When writing copy for a brochure, press release or advertisement, you spend lots of time choosing the right words to convey your message. But Kelly Robbins of The Copywriting Institute says it's just as important to focus on how well you put those words together.

"If you've worked on a project for several days and rewritten pages countless times," she notes, "it's easy to overlook something as intangible as the smoothness of the copy."

To ensure your final product flows smoothly, Robbins recommends setting up a proofreading system that includes steps like these:

Print a draft of your copy and read it out loud. It might feel silly, but you're more likely to catch awkward phrasing or clunky transitions than if you read silently from a computer screen.

Ask someone to read your copy while you listen. "If there are areas where the reader unnaturally pauses or gets stuck and backs up to reread a section," says Robbins, "you need to go back to work on it."

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