BIZ CONTENT WORTH READING
Proofreading, Copy Editing, Content Editing, Writing, and Research -- Oh My!
What 's the Difference and What Do I Need?
The Basics
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Typically, customers have rough drafts, bullet points, or old material and ask for it to be "revamped." That is content editing. Content editing is not the same as proofreading or copy editing.
Proofreading is just correcting errors and copy editing is tweaking content through new vocabulary and sentence structure while also looking for inconsistencies and checking grammar.
Content editing is much more difficult than the other two. Sometimes it is even more challenging than starting from scratch, aka writing, which is why we put content editing and writing in the same category.
Think of It Like This
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Imagine hiring someone to decorate a room in your house. What you really need is not always what you think. Sometimes what you really need is a deep cleaning (proofreading). Sometimes you just need a few pieces added to what you already have (copy editing). Sometimes you can’t get rid of your grandmother’s green rocking chair and your 1990 curtains or the huge purple rug in the center of the room. That’s content editing and it’s easy to see why this option can be more difficult that just starting from scratch (writing).
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A page of content editing (not proofing or copy editing) with approximately 300-500 words as a finished product takes approximately two to three hours of writing with an average of an hour of research.
So much can change in the world of content, but in general, this example is usually accurate.
However, here’s an example of how things can go sideways.
When we worked with a Fortune 500's fashion house, they gave us product descriptions and asked for them to be revamped for a new catalog.
The process started out simple, but then became more tedious when they asked to see each edit and then those edits were shared with many members of their team. On occasion, we would write a description for one pair of socks and eight emails would go back and forth about one particular phrase or word. Lots of people were involved and everyone had an opinion. For that reason, the project took forever. Ultimately, time really is money. While they were very pleased, we were exhausted by the time it was all over.
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The whole purpose of business content is to bring revenue and just like everything else, time, expertise, research, and communication are necessary to get to success.
Research
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In all the services except for proofreading, researching is included.
We typically research more in the beginning stages of the project, but good research is one of the keys to successful business writing.
We look at current industry topics to make sure that your ideas or existing content is still current in the business climate. We always spend time drilling deep into the competition and the industry. We want to see what’s going on in your world and what other folks are up to, then do it much better.
It’s also important to note that once we are familiar with your company and really understand the industry climate, the pace picks up because the research has already been done.