I love spelling and good grammar - I even belong to groups on Facebook advocating good grammar - but even I “sin” when I’m online, mostly on IM, and don’t capitalize my “I” and the beginning of sentences.
It is important, however, to differentiate between formal and informal communications. While poor grammar and spelling isn’t so important on IM and (non-professional) social networking sites, when you publish written materials online for the purpose of reaching prospective readers, clients, and customers, spelling and grammar are crucial.
Many of you do not speak English as a mother tongue, and many of us who do just aren’t good at spelling - either you are, or you aren’t, and it has nothing to do with your level of education. Read over your article once you have written it - even out loud. You may discover typos and grammar mistakes. Make sure you use spell check. You don’t even need to use Word for that - Firefox, for example, comes with a built-in spell checker (I use it on a daily basis). Even if you don’t think your grammar is a little on the weak side, let someone read your article. You’ll not only get feedback about the article itself, but another pair of eyes that can correct any mistakes you may have made. This is a good rule of thumb, even if you are an English teacher.
Reviewing your article’s spelling and grammar may mean it will take you a few more minutes until publish the article, or even another day if you ask someone to proofread our article for you, however your article reflects you and your level of professionalism, and if you strive to reach potential customers, you want to put your best foot forward, and professional knowledge is only the beginning.
Don’t use shorthand, read up on apostrophe use, brush up on your punctuation, and subscribe to the ArticlesBase blog, because beginning next week I will begin to give you short grammar tips for popular mistakes.