By Tim North
E-mail is frequently written quickly
and often poorly. The tips that follow should help
you to write e-mail that will be well received every
time.
1. Pay attention to punctuation,
spelling, grammar and capitals.
how ofen do yoo receeve e-mail ritten like this!!!!!
Many e-mail messages contain poor spelling and grammar,
incorrect use of capital letters and/or poor punctuation.
Such messages look amateurish and inevitably produce
a poor impression of the sender.
2. Read the previous tip again.
Seriously, I can't overstate just how important it
is to write well. The standard of contemporary writing
is quite poor -- both on the Internet and in general
use. It's easy to find errors in most written sources.
Stand out from the crowd. Write well.
3. Your subject line should be
descriptive.
Many people get dozens (or even hundreds) of e-mail
messages per day, and with so much of it being spam
(i.e. unsolicited sales messages), your message may
be deleted unread if the subject line makes it look
unimportant or spamish. Another reason to make your
subject clear is to help the recipient find it later.
Many people archive months -- or even years -- worth
of e-mail. A clear subject line will make your message
easier to find.
4. Use short paragraphs and leave
lines between them.
On-screen text is harder to read than printed text
due to its lower resolution. You can make things easier
for your readers by using short, clearly separated
paragraphs. You'll notice that all of the paragraphs
in this article are fairly short (typically, four
or five lines) and are separated by blank lines for
clarity. You might also care to indent the text on
the first line of each paragraph.
5. Tidy up all those ">" characters.
When replying to a message (or forwarding it), most
e-mail programs put a ">" character in front of each
line of the original text, like so: > This is the
text of the original > message that you are replying
to. Your reply goes here. This happens each time the
message is replied to (or forwarded). The result is
that some messages end up with many ">" characters
at the start of each line. This causes the line length
to increase, and the text can wrap awkwardly and become
difficult to read. For example: > > > > This is the
text of the original > > > > message that you are
replying to. > > > > If you receive a message like
this, don't just forward it on. Do everyone a favour
and spend a few minutes tidying it up.
6. Don't send unsolicited attachments.
That three megabyte movie file may be the funniest
thing you've seen for a long time, but don't automatically
send it to everyone to know. Ask them first if they
want to receive it. Many folks still receive their
e-mail via modem, and at three or four kilobytes per
second, your three megabyte file is going to lock
up their Internet connection for quarter of an hour
or so. Be polite and ask first.
7. Ensure that your PC is protected
against viruses.
Unless you take suitable precautions (like regularly
downloading the latest definition file for your antivirus
software), you run the risk of your machine becoming
virus infected. Far worse, you run the risk of unknowingly
sending virus-infected e-mail messages to everyone
in your address book. This is not a way to win friends.
8. Don't type in ALL CAPITALS
There are two reasons for this. First, text in all
capitals is harder to read. Second, typing in all
capitals is considered a faux pas by most Internet
users, and doing so may see your message ignored.
9. Thou shalt not spam!
It doesn't matter how good a deal you've got. It doesn't
matter that you're just going to do it once. It doesn't
matter that everyone else is doing it. That doesn't
make it right for _you_ to do it. Don't send spam.
10. Wait a while before sending
your message.
Proofreading your own work is a risky business. I'm
a writer and proofreader by profession, but mistakes
still manage to slip through in my own writing. The
best strategy I know of is to put my writing aside
for a while then look at it afresh. It's amazing what
will often just leap out at you. So if you have the
time, wait an hour -- or even just ten minutes --
before you press the "send" button. This will let
you read your message again and, hopefully, spot any
typos or other weaknesses before it goes out.
Armed with these ten tips, your e-mail
should be well received every time. Good luck!
About the author:
You'll find over 200 tips like this in Tim North's
much applauded e-book BETTER WRITING SKILLS. It's
just $19.95 and comes with a 90-day, money-back guarantee.
Download a sample chapter here: http://www.betterwritingskills.com