How to Write a Formal Business Letter

How to Set Out Your Business Letter

You'll write numerous different letters in the course of your business writing, but they should all be set out in business letter writing format.

But just as with documentation of essays, so, too, with business letters -- there's no one right way of setting out. The important thing is to experiment with the different ways and then to settle on one way and to stay with it. The following business letter examples are suggested layouts for business letters using letterheads and fully typed letters.  

Note: these days it is customary to type all business letters unless specifically requested to hand-write them. 

What You Should Write in a Business Letter 

According to Strano, Mohan and McGror, in their book, Communicating!, a business letter has five main parts:

1. the heading

2. the date

3. the opening

4. the body

5. the closing.

1. What to Put in the Heading of a Business Letter

This is your name and address.

You can use your fancy letterhead or just type up your business name and address.

The letterhead address can be positioned anywhere on the top of the page: centred, left side or right side.

However, if you're typing the business address, it should be located in the top right-hand corner.

2. How to Write the Date in a Business Letter

The date is very important, since it can be useful in determining priorities, for filing and it also can have legal ramifications.

In a typed address letter, the date goes immediately under your address.

In a letterhead letter, the date can go on the left-hand side, or the right-hand side, immediately under the letterhead.

Write101.com
32 MacDonnell Road
MARGATE BEACH 4019

1 January 2020

Note that the suburb name is in capitals and that there is NO punctuation in the address.

The method of writing the date shown here is the easiest and least likely to lead to confusion. It looks neat and is clear and concise.

Always write the name of the month; if you are dealing with overseas clients or markets, or even with people who were born overseas, you can run into all sorts of problems if you only use numbers:

11-3-2020 could be 11 March 2020 OR 3 November 2020, depending on where you come from!

3. How to Write the Opening of a Business Letter

This is the:

• Name
• title (if any Manager, Principal etc)
• address of the person to whom you are writing and the greeting or salutation.

This information always goes on the left-hand side of the page, starting one line lower than your business name and address and the date.

Write101.com

32 MacDonnell Road MARGATE BEACH Q 4019

1 January 2020

Mr Garth Hopper

Manager

Country Publications

PO Box 123

SYDNEY 2003

Dear Garth,

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────

or

Write101.com

32 MacDonnell Road
MARGATE BEACH 4019

1 January 2020

Mr Garth Hopper

Manager

Country Publications

PO Box 123

SYDNEY 2003

Dear Garth,

4. How to Write the Body of the Business Letter

This is like the message in your memo and it follows the same rules in that it should be:

• clear
• concise
• courteous.

I know I've said that before (a couple of times) - it bears repeating.

The way you organise the body of your letter will depend on the reason for writing it ... naturally.

What Should Be Included in a Business Letter

When writing a business letter, you must be sure that no part of your letter will be misunderstood. This is why the language you use should be simple. There are no prizes for using the biggest words in a business letter - especially if your reader is not familiar with the words and has to waste time finding out what you mean.

Worse still - if you are not familiar with the words you've used - you make yourself look a right twit! And that is definitely not good for business.

Time is money these days, so you need to ensure that you make your point as quickly as you can in any correspondence.

Like any other piece of writing a business letter should have a beginning, a middle and an end.

It doesn't matter how short a letter is, the important thing is to communicate your message effectively. Don't feel you have to 'fill up' the page to make it look 'balanced'.

5. How to Write the Closing of a Business Letter and Sign Off

This includes the final words to your reader - the bit that tells him or her what action will follow or thanks him or her for any help given. It also includes the 'signing off' and name of the writer.

It is customary to sign off, 'Yours faithfully' if it is a formal business letter or if you don't know the name of the person; you sign 'Yours sincerely' when you do know the name of the person.

It is acceptable to use less formal closings -- 'Kind regards', 'Regards' -- if the whole tone of your letter has been the same, but don't end a very formal letter in this way.

Your closing signature can be placed on the left-hand side of the letter (which makes it easier on the typist) or on the right-hand side -- in line with the address (if the address has been typed in the right-hand corner and / or with the date (if it has been placed in the right-hand corner).

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How To Advertise on the Internet Successfully

Internet or online marketing has now become the most popular way to get your business more exposure. Yes, TV and radio are still viable mediums however; campaigns using these can greatly make a dent on your operating capital. Advertising and marketing through the Internet is the most cost-effective solution especially if you are looking at long term success. Let’s face it, leveraging the millions of users logging onto the Internet at a lower budget is more enticing to any business then going for the more expensive TV and radio commercials. The only problem with advertising on the Internet is that it needs a lot more strategizing and analysis if you want to achieve success in the quickest amount of time.

