Not only do you have to choose outstanding keywords when you are writing for success on the Internet, but you also must take care with the usual, but necessary words and phrases you use. Too often inappropriate or, worse, incorrect words are used. When you are trying to convey an idea or thought, nothing could be worse than choosing a word or phrase that doesn?t mean what you intended it to mean.

It is so easy in this day and age of ?faster is better? to use ?then? vs. ?than? or ?their? vs. there? by mistake, but that?s where taking care to proofread your work comes in as well as knowing the difference between the two. Sometimes, however, it goes further than that. What I am about to describe is something akin to learning the lyrics to a song by listening to it over and over again. Your ear hears something different than what the actual word is and until you see the lyrics in writing, you cannot equate the two. It?s usually a big surprise when you see the lyrics in print because they are nothing like what you are belting out in your car sing along.

For example, the phrase ?for all intents and purposes? is continually written out as ?intensive purposes?, which is exactly how it sounds, but is incorrect. The word ?lose? is forever mixed up with the word ?loose.? These are two totally different words with totally different meanings separated by one vowel. I also hear the phrase ?so to speak? as ?sorta speak.? Using ?supposed to? usually turns into ?suppose to,? ?supposedly? becomes ?supposedly? and ?with regard to? turns into ?in regards to.?

Please also remember to carefully check when you type the word ?your.? Many times because of a light touch on the keyboard, the ?r? gets left off of the end.

An attorney I recently had a conversation with about this very subject, mentioned to me that he actually knew colleagues that made words up, such as ?satisfaction? (which I assume should have been ?satisfaction?). That led us to a discussion of the popular court term ?moot? which is always confused with ?mute?, again two totally different words with different meanings. I even remember seeing the words ?caliber? and ?caliper? interchangeably used.

The point in all this is to make your work look and read as professional as possible. There is nothing worse than incorrect word usage or bungled phraseology to discourage your readers from coming back because it puts your credibility as a writer at risk. There are many websites that point out the many word usage problems that creep up again and again. A simple search can save your reputation.

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