Email writing tips

By Dave Riches
Email writing has become a large part of modern communication, particularly in business. The
world has become much smaller now that we have the ability to send and receive email messages
over great distances at an incredible speed. Due to the ease of use it has the potential to be abused
and you should try to keep the following points in mind when writing email.

How much should I write in an email?

Do spelling and grammar matter in email?
What do cc: and bcc: mean?
What are plain text and HTML format email?
What is a good email program?
What is a signature file?

How much should I write in an email?

Email is meant for quick, simple communication. As a general guide that means roughly 4 or 5
paragraphs at most. Due to the limitations of formatting and layout, anything much longer than that
is probably best sent as a separate attachment such as a Word file. Most people have a limited
attention span with email - if they are receiving a lot of mail you want to get the main message
explained in the shortest possible space.

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Do spelling and grammar matter in email?

We think it does. Poor spelling and grammar show a lack of attention to detail and sends the
wrong message about yourself and how you do business. Most email programs today have built-in
spell checkers so there is no excuse! You wouldn't send a letter that was poorly punctuated and uses
no capital letters - why not make sure your email messages look professional too?

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What do cc: and bcc: mean?

There is a certain etiquette with email, especially in the use of the carbon copy (cc:) and blind
carbon copy (bcc:) fields. It is courteous to add addresses to the 'cc:' field if those people need to
know about the subject but are not required to act on the contents.

The 'bcc:' field is useful where discretion is required. People in this field are concealed from other
recipients in the 'To', 'cc:' and 'bcc:' fields. They can themselves see others in the 'To' and 'cc:' fields
but not the 'bcc:' fields.
 In this example, an email is sent directly to John by
Bob. He copies Tom by including Tom's address in the
cc: field. Harry and Sue are blind copied - they can see
who the original recipients were but Tom and John
won't see their names.

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What are plain text and HTML format email?

Plain text email is exactly that - plain. There is no formatting using different fonts or colours.
Email messages can only contain characters typed on a keyboard, known as the ASCII character
set. Creative use of characters like '*' and '+" can be used to highlight passages or create headings.

Most plain text email is written using a character set like Courier which is a fixed width font
(characters are all the same width). This is useful for perfectly aligning characters between rows, as
shown below. Note the headings and separators in use here as well:

HTML email allows you to add formatting to your text as well as images or links using HTML
code. Many online newsletters are written in this format as they provide a more visual medium and
are pleasing to look at at. The example below is the same message as shown before, including some
basic formatting such as different fonts, colours and underlining as well as a hypertext link.
So which email format should you use? Increasingly, email is being read on devices such as
mobile phones or PDAs. Plain text email can be easily interpreted on these whereas HTML email
often won't display and is usually too large to download anyway.

If you want your email to be readable at all times, plain text is the way to go. It doesn't always look
the best but it has other advantages as already mentioned. If you are only sending email to friends
and family then HTML format email with the fancy background that you send with Outlook isn't
going to cause too much trouble!

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What is a good email program?

Most people use the default mail program available on their system. For many that means Outlook
Express which is a component of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Outlook Express (otherwise known
as OE) is a good email program that provides all of the necessary features for the average user.

A step up from OE is Microsoft Outlook which includes email as well as a calendar and other
organiser functions. Outlook is a more powerful email program and being bundled with Office it is
very popular in the business community.

There are many other email programs and all have their devoted users. Probably the best known
alternative is Eudora. Or you may opt to use an entirely web-based option like Yahoo Mail or
Hotmail.

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What is a signature file?

Signature files can be attached to every outgoing message you send, usually containing contact
details and other relevant information. If you are in business you should almost certainly use an
email signature in your communications. It is a great way to draw attention to products or services
you offer, and you are making yourself easier to contact as well. Other uses for an email signature
include:

• confidentiality statements
• drawing attention to web site addresses
• promoting a newsletter
• adding other contact details such as ICQ or AIM
Choosing keywords
by Dave Riches
Introduction to keywords
Why choose keywords at all?
Key phrases versus keywords
How to research keywords
Keyword brainstorming
Keyword density

Introduction to keywords
A part of successful search engine optimisation of web pages is working out what keywords your
prospective visitors might type in to a search engine to find your site. Some are more competitive
than others - try searching for 'web design' in Google, there are millions of results! For smaller,
establishing web sites it is better to target less popular keywords and phrases to begin with and aim
for success with those.

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Why choose keywords at all?

A good web page contains information that people are looking for. When you write the page you
need to take a step back and think about what search terms or keywords people would enter to find
it. Once you have determined those keywords, you need to narrow them down to 3 to 5 main words.
Then you can start to write the page, keeping these words in mind while you develop the content.

While writing the web page, you can use search engine optimisation techniques to make sure you
use your keywords in the right places for search engine success.

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Key phrases versus keywords

Different keywords joined together form key phrases. These phrases would be what the search
engine user is likely to type in to find your site. As a general rule, each page on your site should be
optimised for one key phrase. This page, for example, targets 'choosing keywords' as the main two
word search phrase. Two to four word phrases are typical - longer phrases are less commonly used
in searches. If you are selling products and services then one of your keywords should be your
location (i.e. state, province or city).
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How to research keywords

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts - good research will pay off with good results. By entering a
search phrase in Google you can see what sort of competition you are up against. The blue bar at the
top of the results page might say something like 'Results 1 - 10 of about 4,160,000'. That tells you
that the search phrase is fairly competitive.