• Determine a budget. You probably know by now that you can actually advertise and run a comprehensive marketing campaign online for free or at most, at a significantly low cost. This is true however; these free and cheap strategies can only bring you success momentarily. If you want staying power and long term success, you will definitely need money to do so. Don’t worry; it still should be cheaper than running a TV marketing campaign. These being said, make sure to finalize a realistic budget for your online marketing. The budget should consist of expenses to go to a pay per click campaign on various search engines, graphic and web design costs for your websites and advertising banners, and labor costs to spearhead and manage your online marketing efforts.
• Create a website and blog. If you don’t have a blog and website yet for your business, then you need to get one up and running as soon as you can. Do the website first. Hire a superior web designer with high level graphic design skills to create your website for you. Hire a web content writer to create the content for you site. Once that is done, move both people to create and maintain your blog. The blog is useful in sharing relevant content to your fan base. This will increase retention and exposure with a non-direct marketing approach. Make sure the website and blogs are interlinked to each other to redirect traffic from one site to the other and vice versa. 

• Create a pay per click campaign. Google Ads should always be your best bet since Google is the most popular search engine today. Create a complex advertising campaign on Google ads and have someone manage this campaign for you. Make sure to do your competitor and website ranking analysis prior to starting your campaign so you know what keywords to invest in.
• Use social media. The biggest trend in online marketing that has proven to be quite successful is social media marketing. This means that you will use the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, and LinkedIn to promote your business. It is highly recommended to hire a social media marketing consultant to create your marketing strategy for these platforms. Hiring a team to work on this campaign would be a great idea as well. The labor can be cheap since you can hire a virtual staffing company to do the work. Allow the social media consultant to choose the team to work for you.

Aside from these online marketing strategies, you can get more traffic to your site regularly by constantly uploading new content relevant to your niche to online article directories and video streaming sites. You may consider buying up ad spaces on websites that constantly get high hits or traffic daily however, this may be an expensive advertising option

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How do I clear my Internet browser history?

Microsoft Internet Explorer users
Note: Users running Internet Explorer 7.0 and above will need to press the Alt key in order to access the file menu easily to get access to options such as File, Tools, etc.
Viewing History

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and above users can view their history files by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Internet Options", clicking the "Settings" button under the Browsing history, and then clicking the "View Files" button.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x users can view their history files by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Internet Options", clicking the "Settings" button, and then clicking the "View Files" button.

Deleting History

• Microsoft Windows users running Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x and 7.x can delete their history files by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Internet Options", and clicking the "Delete Files" or "Delete" button. Users also have the option of automatically deleting files each time the close the browser window by clicking the "Advanced" tab and checking "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" under the "Security" section.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x users on an Apple Macintosh can delete the history by clicking the "Hard Drive" icon, "System",  "Preferences", "Explorer", and moving the history file into the trash.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 and lower users can delete their history by clicking the "View" menu, "Options", open the tab "Advanced", click the "Settings" tab, and click the "Empty Folder" button.

Mozilla Firefox users

Viewing History

Press Ctrl + H to open the left-side history bar.

or

Click History at the top of the window.

or

Users using earlier versions of Mozilla Firefox can also view their history by clicking "Go" and clicking "History."

Deleting History

Mozilla Firefox users can clear their history by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Options", clicking the "Privacy" button, and under "History" click the "Clear" or "Clear Now" button.

or

Press CTRL + Shift + DEL to open the Clear Data Window.

Netscape users

Viewing History

• Microsoft Windows users can view history by first opening Netscape and click the "Edit" menu, "Preferences", "History", and view the location where Netscape is storing your files. Next, open this folder within Explorer.

Deleting History

• Netscape users can delete their history files by clicking the "Edit" menu, "Preferences", "History", and click the "Clear History" button.

Opera users

Viewing History

Click Help and then About. Within the About Opera window you'll see the full path to where the cached files are stored. Browse to that file path to view cached files.

Deleting History

Opera users can delete their history by clicking the "File" menu, "Preferences", "History", and click "Empty now" button. In addition, users can check "Empty on exit" if they wish for this task to occur each time they exit the browser.

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How to Block a Website

Internet Explorer version 5 and later offer the ability for heighten security and privacy. You can block a site by following the directions below:
1. Load your Internet explorer
2. Click Tools
3. Click Internet Options
4. Click the Privacy tab
5. Under the Privacy window, Click Sites
6. Type in the site address that you want to Block and Click OK. Remember this technique only blocks on one site at a time. Parental control software will allow you to block multiple sites and categories.

