Great points, Jim – thanks! I’m laughing over here, because I hear the “I feel weird writing an email to a writer” line quite a bit. I tell them that if they’re not paying me to evaluate their writing, I’m not judging them. :)

I think perfectionism in writing strikes professional writers particularly hard. We’re supposed to be the experts at putting words together. If there’s a typo, subject-verb disagreement, homonym used out of place, etc. in a carpenter’s website, no big deal–writing isn’t that person’s profession. Writers, however, are judged and paid by how well they write.

As an aside, I find it interesting some non-writers become self-conscious of their writing when they write to me since they know I’m a writer.

@Lowell, interesting point. I think you’re right. There are some things you *should* be perfectionist about – spelling people’s names correctly would be one of the things on the list. :) However, little things…like tweaking a word…may not require 3 hours of brain-time.

Thanks!
:)

The conversational method shouldn’t be an excuse for sloppy writing: “Jack lead Jill up the hill to fast.” Because the average person receives over 100 emails each day, they have the luxury of choosing to read clear communication. If they don’t understand what was going on between Jack and Jill, they can hit unsubscribe, delete, or spam. There goes your SEO. Although not a dictionary definition, we might consider something perfect – or good enough if you prefer, when the recipient responds as planned.

YES, @Jesse! I totally agree!

(As a side note, my designer pushed “publish” on my new design long before I felt the content was ready. In fact, I’m still revising it. I thought I’d obsess over every little word that’s not “right.” Instead, I’m just thrilled that the redesign is live…and I can fix the content as I have time. Whew! Apparently, even I need to remember that it’s never going to be perfect.) :)

The one thing I would encourage business owners to do is to hit the publish button. Almost all websites have the “edit” option. Use that if you find there are mistakes. You will be better off having published content that has one or two mistakes than having never published content at all.

Great piece!

Ha! I’m so glad that you liked the post – thanks! :)