In the pursuit of getting our content published as soon as possible, we may fail to properly review the content for a variety of mistakes. From simple grammatical errors to potential snafus when it comes to how we word things, a variety of mistakes and pitfalls potentially can occur. In the age of online content, it is easy to put something together and publish it instantly; without editorial review or other mechanisms in place to catch mistakes, a variety of errors may be present in your blog posts and articles. Part of being a professional with respect to content publication is catching these errors and eliminating them from your work. Whether you are a guest writer or maintaining your own blog, you’ll appreciate the following four tips on what to look out for before you publish your content.

Check Your Keywords

While we are hearing more and more about how keywords are becoming less relevant in an SEO strategy, they do still have merit and can provide search engines with an additional idea of what your content is all about. They also can create negative consequences: namely, if they are used too often. Always be sure to include your keywords and key phrases sparingly, as including them too little or too often will result in a lack of benefit in one way or another. You also want to be sure that you are incorporating these keywords in a way that fits with your overall content narrative; if the keywords abruptly begin or cut off, then many people are going to sense that your content is of lower quality and/or being monetized.

Shorten Your Sentences

We can sometimes get carried away, and this makes it hard for our readers to follow. In the case of lengthy sentences, your readers may become detached while reading and subconsciously tune out key portions of your content. Be sure to always review your content for sentences that seem to go on forever, and truncate them if necessary. Otherwise, it’ll appear as if you are just pinging noise at your readers. This will also present an opportunity to split multiple, larger paragraphs up into smaller, easier-to-digest portions that readers can appreciate. Web content tends to do better when displayed in this format, as opposed to being overly formal and book-like.

Review Your Headlines

Are your headlines short and accurately describe the content to which they pertain? If not, then you’ll need to review and change them accordingly. We recommend that all headlines be kept to 15 words or less, and all sub-headings be kept to 7 words or less. This will keep you on point in ensuring that you accurately describe the content in easy-to-use language that fits with a narrative that content should be easy to absorb. If your headlines and sub-headers do not fit this description, however, then you may ultimately wind up pinging noise to the reader and lose them in the process.

Always Proofread

You may already be using spellcheck religiously, but that doesn’t mean errors won’t be missed. In some cases, you may accidentally transpose two letters and create a different word than what you meant. In other cases, spellcheck may (unintentionally) change your correct wording to something else. By reviewing your content one more time before publication, you’ll catch these issues and also have one final chance to make sure your content is in compliance with all of the other elements mentioned above.