30 Days to a Better Blog: Use Your ‘Preview’ Button
I’ll admit it. I used to rarely use my Preview button. I’d only catch issues after the post was live on my blog – and even then, it might be an hour or two after I posted. Sure, you can make the changes for future readers … or can you?
If someone is using an RSS reader, they are going to see the first published version of your post. Period. So while they may click through and seen an edited version of your post after you fixed your errors, their first glimpse is going to be the unedited post. And that’s not good. Imagine publishing a magazine, or sending out a newsletter, or writing an email without editing?
So today’s tip is to get in the practice of previewing your post before you hit publish. Previewing the post in your blog template will show you much more than viewing it in the “Visual” editor.
When you preview, look for the following items:
- Correct spelling
- Correct grammar
- Images are aligned properly
- Images are spaced and sized properly
- Any embedded players are working correctly
- Font tags close appropriately
- All URLs work
- All <table> and <div> tags are properly closed so that you’re entire template isn’t skewed
What else do you look for before hitting Publish?
Image Source: SXC
Thanks for highlighting this, Nikki! I always (always!) use my Preview button. There were (and are) countless times when an embedded video or image was too big, my formatting was all wrong or the layout not right. To me it is a mystery why there have to be spelling or grammar mistakes in blog posts. After all, through your articles you portray an image of yourself to the world. So using the Preview button to ensure that everything is just the way it should be is a simple, yet so powerful step to take before posting. Great post, thank you 🙂
Thanks Kat! I agree 100%. It’s one thing to have a spelling mistake every once in a great while. It’s a whole other thing to see that someone obviously didn’t use spellcheck and edit (or check their formatting). It gives off a sense of unprofessionalism and doesn’t really make me want to come back.