- Systems, routines, and patterns—a proofreading checklist seems like an obvious choice
- Not quite a proofreading checklist, but a useful checklist nonetheless
- How can a proofreading checklist be helpful?
- My personal proofreading checklist
- SEO additions to my proofreading checklist
- Adding ad hoc entries to my proofreading checklist
- My proofreading checklist makes me more efficient and accurate
Systems, routines, and patterns—a proofreading checklist seems like an obvious choice
If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, it’ll come as no surprise that I like routines. Perhaps the ultimate routine is a checklist. Checklists help ensure that you follow the same procedures each time you perform a task. They also help you avoid missing crucial steps. While I rely on my proofreading checklist, I also use checklists for several of my work-related tasks.
One of my job responsibilities is to send emails. These can be marketing emails, newsletters, or support notices. We use a couple of different platforms for sending emails. Each one has its own idiosyncrasies. There’s more to sending these types of emails than just drafting them and hitting send.
There are so many “moving parts” and minor changes that have to occur. Because they represent our brand, they must be well crafted, properly formatted, and error-free. I use a scheduling checklist to reduce the number of mistakes that can occur when sending emails.
Not quite a proofreading checklist, but a useful checklist nonetheless
I’ve built these custom checklists into Asana, the task manager we use to organize our work. They’re saved as part of a template, so the checklist is baked into the task when I have to write and send an email. And while it may be tempting to just schedule the email, I still tick off each item on the list.
I often realize I’ve missed a step or forgotten to change one crucial detail. I’ll never be perfect. But this “send checklist” has helped me send emails with fewer mistakes on several occasions.
After I draft, review, edit, and approve an email, it’s time to schedule it. Here’s the checklist I use. It helps ensure consistency and minimizes the chances of errors sneaking through.
UTMs updated
We use tracking links called UTMs. UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module—something I learned while writing this blog. 😉 We must update these UTMs for each email.
Links checked
UTMs are basically special links that allow you to track and analyze traffic. After I’ve updated and added UTMs to the various elements, I enter preview mode. I click all links and linked images to ensure they go where expected.
Proofread
Even though the email has been checked several times, I do a final proofread. I look for any typos that may have occurred with last-minute edits. During this step, I will typically copy and paste the copy into my Grammarly (affiliate link) editor. This enables me to better check for typos or spelling mistakes that have crept in during editing.
Text version synced
One of our mail platforms sends both HTML and text-only emails, but they must be synced manually. I’ve purposefully placed this step near the end, after all other edits have been made. This helps ensure the latest changes have been carried over to the text version.
1-click unsubscribe
About a year ago, Google began requiring bulk emails to include a 1-click unsubscribe link. If your email doesn’t have this present, your email risks being flagged as spam.
Final test message sent
While the preview mode does a decent job, there’s a better test. Sending a final test email to myself ensures all formatting displays as expected. I once caught a serious issue with the footer in a newsletter by sending myself a test message.
Render created
We have to save an image, or rendering, of the emails we send. It needs to be shared with different departments so they can see what emails we’ve sent. This is one of the steps I often forget until I see it on this checklist.
Lists updated
I must ensure that the correct audience lists are used. We often duplicate previous emails and edit them. Duplicating emails preserves formatting settings, which saves time. While more efficient, I must remember to update other parameters, like audience lists.
Confirm completion actions
Our mailing program can automate certain actions based on opens and clicks. These change with each email we send. Again, these need to be checked carefully when we duplicate emails.
Confirm the correct date/time for scheduling
I’m used to the work week starting on Monday. But one email platform starts the work week on Sunday, so I have to be careful I get the proper day & date right. Part of this step includes taking a screenshot of the scheduling pop-up. I then post it in a group chat so other team members can confirm the dates and times are correct. A second (or third) set of eyes never hurts.
This checklist is used after all the writing, designing, and formatting of an email have occurred. It might seem redundant or overkill, but it only takes a few moments, and I make fewer mistakes when I use it. Even after all this, typos and other errors still happen on occasion. But there are far fewer than if I didn’t use this checklist.
How can a proofreading checklist be helpful?
I also use checklists when I’m doing proofreading tasks for my job, freelance clients, or my own blogs.
It’s pretty common for proofreaders to review a piece of copy several times. With each pass, you focus on something different. That’s where proofreading checklists come in very handy.
Why do proofreaders often use proofreading checklists? A proofreading checklist
- Keeps you focused and organized.
- Ensures you check everything (particularly useful for small or repetitive things).
- Helps you maintain quality and consistency (very helpful when working across several documents).
- Speeds up the process—once crossed off your list, you shouldn’t have to go back and redo that process.
- Is extremely useful where specific formatting or style rules must be followed.
My checklist varies depending on what I’m proofreading. If I’m working on an email or a menu, I’ll skip some steps that may not apply. When I’m proofreading a blog or webpage, there are several SEO tasks that may not apply to other proofreading tasks.
