In this episode of Elevating Experts, Andy and Louise chat to Captain Obvious about how to effectively proof read you work, but here are some of our top tips:
At all stages:
- Spot spell-checked words
- Carefully read for spelling and grammar
- Read aloud to spot hidden errors
Captain Obvious says “forget the double check rule! Triple checking is the way to go!”
Different ways to quality check your drafts and other work will make sure annoying typos don’t make it through.
Episode Transcript:
Andy: you’ve proudly hit publish on your latest post and your colleague taps you on the shoulder and says
Louise: Andy, did you know you made a typo in that meme?
Andy: Why are the gods against me? I’m Andy Le Roy
Louise: And I’m Louise Poole, and we’re giving you the insights to help elevate you as an expert in your field
[Elevating Experts]
Andy: I’m pretty sure I know where we’re going with this one Louise, but it does seem like I’m responsible for my fair share of little blips on our road to batch completion
Louise: you definitely know where we’re going Andy, it’s time to sit back and have a little listen to our good friend…
[Sting: Captain Obvious]
Louise: hey there Captain Obvious, it’s lovely to see you again!
Captain Obvious: well hello there Louise, I didn’t think I’d see you again quite so soon, what have you done this time?
Louise: No, no, captain obvious, it’s Andy this time… he seems to have a little issue with typos in memes at the moment…
Captain Obvious: well as much as I like the lad, I’m really not surprised. Let’s give him a little bit of education on how to spot those errors
Louise: I feel like it’s really a case of just slowing down and double checking your work, right?
Captain Obvious: slowing down is an excellent piece of advice Louise. If you go a little bit slower while you’re working, you will save yourself a lot of time further down the track. But I’m really not such a fan of double checking
Louise: what? Captain Obvious doesn’t double check his work?
Captain Obvious: No. I triple check my work!
Louise: oh! Now I get it!
Captain Obvious: when you’re drafting your work, that’s the perfect time to triple check what you’ve written. For every line that you write, there’s bound to be a little mistake that creeps in that you don’t spot while you’re in the creative flow
Louise: so why wouldn’t I just double check what I’ve written?
Captain Obvious: on the first time ‘round I would glance over it and see if there are any obvious things that have been picked up by the spellchecker and grammar check. On the next run through I have a very focused read of what’s on the page to see if anything stands out.
Louise: surely that’s enough after you’ve done that?
Captain Obvious: well, you might think so my dear, but Captain Obvious also likes to read it out aloud in one final check. It’s really quite amazing what you pick up on the page when you start to talk it out aloud
Louise: so that’s that, all checked and perfect at that point, yeah?
Captain Obvious: maybe, but that’s not the last time you are going to be working with that text. What about when you copy and paste it over to one of your graphics?
Louise: I’ll double check to make sure it’s transferred correctly?
Captain Obvious: Ahemmmmmm
Louise: trrrriple.. check… got it
Captain Obvious: always triple cheque your work at whatever stage you are, because as soon as you hit that publish button, if there is a mistake you are going to have to go right back to where that mistake originated and correct it and do all of those steps again
Louise: yes, we did have a case like that recently where we got all excited because we’d finished everything, and when we looked at the live post a day later we noticed there was a typo and we had to go back and fix it
Captain Obvious: I don’t want to be Captain Obvious, but I am, of course… so here’s my advice on what to do when publishing your posts
Louise: can’t wait for this bit of advice Captain Obvious! Hit me with it, what is your big piece of advice for when you are about to hit publish on your post?
Captain Obvious: triple check everything. Even though you triple checked it every stage so far, this final stage can also be prone to little errors. Triple check everything before you hit that publish button
Louise: it seems like a lot of triple checking Captain Obvious
Captain Obvious: yes, it is. But if you triple check everything you do at every step of the way, you won’t have to go back and redo things later… think of it as not having to do three times the work down the track, if you simply triple cheque what you’re doing when you’re doing it
Louise: OK… even I’ve learned something here! Have you learned anything Andy?
Andy: yes, thanks Captain Obvious! Leave it to Louise and me to do the recap and we’ll make sure we get it right every time
Captain Obvious: right you are… Bye for now!
Recap
Louise: it all sounds pretty obvious, but that’s what Captain Obvious is all about
Andy: we all know the benefits of rechecking our work before we submit something, it’s what our teachers banged on about all the way back in school
Louise: but Captain Obvious really brought it home for us today!
Andy: when you’re drafting your material, look for the obvious markings from your spell checker, then do a scan for anything that doesn’t read right. Then read it aloud to really make sure the words on the page are what you want them to say
Louise: at the next stage when you’re copying and pasting your words into your assets, always triple check in the same way to make sure that the information you meant to transfer over has made it over correctly. There’s nothing worse than having to go back and edit your meme, then reload it to your server and then reattach it all over again because of one little mistake
Andy: and again, before you hit the publish button, triple check your work to make sure that everything in your post reads exactly how you want it to read. You will definitely save yourself a lot of time by cutting out the opportunity for little mistakes to creep in
Louise: and that will leave you a lot more time to make more great content and connect with your audience.
Andy: We’ll leave Captain Obvious’ simple tips in the show notes for you… but take it from us, they really are obvious!
Louise: next time on elevating tips on protecting your voice
For more hints and tips to elevate you as an expert in your field, subscribe to our podcast Elevating Experts now.
We’d love to hear your feedback on how this has helped you!
You can reach out to us on our website
www.welcomechangemedia.com.au
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———
Elevating Experts is an Australian short form podcast series, with new episodes released Mondays, where we help content creators and podcasters by sharing tips to improve your skills & simplify your processes, and elevate you as an expert in your field!
