Writing Business Letters – Tutorial 1: Letter Format

21310676174_businessletter.jpgIt’s unavoidable if you want to run your business or just stay in touch with your suppliers and clients. How well … or not so well … you write reflects on you and your business. Write poorly constructed letters with unprofessional layout and format and you will look like a rank amateur, no matter how good you are at plumbing, cooking or whatever it is you do.
If you are a seasoned letter writer who has completed a business communication course, this series of articles is probably not for you. It will help, however, if you haven’t been educated in communication skills. You will be able to improve your writing very quickly just by following a few simple rules.
Letter Format
The easiest, quickest and most efficient letter format is known as “full block” or simply “Block”. A block letter has all its text left justified ie, there are no indents. This method is very popular because it is simple to produce. Here’s an example using Australian address formats – modify it for your own country:
Parker Morgan Finnigan
Lawyers
PO Box 2345
SYDNEY NSW 2000
29 October 2010
Ms Janette Jameison
PO Box 34687
NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2005
Dear Ms Jameison
CONTRACT WITH ACME FINANCE CORPORATION
I refer to our previous correspondence requesting a copy of the contract between you and Acme Finance Corporation.
If you do not provide us with a copy of the original contract, I’m afraid we will not be able to act on your behalf. We need the contract to accurately assess the claims you have made and to question legal staff from Acme Finance Corporation.
Please send us a copy of the contract at the earliest so we can get this matter under way.
Yours sincerely
Parker Johannson
Principal Legal Consultant
PARKER MORGAN FINNIGAN
Whether you use Letter or ISO A4 paper, this format looks good and saves time. Your paper needs to have a border all round of 2.5cm (1″) and you should Endeavour to place the total content of the letter so that it is symmetrical on the page ie, don’t have more text in the top half of the page than on the bottom half. A balance of black and white and good position on the page makes the letter look good.
You’ll see that there is no punctuation except within the body of the letter. This is called ‘open punctuation’ because the text is open where punctuation doesn’t add significantly to the reader’s understanding of the letter.
Using Letterheads
Some letterheads I see are poorly designed. While they look good from a graphics and color perspective, the flow between logo and letters is poor eg, when you run your eye down the left column, there is no, or poor alignment between text and letterhead elements.
If you design a letterhead page that is left or right justified, design it so that the left most portion of the letterhead graphic or text is 2.5cm (1″) in from the left or right sides. The best design is one that is centered on the page. This is because it doesn’t ‘force’ a right or left margin allowing users to set margins of any width that still appear balanced on the page. When you have a short letter you can bring your left and right margin in a little to make the text area look larger.
Tutorial two of this series discusses the parts of a letter.
Copyright 2005 Robin Henry

Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet marketer. He helps small to middle-sized businesses and individuals improve performance by using smart technology, smart processes, and personal development. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from Alice Springs, Central Australia and can be found at http://www.dwave.com.au or http://www.winagovtjob.com

Proper Business Letter Creation

11310676175_coverletterdarkwaterproductions.jpgIf you are in the business world, then creating a business letter is no longer new to you. It is a normal part of the business world because of lots of announcements, acknowledgements, appointments, authorization letter and many others. As you use business letter format, you are communicating with a sense of professionalism. A good business letter doesn’t need to be too long. Remember that you are writing with businessmen and with busy people. You don’t have all their time. Three paragraphs would be good enough.
The first paragraph of a business letter should contain the main point of the letter. You can start with a friendly opening then quickly proceed with the main point. Be specific. Use a few sentences to explain your purposes but remember no to go for further detail until the next paragraph.
The second paragraph should now contain the accurate details of the purpose of the letter. The second paragraph is the backbone of the purpose you have mention in the first paragraph. This is an important part because it will give justification or reasoning on why you wrote a letter to the reader. The second paragraph is also called the body of the letter. This is also the part where you can insert more information about you or more information about the reason you wrote.
Lastly, the last paragraph should tell the importance of the letter. If you are writing for an employment better put your contact information in the last paragraph. On the other hand, if you are writing because you want to inform the reader, the last paragraph should contain your appreciation for the reader’s time. The last paragraph should end with a call to action. It should also contain your hope that the reader will respond to your letter.
Business letter should be short yet clear to take into consideration the time of the reader. If you are sending a letter enclosed with additional documents, don’t forget to put an enclosure line. Also if your letter is not for a single person alone it is best to include carbon copy of the letter for the other receiver or receivers.

Email Business Letter Format

01310676183_dm230-tanyadueck-a322.jpgIf you are in the business world, then creating a business letter is no longer new to you. It is a normal part of the business world because of lots of announcements, acknowledgements, appointments, authorization letter and many others. As you use business letter format, you are communicating with a sense of professionalism. A good business letter doesn’t need to be too long. Remember that you are writing with businessmen and with busy people. You don’t have all their time. Three paragraphs would be good enough.
The first paragraph of a business letter should contain the main point of the letter. You can start with a friendly opening then quickly proceed with the main point. Be specific. Use a few sentences to explain your purposes but remember no to go for further detail until the next paragraph.
The second paragraph should now contain the accurate details of the purpose of the letter. The second paragraph is the backbone of the purpose you have mention in the first paragraph. This is an important part because it will give justification or reasoning on why you wrote a letter to the reader. The second paragraph is also called the body of the letter. This is also the part where you can insert more information about you or more information about the reason you wrote.
Lastly, the last paragraph should tell the importance of the letter. If you are writing for an employment better put your contact information in the last paragraph. On the other hand, if you are writing because you want to inform the reader, the last paragraph should contain your appreciation for the reader’s time. The last paragraph should end with a call to action. It should also contain your hope that the reader will respond to your letter.
Business letter should be short yet clear to take into consideration the time of the reader. If you are sending a letter enclosed with additional documents, don’t forget to put an enclosure line. Also if your letter is not for a single person alone it is best to include carbon copy of the letter for the other receiver or receivers. A very smart email spider which scans the web for email addresses and saves them in a file. The queries of search engines are also possible. Email Spider can scan the entire Internet. But you can configure it, so that it searches only websites of a desired target group.
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