Here are alternate instructions to block a website using Internet Explorer.
Tools ->Internet Options->Security->Restricted sites->Sites->Type in the site address and Click ADD then click OK

How to Restrict a Website using Firefox
Firefox requires an add-on to restrict sites. You can find many good ones at Mozilla.org. The best one is BlockSite.

Here is How:
1. In Firefox, click Tools
2. Click Add-ons
3. Click Get Add-ons
4. Choose Browse All Add-ons.
5. Type blocksite in the search bar.After installing the add-on you will be able to block sites with just a few clicks.

How to block a Website using Google Chrome
1. Open your Chrome Web Browser
2. Click the wrench symbol in he upper right corner.
3. Choose Tools
4. Click Under the Hood tab.
5. Choose Change Proxy Settings.
6. Click Security, click Restricted Sites
7. Double click Sites and add the site you want block

How to Block A Website in All Web Browsers

This action will require you to edit your Host file. Your host file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network. For more a more detailed description. Check out this link Host File Description Link
In Windows XP
1. Click Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt.
2. Click Command Prompt This will open a DOS command window.
3. Type: notepad C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts
4. Locate the line 127.0.0.1 localhost
5. To block the website google.com for example, just add this text under 127.0.0.1 localhost:

127.0.0.1 google.com
127.0.0.1 www.google.com
You can add as many sites any site, However you will need to prefix it with "127.0.0.1".

6. Save the file
Google will now be blocked in all web browser. This is an advanced but easy method on how to blow a website.

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How to Enable JavaScript in Internet Explorer

Note To allow scripting on this Web site only, and to leave scripting disabled in the Internet zone, add this Web site to the Trusted sites zone.

1. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Security tab.
2. Click the Internet zone.
3. If you do not have to customize your Internet security settings, click Default Level. Then do step 4

If you have to customize your Internet security settings, follow these steps: a. Click Custom Level. b. In the Security Settings – Internet Zone dialog box, click Enable for Active Scripting in the Scripting section.

4. Click the Back button to return to the previous page, and then click the Refresh button to run scripts.

Mozilla Corporation’s Firefox version 2

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Content tab, click to select the Enable JavaScript check box.
3. Click the Go back one page button to return to the previous page, and then click the Reload current page button to run scripts.

Opera Software’s Opera version 9

1. On the Tools menu, click Preferences.
2. On the Advanced tab, click Content.
3. Click to select the Enable JavaScript check box, and then click OK.
4. Click the Back button to return to the previous page, and then click the Reload button to run scripts.

Netscape browsers

1. Select Edit, Preferences,Advanced
2. Click to select Enable JavaScript option.

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How to Make Money on the Internet

Hi there! On this blog, I share my internet marketing experiences. I have been involved in the this field for over 4 years now and over time I have acquainted myself with nearly all areas of this field: From blogging to affiliate marketing.

You have most probably landed on this website with hopes of making money online. I have compiled a list of beginners’ articles and tutorials from this blog that you can go through. Below are some of the most helpful articles:

• Ways To Earn Extra Money Online
• Making Money On The Internet
• How To Make Easy Money Online
• How To Make More Money With Adsense

These are just a few of the beginners' articles on this blog. Drop by the archives section or check the categories for more posts. Subscribe to the blog by feed or email to stay updated with new posts on the blog. :

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How to Change Mobile OS

Now that most mobile phones use operating systems in a similar way to desktop computers, you are more likely to want to change your OS. Typically you can change your mobile OS to a newer version of that OS, but some phone users have had experience changing the operating system entirely, rather than just the version. Note, however, that changing to an unofficial OS will likely void your warranty.

Instructions

1. 1
   Upgrade the BB OS if you use a BlackBerry smart phone. BlackBerry's do not accept any other type of operating system, but Research in Motion (RIM) does upgrade the OS quite significantly with each release. OS 6 is the latest version (as of February 2011) and you can download it from the main BlackBerry website.
   
2. 2
   Experiment if you have an iPhone. iPhones are typically the most closed-source mobile phones, but if you jailbreak your iPhone then you have many more possibilities. You can hack an iPhone to run Linux or early versions of Windows. This will be a complex process and will not be easy for a beginner.
   
3. 3
   Upgrade your other OS using the relevant websites. Android releases new versions of their operating system as does Windows Phone (previously Windows Mobile). Windows Phone completely redesigns the user interface from earlier versions.
   

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