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Proofreading Your Own Document

by: Jan Kovarik

You've just written an important paper, business communique, or other document that will be read by others and perhaps will be the basis for a classroom grade, a prospective business arrangement, or provide necessary information for a specific situation. Regardless of the end use of this document, it is important to you that it not contain any errors or embarrassing grammar and punctuation mistakes. You've run spellcheck, but you understand that spellcheck isn't foolproof. Your document needs to be proofread.

Ideally, you need a professional proofreader (or some other objective person) to read your document and correct whatever errors there might be in it. However, time and circumstance are not always conducive to using a proofreader. When this happens, you have to proofread it yourself.

Self-proofreading is fraught with pitfalls, the biggest of which is that you are "too close" to the text. That is, you know what you meant to write, even if that's not exactly what you did write. Your brain can easily fill in the gaps and skim over simple errors like an incorrect wrong verb tense or a missed word in a well-used phrase. The mechanism in your brain that does this is called your "short-term memory"---and it can be very strong. Before you self-proofread, you need to allow your short-term memory (STM) to "dump" (that is, to allow what is stored in your STM to be deleted).

After you have finished your document---WALK AWAY. You need a minimum of 30 minutes between having finished the document and proofreading it. It is best if you do something that is completely disassociated with that document: work on something else that has no connection to the text in your document, go for a walk, make a few phone calls, or clean the cobwebs out of the corners of the ceiling. Clear your head in any manner you wish, but be sure to do it.

When you are ready to proofread your own document, do not read it from start to finish. It is best if you can print it; this will allow you to read it in non-sequential order. Read the middle two pages first, go back and read the beginning, and then read the last pages. Reading your text out of order will make it easier for you to see what is really there instead of what you want to see.

As you read along, if you "stumble" on any particular sentence, then go back and read it aloud. Yes---say the words. Better yet, put your finger under each word as you say it. This technique will help you to "hear" the error (maybe a wrong verb tense or a word that is missing). When you find an error (spelling, missing word, wrong word, missing punctuation), mark it on the printed page. You don't have to know proofreading marks---just use whatever shorthand you'll understand.

After you have read your paper, out of order, make all the corrections that you have marked. Be careful! It is really easy to insert that comma in the wrong place (and I'm speaking from experience here!). Key in the correction, and then review it on screen. Continue through your entire document, making all the corrections needed.

At this point, you should use "Find" to locate your trouble words. Perhaps you always waffle about whether to use affect or effect. Maybe you know that you often use it's when you should use its. Enter your trouble word(s) into the Find field, and click on Find Next until you have gone through the entire document.

Now you need to rerun spellcheck. For a tip on how to reset spellcheck (so that spellcheck will actually re-check the entire document, not just the changes that you made), go to "How to Re-Set Spellchecker," at: (http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/ResetSpellcheck.htm).

If time permits, walk away from this document again for 30 minutes. Since you've already cleaned out the cobwebs, maybe it's time to rearrange your sock drawer. Come back to the document and skim through it one more time. If your brain stumbles over anything, read it aloud, put your finger under each word, and check for wrong verb tense, missing word, wrong word, etc. If you change even one thing, then you need to re-set your spellcheck and run it one last time.

Here's a final word of caution about spellcheck: Spellcheck does not always suggest the right thing. That is, spellcheck might stop at its and suggest that it is a commonly mis-used word, do you want to change its to it's. Don't get "Change" happy. When spellcheck beeps, look at the correction it is suggesting and then re-read the sentence in its entirety. If, in fact, you want to make the change suggested, then do so. If not, then hit Ignore and continue on. Likewise, don't get "Ignore" happy---every time spellcheck hiccups, review the change being suggested, re-read the sentence in its entirety, and make a decision to make the change or to ignore it.

There are many other ways that your computer can help you to produce a document that is free of error. For other helpful articles, please go to my index of Writing and Grammar articles at: http://freecontent.janktheproofer.com/#Grammar_and_Writing:.

Through intelligent use of your computer's word processing software, spellcheck, and your brain, you can produce an [almost] error-free document.

About The Author

Jan Kovarik, The Proofer is a freelance proofreader and copyeditor. Visit http://www.jansportal.com for more information about Jan�s proofreading and copyediting services and Jan's other free resources. Please visit Mom's Break (http://www.momsbreak.com/) for free printable crafts and projects. © Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.

This article was posted on September 17, 2005

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More Article Pages 1 - 2

Writing The Perfect Sales Letter
by: David Hennebery

Before you actually write the e-book we are going to write the sales letter first. Now I suggest you write it in Microsoft Word and save it. Then we can transfer it to the main �Sales site Page� when we are designing our basic site in step 5

The main reason we are writing our sales copy before we ever write a word in our e-Book is because it hasn�t actually being created yet, which means there is absolutely no limit what you can write in your sales letter. The sales letter doesn�t fit the e-Book; it�s the other way around.

