Picky, Picky, Picky

We’ve had two clients apologetically say they were being picky in the past week. In one case, it was about describing a plane as “our plane” when they actually charter the plane. The other was about making a phone number a bit larger.

In both cases I wrote back, “Picky is good.”

Picky is really good when you’re making sure that your website, blog, ad, or social media is free of errors. It’s also good when you’re making sure things at your website are just the way you want them. It’s your website, and while we don’t expect you to be an SEO copywriter or a web designer, we want you to have things the way you want them.

You are the expert in your field. If you know that your particular target customer doesn’t respond well to the phrase “in the cloud,” we respect and value that information. If your industry says “turn” instead of “turnaround time,” it’s important to us to get that right in your blog. You know the people your industry considers the major thought leaders — and that list may not be the same as what people outside your industry think.

Picky is also good because we are human. We write thousands of words every week, and we are going to have typos every now and then. We try to catch them all, but we appreciate it if you alert us when we don’t. Granted, we’ve also had clients think they saw errors when there really weren’t any (after all, if you think a word is spelled in one way and it really isn’t, you’re going to see an error when it’s spelled correctly), but we do not mind that. We’ll check and make sure.

Here’s why it’s good for your website when you’re picky:

• Both human visitors and search engines find websites without errors more trustworthy. We’ve seen and heard claims that typos and little errors don’t matter, but we don’t agree — and the research is on our side.
• Your website represents you and your company. It’s important that you feel good about your web presence. That’s why you hired professionals to create it in the first place.
• It’s better for relationships. Seriously. Being picky in private life can be bad for your relationships, as you may know if you have the habit of critiquing your spouse’s cooking. But being picky with your web professionals is much better than saying nothing and being unhappy.

I’ve been talking about myself here, but I think it applies across the board. You have a right to insist on excellence, and your web firm should agree with you.