My personal proofreading checklist
Here’s the base proofreading checklist I start with.
Grammarly/built-in spellchecker
In addition to Grammarly, I use the built-in spellchecker for Google Docs or Word. They tend to flag different things than Grammarly. As mentioned before, I don’t unquestioningly accept each Grammarly suggestion. I evaluate them and decide which ones to accept. This initial cleanup provides a better base text for subsequent proofreading passes. At this point, I estimate the text is usually 90% accurate. Good—but there’s room for improvement.
Double-check regional spellings/colloquialisms
Depending on the client, I need to review for regional-specific spelling and grammar. Grammarly usually does a decent job of catching spelling mistakes. But it may not pick up on subtle differences in vocabulary or expressions.
| American English | British English |
| on the weekend | at the weekend |
| apartment | flat |
| The team is winning. | The team are winning. |
Check dates
I recently added this entry to my checklist. I was tasked with proofreading some copy that contained an errant date and day. It’s typically the job of a copy editor or content editor to check facts (like dates). But when those roles don’t exist, as a proofreader, I’m the last line of defense for such errors.
Single vs. double quotes
British English tends to prefer single quotes, while American English prefers double quotes. However, it’s even more important not to mix using single quotes and double quotes in the same text. Notice I said “prefers”—consistency is more important here.
Errant double spaces
During editing, it’s easy for an extra space to sneak in between words. By using the search function, I can find and eliminate those pesky extra spaces.
Hypens vs em/en dashes
I wrote a blog on the differences between hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes (-, –, —). They all have their uses, so I double-check they’ve been used correctly throughout the text I’m reviewing. Grammarly often flags hyphenated adjectives incorrectly, so I always check them manually.
Review headings
Earlier, I previously mentioned an error I made in an email section heading. Headings are easy to skim over, even when doing a “proper” proofreading pass. Specifically checking all headings (especially in blogs or webpages) helps eliminate those errors.
Check links
This is one of the steps in my email send checklist. I also check all links in blogs and webpages to ensure the link
- Is correct.
- Isn’t broken (i.e., 404).
- Opens in the same/a new tab, depending on its purpose.
Audio proofreading
I’ve also written before about how I like to have the text I’m reviewing read to me. I use a browser extension or Microsoft’s Read Aloud function. I almost always catch a mistake or two using this method that I’ve missed using all the other previous steps.
SEO additions to my proofreading checklist
That’s pretty much it for my basic proofreading checklist. If I’m adding a blog or a page to a website, my proofreading checklist extends to other tasks. Most of them are related to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I use WordPress for both my job and my personal site. I use the built-in Yoast SEO checklist to help boost my SEO and readability scores.
In addition to the items in Yoast SEO’s list, I pay special attention to the following items.
URL/Slug
A typo in your URL could negatively impact your SEO efforts. It’s worth taking a moment to manually check them carefully. Grammarly or your built-in spellchecker are likely to miss these.
SEO title
The SEO title carries a fair bit of weight with your SEO score, so ensuring it’s optmized and there are no typos is worth it.
Meta description
This involves more than ensuring the meta description is the correct length. I need to check it for typos and spelling mistakes. In this case, I’ll often copy and paste the text into my Grammarly editor for a thorough check. Re-editing the meta description for optimal length is a prime example of how typos can occur.
Image alt text
It’s common practice to include SEO keywords in the alt text for any embedded images (where it makes sense). Checking for keyword typos and ensuring your alt text is error-free for people who rely on it is worth your time.
Adding ad hoc entries to my proofreading checklist
When editing several documents that must use consistent terms, styles, and formatting, things can get messy. You can just use “find + replace” in a single document, but this is more challenging across multiple docs.
When you encounter something that needs changing, you have two choices. You can leave the document you’re working on to make that change across all the other documents. Or you can add it as an ad hoc entry on your checklist to ensure you check for it across all documents.
I recently had to proofread six documents, which were coincidentally checklists. They were all similar, but served slightly different purposes. This meant some entries were exactly the same, while others had crucial differences.
I typically need to see things used in various contexts to make stylistic decisions. Once I’d made that choice, I had to remember to apply it to all the other documents to maintain consistency. It was a challenge. But these ad hoc checklist entries helped ensure I made the changes everywhere.
This method is also beneficial when proofreading multiple pages on a website. It helps standardize specific terms or stylized product mentions across all the pages.
My proofreading checklist makes me more efficient and accurate
And that’s how I use proofreading checklists. They help me minimize mistakes, ensure consistency, and publish error-free copy. As I’ve recently written about, perfection is an unattainable goal. But checklists like the ones in this post help me get as close to perfection as I humanly can.
So what about you? What’s on your proofreading checklist? Have you got an entry I missed? Was there something on my list that you’ll be adding to yours? Let me know—I’m always keen to refine and improve my checklist.
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