Also, you will learn a lot about how the search engines work by entering different phrases and
seeing where they rank. Try and find combinations of keywords that return pages with poor
information. If you can write a solid page of content using those keywords you should be able to
rank highly in searches provided you follow the basics of search engine optimisation.

The other major source of research for keywords are your server log
files. When a visitor finds your site using a search page, the words
they used to find you are entered in your server log files. By looking
at this information you can find:

• keywords to target
• phrases to target
• ideas for new pages

As an example, we noticed that people found our site by typing in

'writing email newsletters'. The information we had on the subject
was very limited though. We wrote a new page about writing email
newsletters, uploaded it to our site and now it pulls in a good number
of visitors on its own every day. Keep finding those keywords and
keep building new web content around them.

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Keyword brainstorming
There are some excellent ways to develop and brainstorm new keywords, which can then be used to
write new web pages for your site. The Search term suggestion tool from Overture can be used to
see what other words have been used in actual searches on a topic. This is also a great way to find
some of the less competitive keywords.

An easy way to find new keyword combinations is to think like your customers. If you sell golf
equipment, you would want pages based around putters, balls, drivers, brand names and specific
products. Over time you slowly create more and more pages using phrases like 'king cobra driver'
for example to cater for specific searches.

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Keyword density
If you start to get really technical about your keywords, you will want to know the density or word
count of keywords on your page. A part of search engine optimisation is researching the ideal
density of keywords on the pages - around 5 to 10 per cent is considered about the 'right' amount.
A page needs to feature the keywords prominently but not read like they were added purely to boost
the search rankings. A job for someone experienced in writing for the web!

The free keyword counter will analyse one of your web pages and also compare it with another site
if you supply the URL. It then gives you an assessment of the top words for the page and the
density percentage.

Email writing
Submitted by admin on 8 October, 2008 - 14:22

This lesson aims to teach or revise the rules of writing emails in English by studying the differences
between formal letters, and informal and semi-formal emails.

Level - Intermediate and above

The main focus will be on writing semi-formal emails, and the students will send an email to a
tourist information centre of their choice using the rules they will have studied in the first half of the
lesson. I have done this lesson several times myself and although not all of the students received
replies from the information centres they emailed, most of them did, which in itself gave them
much satisfaction.

The lesson is suitable for intermediate students and above, although if simplified could be adapted
for use with lower levels.

Worksheets

• Formal letter (to be cut up for stage 4)

• Semi-formal email (to be cut up for stage 4)
• Semi-formal email (to be used in stage 6 & 8)
• Informal email (to be cut up for stage 4)
• Bad email (to be used in stage 6)

Procedure

1. Ask students what factors are important for them when they are choosing a holiday (e.g.
weather, accommodation, activities, costs, culture, food, history etc.). Ask students
where they usually get information about a holiday destination (e.g. guidebooks,
Internet, recommendations from friends). Ask if they have ever emailed a tourist
information centre before a holiday. The answer will probably be no.
2. Tell them that in this lesson they will be emailing a tourist information centre in a city
of their choice to get information about that place. Put the students into pairs and tell
them to try to decide on a place in the world that they would both like to visit. Give
 them a few minutes to discuss this and then go round the classroom asking where each
pair would like to go.
3. Tell the class that before they write their emails, you are going to go through some of
the rules of email writing.
o Ask them what style of writing they would use, if writing a letter to e.g. a
prospective employer. The answer is formal.
o Then ask what style of writing they would use to email a close friend. The
answer is informal.
o Finally ask what style of writing they would use if emailing a formal recipient.
The answer is semi-formal. Ask them what style of writing should be used to
write to a tourist information centre (semi-formal).
4. Give out the cut up strips (worksheets 1, 2a and 3) and ask them to group them into a
formal letter, a semi-formal email and an informal email, and then to put the strips into
the right order. Go round checking.
5. Tell the students that you are going to focus on the semi-formal email because emailing
has become the main means of communication and so it is important to know the
conventions of this style of writing.
6. Give the pairs a copy of the semi-formal email as an example of a good email
(worksheet 2b) and a copy of the ‘bad email’ (worksheet 4). Ask them to draw two
columns on a piece of paper and write the headings Dos and Don’ts at the top. The
students then compare the two emails and try to discover the rules of writing a good
email. They should write the rules in the correct column. Give them about 10 minutes to
do this.
7. Go round the classroom asking for the rules they discovered, and write them up on the
board under Dos and Don’ts. (see teacher’s notes)
8. Tell students that they are going to write an email (on paper) to the information centre
of the city of their choice asking for any information they require. Tell them to use the
model email (worksheet 2b) as an example and to follow the list of rules they have.
Students work in pairs. Go round helping them, reminding them of the rules and helping
with any language problems.
9. When they have finished writing, ask the students to swap emails with another pair and
ask them to proof-read each other’s emails. Go round giving each pair feedback helping
them with any mistakes they may have made.
10. If possible, go to the computer room and ask students to try to find the email address of
the tourist information centre of their chosen place. When they have the address, ask
them to use their own email accounts to write their email to the information centre. This
means they will receive an answer to their own email addresses.

Extra option
If you have a lot of time, you can ask the students to email another pair with their questions (as well
as the tourist information centre). That pair can then use the Internet to research the answers to the
questions and reply to the email with the answers. This will give the students extra practice of
emailing, and also give them valuable practice of using the Internet for research purposes in
English.