If you make a few mistakes here and there, I can probably ignore them. If, however, typos, misspelled words, and errors pepper your paragraphs and make everything harder to understand, I’d probably just ignore the whole post, or even the whole blog or publication. I think that’s my version of returning your paper.

I see bloggers that I respect have typos every once in awhile, so I shrug. However, if I consistently see typos, the writer’s credibility goes down in my opinion. Blogging is something that allows anyone a voice, but it’s still a writer’s medium. Consistent mistakes show that you don’t respect the medium and the consumer of that medium.

As for those for whom English is a second language, if all they have to read is typo-ridden blogs on the Internet, they’ll never master English. Let’s take some pride in the medium.

For articles I decide to lift and rework and publish for money, then yes, I will make an effort to make sure they are grammatically correct and all words are spelt properly. If I was hoping my blog was ever going to be something that could be sold, I might have made an effort from the start to make sure each essay was a glowing testimony to perfect English. But when its just me and my thoughts with no one paying me (I just hope people will like my travels enough to want to read more!), then I’m not going to get worked up over spelling errors and not going to take anyone seriously who criticises my freely provided content!

Now, I’m not the kind of person to point out a typo or two to a writer in public. I’d probably email them, in fact. But when a writer tells me that they can’t be bothered to spend the extra 90 seconds checking up on their spellchecker before hitting the “Publish” button because they are too busy to do so, it turns me right off.

Yes, the writer is spending time to bring me content. I respect that. But the more important fact here (and one that many writers would do well to remember) is that READERS ARE SPENDING THEIR TIME READING THOSE WORDS! And a lot of those sites are making money off those readers. Revenue or not, writers must learn to respect their readers.

If we’re dealing in words, shouldn’t they at least be spelled right?

And while I believe that the most important part of any type of presentation — whether it be a blog or a presentation from a media firm — is the content, if bad grammar and poor spelling is the norm, then I’ll pass on them every time.

In the race I’m managing right now, a media firm didn’t get an interview with us because of their cover letter. It was poorly written — full of typos and bad grammar. You just can’t do that and be successful.

On the other hand, that can be a highly irritating thing to see plenty of errors running through a post. A typo is fine. However, anything beyond that has a habit of becoming a problem.

No, it’s not fair, and maybe I’ve missed great stuff this way. But I really think that if you care about your blog, you proofread before you hit “publish”.

But, yeah, typos do happen. But I also think it’s completely legitimate to go back and correct minor typographical and/or grammatical errors if you spot them late down the line.

However, if you are a pro-blogger, come on, have some pride in your work and check for typos before publishing.