We all know that content is king when it comes to online promotion and creating a sterling first impression for first time visitors to your website. Visuals are great and can help to build interest but it’s your content that will keep customers coming back to your website time and time again.
Not every site owner is a spelling and grammar master and it’s easy for even the most talented wordsmith to make mistakes that are overlooked during proofreading, so it’s always smart to have a grammar checker installed on your site to catch any small errors that you might have missed.
Today we’re sharing a couple of our favourite WordPress plugins and browser extensions that will do the hard work for you and highlight any spelling or grammar errors prior to publication, so you can ensure your content is clean and correct from the moment you press ‘Publish’.
Grammarly
Probably the best known grammar checker on the web, you might recognise Grammarly from adverts shown before your favourite YouTube videos.
Grammarly’s free browser extensions are available on Chrome, Safari and Firefox, allowing you to check not only your WordPress content but also social media and email content. Just a single click brings back a list of any errors, with suggestions of how to correct them.
For those looking to take things to the next level, Grammarly Premium starts from $29.95/month and gets even more in-depth. If your website is heavy on content and leans towards the academic, then this is a great option.
Proofreading with Jetpack
Using After the Deadline’s technology, Jetpack’s spelling and grammar functionality will proofread your content for you and highlight any misused or misspelled words, along with any grammatical and style errors. Any errors are helpfully colour coded for you, so you can easily correct and learn from your mistakes.
Jetpack’s settings give you full control over the errors you want the plugin to search for, allowing you to switch specific search terms on or off depending on how in-depth you’d like your grammar check to be. Just some of the options include:
- Jargon
- Double Negatives
- Passive Voice
- Cliches
- Redundant Phrases
Jetpack’s proofreading module is provided for free as part of Jetpack’s suite of WordPress products, so just download from the WordPress Plugin Directory, install on your site and switch on the spellcheck option to test out the service.
TinyMCE Spellcheck
We referenced the After the Deadline plugin earlier on, which has now been incorporated into Jetpack’s proofreading element, and TinyMCE Spellcheck was originally a fork of the AtD plugin. Instead of looking broadly at style, cliches and unwanted phrases, this option focuses heavily on the spellcheck side of things.
If grammar isn’t your concern and you’re looking for a pared back, simple spellcheck plugin then TinyMCE Spellcheck is one for you to consider. The simple interface is integrated into the WordPress Editor and will highlight spelling errors in red and basic grammatical errors in green, much like the standard spellcheck software you’d find with your word processor.
While TinyMCE Spellcheck hasn’t been updated in a number of years, it has been fully tested up to WordPress 4.0.18 and currently has more than 10,000 active installs. That said, we do always suggest you exercise caution before proceeding with a plugin that is no longer updated.
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You might not think that your spelling and grammar has much of an impact on the way customers view your website but you’d be surprised how many consumers will click away if they spot too many issues. Sloppy content can make a business look unprofessional and like they don’t pay attention to the little details.
Treat your website content in the same way you treat your star product. Make it the best it can be and soon your attention to detail will show both new and existing customers that you take pride in every area of your business, from the shortest blog post to the biggest product launch.
