Some do it more than others. And if I think you're doing it as a "technique" then I'll be unsubbing from your list.

      The one I hate is affect for effect. People get that one wrong a lot.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
        Ryan,
        The one I hate is affect for effect. People get that one wrong a lot.
        You mean like, "A change was made to effect the outcome?"


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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
    Is he selling "Improve Your Grammer" product?

    If so, that's OK to me...
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    • Profile picture of the author Marian
      From what I see on the rest of the page where the phrase is mentioned, it suits quite well
      So in this case I'd be OK with that

      Marian
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  • Profile picture of the author entrepreneurjay
    Innocent mistake. But yeah I definitely agree with you he should of checked his Email before he sent it out for mistakes. But we are all human and we make mistakes from time to time!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Not knowing the difference between;
      I wouldn't judge someone over one spelling error or for using the incorrect word any harsher than someone who doesn't know when to use a semi-colon versus a colon.:rolleyes:

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  • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
    Banned
    I don't think it was a spelling mistake at all, it's getting too common now.
    You've only got to look at the amount of thread titles that contain errors.
    It's the latest trend.

    People notice these errors more than a correct headline.
    It must be working.
    People are even starting threads about it.
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