Tribute to the almighty typo
Published: Mon, 09/14/20
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Hi,
Just a brief note - I am on the AWAI mailing list. Today they are promoting your course. The email says "...So I called a reputable security company to hook the place up with censors, alarms, and other home security technology..." I think it should read "...So I called a reputable security company to hook the place up with sensors, alarms, and other home security technology...". Before they run this promo again, you might want to consider making that small change.
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Poindexter must've been new around here.
Only one typo?
I must be losing my touch.
Personally, I love me some typos. Probably makes all the writing snobs bristle in their pumpkin spice lattes when writing at Starschmucks, though. But if I listened to what the typical “writer” says I’d be as broke as most of them are. Their word-perfect ways are necessary for writing books, essays, articles, etc. And I am not particularly happy with typos in my novels at all, and am quick to change them when they are pointed out.
But, caring about typos at all can get you killed writing emails.
How?
Because the best communicators are human, not secks robots. They communicate like… people. Thus, they are also more interesting to listen to and, thus, more persuasive. Like it or lump it, great communicators don’t always use perfect grammar. They sometimes even purposely butcher words to make a point, keep going without pausing, and, yes, gleefully abuse repetitive words & phrases. Guys like Winston Churchhill and Martin Luther King Jr. were especially prone to doing as such.
That makes the spelling stalinists grumpy.
But nobody really cares what those losers think anyway.
More:
Many years ago I remember hearing the great & esteemed “Sifu of Sentences” himself Matt Furey say writers are rebels. And that means… rebelling. Including against the strangling rules choking the creativity out of people too scared to scribble outside the lines.
I can already here the diehard writers:
“That’s nonsense, Ben!”
Is that right, Bunkie?
If you don't believe me, maybe you’ll believe these world class copywriters.
Like one of the world’s most prolific copywriters John Carlton, who once said:
“In all my years of mauling the English language, I have never lost a known sale to someone because of either 'bad grammar' or typos.”
Or one of the top A-list copywriters in the game today David Deutsch, who once taught:
“Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef,but the wrod as a wlohe.”
Still more:
Few years back, I wrote a series of pro typo emails.
And at least 2 people showed me examples how removing blatant typos (one in a headline!) *hurt* their response.
Finally, an “inconvenient troof”:
Proof readers earn peanuts compared to even mediocre copywriters who can’t spell to save their lives.
Am I saying to be sloppy?
To riddle your emails with mistakes?
Not at all, Spanky.
I’m saying no need to obsess over every jot and tittle. And when it comes to emails especially, it’s far more profitable to learn how to write your emails fast and in a way people want to buy from than it is to be a master of spelling, syntax, and grammar.
All right, onwards & upwards to the business:
Since the above eagle-eyed reader mentioned my 10-Minute Workday program, I should add it’s not currently being promoted by AWAI today directly on the site. But, they did put up a waiting list. And, when you opt in to that waiting list, you get a free copy of an important report called:
“The One Minute Business Plan”
Hardly anyone talks about business plans much less has one.
But this short, easy to read PDF — which almost surely contains a typo or two — can help anyone interested in being more successful get started off right, or course-correct if business isn’t as prosperous as you’d like.
Here’s the almighty link for your clicking displeasure:
https://www.EmailPlayers.com/awai
Ben Settle