Now you can describe exactly what your e-Book will show to the potential customer. There are no restrictions on what you can write in the sales letter. When the sales letter is completed you can then incorporate all the ideas you have come up with into your e-Book

Your sales copy must do the following three things

� Get the attention of the prospects
� Communicate the benefits of the product
� Persuade the prospects into the desired action

Remember the most important part of your page design is your actual sales copy. A fancy website and graphics help but the key is in the words used

Sales letter Structure

� Header/Title
� Promises
� Testimonial
� Info product
� Benefit
� Bonuses
� Guarantee
� Summary

This is the structure that you should use for your sales copy. If you check out the best sales letter they will all follow this formula?

Header

The main function of the header/title is to grab the reader�s attention. The header should be displayed in a large, bold font. This demands your potential customer�s attention and intrigues them to read further on. Include your logo or e-Book cover (discussed later on) close to the header. If you header is not well designed you run the risk of losing the potential customer straight away. Spend time creating your header.

A Promise

This section promises the potential customer a huge benefit which is almost too good to be true. It�s ok if it�s a bit too unbelievable the testimonials will take care of that. Here is an example of such a headline

Discover how my 5 step affiliate programme can increase your income by 10,000 a month

Testimonials

In this section you include testimonials that old/new customers have sent you about your product or service. You probably don�t have any customers yet so email some potential ones your e-book for free in exchange for a testimonial. When you do start selling you can always ask a new customer for one.

Now the testimonials page has assured the potential customer that you can fulfil the promises you made in your header also you have gained a bit of trust from your potential customers so anything else you say that follows the testimonials page will be taken as true. This is the reason why the testimonial is placed at the top to gain trust right away where if it was placed at the bottom after presenting some good sales copy it may be already too late.

Info and product

In this section you will give info on what your product or service is about. You should show your customers a list of problems in this area. Agree with the customers, on how frustrating these problems can be and how you, yourself dealt with these problems. The key is to show the person that you have a deep understanding in this area and you are an expert on the subject. That is very important.

Next you must introduce your product as the solution to the problem. Then you must have a proper e-Book cover design. This is crucial. Many people have never purchased an e-book so you must give them some idea what exactly they will be purchasing

Benefit

This section is basically telling your potential customer of the benefits they will receive from purchasing your product. Show your potential customers the enjoyment they will get from using the product. Give them as much information on your product as you can. Use bullet points to emphasize the benefits. Put in another testimonial just to remind the person that it�s all true. Keeping their trust is highly important.

Bonuses

This is a powerful tactic used to increase sales. Including free bonuses with the purchase of your e-Book will increase the perceived value of the e-Book. Also a deadline on bonuses is also a good way to speed up consumer purchases. Bonuses also reduce the risk of money back returns

Guarantee

Offering a guarantee to your potential customers takes the risk off their shoulders. A good guarantee is the final bit in the jigsaw that will make the person finally purchase the product. The agreement is such that if the customer is not happy with their purchases then can get a full refund. You must remember that lots of your potential customers will be �first timers� therefore a guarantee puts their minds at ease. Guarantees can be 30 day, 60 day, or lifetime; however such guarantees must be backed up with an exceptional product.

Summary

This is one of the most important steps in the sales letter; this is where you close the sale. In this section you must include your most appealing benefit and finally ask for the order, because if you don�t they wont. Finally make it easier for them to order like an �order now� button shown below.

At this stage you should start to write your sales letter in Microsoft word we will concentrate on the html design and implementing the sales letter in it in section six but for now just concern yourself with writing your sales letter. To help you here are some of the web�s top e-book publishers sales sites. You can check out my own sales page at http://www.ebookprofitmaker.com

Sales Letter generator

Ok ill now offer you an alternative to writing the sales page yourself. Only use this if you are willing to spend some money. You may want to check out this piece of software that actually writes the sales letter for you. All you do is answer the questions it asks and you will receive your sales letter. You can find this software at sales generator here

Credit card Transactions

Finally you will need to find a credit card processor later on so your e-Books can be ordered. The one I seriously recommend is Clickbank. Ill go into them in more detail in section 6 but for now I want you to know that all these company�s, including Clickbank, have a set of rules that you must abide by to use their software. Don�t panic ill go through these rules now. Basically it involves putting a certain amount of details in your sales letter and product delivery page so you can be accepted by your credit transaction company. So here they are:

You must provide on your sales page:

� Detailed description of your product
� Buy now link
� Explain how the product will be delivered
� Mention how long the delivery will take

* remember theses are rules not suggestions

So that is everything you need to know on how to write your sales letter, hers a quick summary

We need to:

� Write the sales letter before the e-Book
� Sales letter structure must have , header, promise, Testimonial, info and product, benefit, bonuses, guarantee and summary
� You can have your sales letter made by Sales letter generator
� Certain set of rules should be included in the sales letter for the purpose of the credit card transaction company

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