Webmasters – Why You Should Let Your Grandma Be Your Editor/Proof Reader

If you run a website or a blog, then you probably work alone and like it that way. The reason that many of us became entrepreneurs in the first place in fact was that we wanted to start working alone and without having to speak to someone else or have a boss breathing down our necks. The last thing you’re going to want then is to involve lots of other people in the process right? Least of all your gran who, lovely though she is, likely doesn’t know much about SEO or writing good blog content…

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License: Creative Commons image source

Actually though your gran is exactly the person you should involve with your website, and even if you aren’t willing to work in an office with her, you should try and put on your own ‘granny hat’ from time to time when proof reading and editing your own stuff. Let’s look at why…

Pride
The first reason you should show your gran your work is because we all want our grandmas to be proud of us. If you’ve written some content for the internet, often you’ll just be happy to press ‘post’ and to let it go into the ether that way, never to be seen again. That means that we’ll often write content that we aren’t all that proud of, and design sites that we aren’t all that proud of. Ask yourself, would you be happy to post all the content you write on Facebook or would you feel self-conscious? If the answer is that you’d feel self-conscious, then it’s time to have a rethink about the quality of what you’re doing. So imagine your gran is going to read it and keep it high quality as a result.

Understanding
Another reason that you should imagine your gran is going to read your articles is that your gran probably doesn’t know much about SEO or whatever topic you’re going to write about. You might think that this would be a bad thing, but in fact it gives you the view of the person in the street. If your gran can understand and enjoy what you’ve written, then chances are that anyone should be able to. This is precisely the kind of writing you want to encourage on your own site, so read through the content with your granny hat on and try to decide whether someone who didn’t already know the topic or get your sense of humour would necessarily be able to enjoy your site.

Access
Not only is it important that everyone be able to understand your content, you also want to ensure they can find their way around your site with ease. Look at your site and imagine what the first things your gran would click are. Would she know how to find the content she wants? And crucially – would she be able to see the links and the small typeface? Disabled access isn’t something we often give much thought to online, but it is an important issue for those with impaired vision.

Jake Cornwall is an SEO by profession. He has consulted for some of the biggies of the corporate world and has tremendous experience under his belt. He often writes articles explaining the nuances of his profession.