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My friend Craig Perrine and I were talking yesterday, and Craig told me about someone who had visited his Web site and sent him back a report card.

It’s hard to send red marks through an email, but this well-meaning visitor told Craig about the misspelled words and grammatical mistakes on his site.

And, the dude had the audacity to remind Craig to never begin a sentence with the word “and.”

Probably without realizing it, the well-meaning visitor entered a dialogue that has been going on for decades – between direct marketers and guardians of proper usage, punctuation and the language as a whole.

You might wonder which side of the fence I’m on, on this issue.

How’s this for your answer:

Both.

No, it’s not that I don’t know how to take a stand. I have very strong and definite opinions.

But I do pick my battles these days. And this is not one of them.

However, it’s an important point — if for no other reason, because it comes up so much — and that is why I’m writing about it today.

First, my fence-straddling:

My background encourages perfectionism. I once worked for the world’s largest publisher of business information, McGraw-Hill, as a magazine editor; later as a field correspondent; and ultimately as a news bureau chief.

As a New York editor, I was very clearly told that any copy leaving my desk had bloody well be free of errors. Condition of employment.

Before that, I had been a French major in college. I even spent a year studying in France. If there’s one language, and culture, that doesn’t look kindly on spelling or grammar mistakes, that would be the language and culture of France.

And we could talk about the house I grew up in… but this is a blog, not public psychotherapy.

Now, truth be told, I like good grammar and correct spelling. But I don’t think they’re the end-all and be-all, especially in sales copy.

As for the other side of the coin, fault-free writing does not necessarily lead to breaking the bank with your results.

To give you a couple of examples, I’ve recently been doing some work in the business-opportunity field, where companies use pre-programmed email autoresponders to turn cold leads into warm prospects.

When you look at these autoresponders, you could easily get the impression that the people who wrote them went out of their way to make spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, leaps of logic and other stupid faux pas.

Like:

“It’s not hard. just show people the savings they can enjoy and get paid.. Can you handle that??
If yes, then take that next step and let’s get going… You deserve a vacation dont you?”

or

“Make a Fortune while Traveling to Exotice Hot Spots…”

Hey — not major errors, but so far from word-perfect, we won’t even go there.

And yet, these are sales messages that just happen to be making the people who use them, thousands upon thousands of dollars.

Now, these are not isolated examples. I have one friend, a copywriter and entrepreneur, who is wildly creative and yet points out every typo in everything of mine he sees.

He’s as successful in business as anyone I know. Let’s just say, “mega-successful.”

And I’m always glad to get his feedback. I know he’s trying to help, and he does.

I have another friend who writes million dollar sales letters, who keeps getting pulled off his own projects with irresistible offers from other big-name marketers.

He can’t get the difference between “your” and “you’re” right.

One friend, a best-selling author and frequent media guest. I’ve never seen her make a typographical error, even in an email.

Another friend, also a best-selling author, who teaches prospective authors how to get published. Can’t spell her way out of a paper bag. Well, she can… but not all that well.

So, what’s the answer? Does spelling matter? Does grammar count? Will your copy sink if your syntax stinks?

I think it’s all about what’s behind what you write.

Atrocious spelling and illiterate sentence structure won’t necessarily pry dollar bills out of your prospects… but…

You can make mistakes — plenty of them — and still make a fortune.

If…

You understand what people want, how they talk about it, and how to offer it to them in an appealing way.

There’s an ancient understanding among those of us who sell with the written word:

A good offer with imperfect copy will far outdo an inadequate offer with copy that would get an A-plus from the English teacher.

I have one client who has made millions before and is building new empires today.

He hired me to mentor him in writing copy. It cost him a lot of money and he has put in a tremendous effort.

His copy’s gotten pretty darned good. His spelling is for the birds.

So I told him, maybe he should hire a proofreader.

Or maybe not.

See, he knows what people want… knows how to offer it to them, in an appealing way, and with integrity. So it’s good for them and profitable for him.

He’ll make money either way. Plenty o’ money.

I hope this gives you some things to think about… and a renewed sense of hope if you can’t spell your way out of a paper bag.

David Garfinkel is one of the best copywriters on the internet and was a speaker at Armand Morin’s Big Seminar Series and Carl Galletti’s Internet Marketing Super Conference. You can learn more about his books and training courses by clicking the links below.

David Garfinkel is founder of the World Copywriting institute and is considered by many people to be the best teacher of copywriting in the world. The stated mission of the World Copywriting Institute is to “eradicate copywriting illiteracy in the world.” Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the world’s best selling series of marketing books, Guerrilla Marketing, says, “David Garfinkel is the best copywriter I know.” Sign up for David’s free World Copywriting Newsletter. and you get a free one-hour downloadable teleseminar on copywriting. Also visit David’s World Copywriting Blog:

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