About Welcome Change Media:
We make podcasts & help you tell your story.
Our mission is to help people connect through inclusive content that empowers and inspires.
We also work with businesses, organisations and creators to produce branded podcasts that align with your mission.
Contact us today to see if we can help you.
Other projects by Welcome Change Media include:
That Entertainment Podcast | Adelaide Edition | Brisbane Edition
You can reach out to us on our website
Or connect with us on social media: Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Pinterest | Youtube
About us: Louise Poole and Andy Le Roy.
Louise has worked in Australian commercial radio, media and broadcasting for over 20 years, in on air and brand management roles. Her CV includes hosting 973fm Brisbane, Queensland, morning radio announcer and music director for 8+ years, Content Director of Darwin, Northern Territory radio stations MIX 1049, Hot 100. More info about Louise Poole here.
Andy has over twenty years leadership experience, across a range of fields including broadcasting, aged care and telecommunications. His CV includes Darwin’s top rating drive-time radio program to managing a successful community radio station in Adelaide, South Australia, helping it to expand its community appeal by leading the station to innovate its content. More info about Andy Le Roy here
Episode Transcript:
Louise: Trying to build your audience but not sure what impact you’re having? Maybe it’s time to look at some stats. I’m Louise Poole.
Andy: And I’m Andy Le Roy, and we’re giving you the insights to help elevate you as an expert in your field.
[Elevating Experts]
Louise: It kind of sounds like one of those boring things business-people talk about all the time, but understanding the stats behind your podcast can really help you understand what’s connecting with your audience.
Andy: There’s lots of good data available out there about podcasts, and your own podcasting platform will have its own stats available which have been designed to help you get the most out of your programme. Let’s take a look at some of the ways it’s helping us.
Louise: It can be kind of stressful not actually knowing what data is out there, let alone trying to interpret it once you find it. We actually had a situation where on our particular platform, we were looking in one spot on host’s webpage for our data, but found out we should have been looking somewhere else.
Andy: Yeah, what we discovered was even though we have stats available through WordPress, the host’s website actually has a much more detailed set of data for us to look at so we can see how we’re going.
Louise: And it was a pleasant surprise to see that we actually had many more listeners than we had first thought looking in the wrong place, so hello!
Andy: Now that we know where to look for the statistics available to us, we can dig in and see exactly what they’re telling us.
Louise: At a basic level we can see how many listens we’ve had so far on any given day, and we can also see how many listens we’ve had this week compared to last week and what our growth is.
Andy: We’re really encouraged to see that Elevating Experts is currently growing at a rate of 30% per week, so it seems we’re on the right track with making content that’s useful.
Louise: This has been handy as well, because when we look at the individual episodes and how they performed, it has become obvious to us that the ones related to making and sharing content are more popular than our earlier episodes around the business start-up information.
Andy: This is not only nice for us to see, but has helped us to shape the direction of the series for the future. We decided when we saw this information, that we really were better off focusing on what we knew best.
Louise: With the added bonus that we can write from experience, rather than having to go and research things that are unfamiliar to us.
Andy: So, being able to see at a glance not only how our current listens are trending, but which episodes are more popular than others, is really helpful in being able to connect with you on things that matter most to you.
Louise: But let’s not be too hasty and fall into the trap of thinking that the stats are the only important piece of feedback.
Andy: That’s right, because although this is really useful information from a numbers point of view, there is also the feedback we see in the connections we make with people.
Louise: As much as we would love to just pop into the studio, record all the fun bits and say “job done”, promoting the episodes is really important to help make them a success.
Andy: Which is why we backup our podcast releases with social media posts and videos related to the episodes, to give it as much exposure as we possibly can.
Louise: So the other places we look for feedback is in the interactions we are getting on the different social media platforms. Whether that is a like
Andy: Or a comment about the episode on the post
Louise: Or even having a look at the number of impressions a reel on Instagram gets, for example
Andy: All of these statistics and pieces of feedback tell us how well we have done our job in making content that hits the mark.
Louise: And remember, if the statistics and feedback aren’t what you were hoping for, it’s only feedback, and you can always change something next time and do a little bit differently to see how that works instead.
Andy: And when you start to see those numbers climb, you will feel that rush of excitement, guaranteed!
Louise: But remember to pat yourself on the back whatever the feedback is, because even if it’s not what you expect, it only means you need to try something a little bit different to connect with the people who do want to hear your content.
Andy: Combing through statistics can seem pretty scary when you look at it on the surface, but they’re really just another tool to help us make things even better. Let’s just have a quick recap on what we’ve gone through today to help you get the most out of your data.
Louise: First things first, you need to know what statistics are available from your podcasting platform. Put some time aside today and have a look and see where to find the statistics your host makes available. It might be a heading called statistics, or it might be something like analytics. Either way, there will be something there that will help you to see how your podcast is performing.
Andy: Now that you’ve found where these statistics are located, use them to measure your growth. Have a look, for example, at a comparison week by week to see whether you are getting more listens this week compared to last week. You can also have a look a little bit further down into the data and see which episodes have really struck a chord with your listeners.
Louise: And remember, these numbers are only one form of feedback. The other things that you do to support your podcasts can also give you some really good feedback on how you are connecting. Those likes and comments mean that you are legitimately engaging with people and they find your podcast valuable.
Andy: And remember, if the stats don’t tell you what you want to hear, it only means that it’s an opportunity for you to try something a little bit different. You’ll be attracting those listeners in no time.
Louise: We’ve left a few links in the show notes for some popular podcasting platforms on the data they provide to help you know what to look for.
Andy: Next time on elevating experts captain obvious makes a grand entrance and talks about meaningful labels.