By Michael Roberts Jr 
There are different levels of business etiquette and email business communications. When emailing people there are different ideas and ways to convey messages in your email. Learning the tricks of perfecting a email is a great opportunity to sharpen your leadership skills and business communication etiquette.

FORMALITY
There is a certain level of formality that needs to be considered and remember when sending emails. When you are sending an email from a business address then keep the email about whatever your business was when you contacted the person. Keep all business emails formal!

SHORT
It’s been proven that after ten seconds people lose focus. A seven page email will not be read in its entirety. Be short, sweet and to the point. Cover the area that is pertinent of you to cover– leave the rest for later if at all possible. Craft from the top to the bottom, then check to see if your most important information is in the top 1/3 of the message.

BE QUICK
Don’t let the receiver have to guess who you are because you’re using a nick name and not the name that you go by in business. In the subject field be specific about why you are writing, while in the body of the email, as mentioned before get to the point. Be concise and polite always ending by thanking the individual for taking the time out of their day to read the email. Last– but not least, make sure the person knows that it is ok to contact you concerning the message.

When you sit down in the mornings (or whatever time you read your emails) to read your email make sure that you make time to respond to the email promptly. There is a chance if you put it off for later you will forget about making a response.

SENSITIVITY
Don’t handle any sensitive issues with an email. Making a phone call or speaking to the individual is important when handling these types of situations. Email is permanent– it is not the place for delicate matters that could trigger emotional responses.

ERRORS
Check, check and recheck the email for any and all errors! Once you press send the email represents you and your company. You lose the hands on, face to face relationship that you would have if a person was in your office. So once you send the email you don’t have the opportunity to go back and change it or correct yourself as you would in person. You must remember to do spell and grammar checks before sending all emails. Setup Outlook to do an automatic spell check for you… That one move could be a career saver.

This article was written by Michael Roberts Jr. the founder of Manage Up.net
His website is dedicated to developing better organizational leadership. The website has eBooks, articles, and online training for managers. Don’t miss the opportunity to sharpen your skills and take your career to new levels using insightful knowledge from an expert in management. Visit http://www.manageup.net/ today and receive a FREE eBook to get you started.

Emoticons and E-mail Shorthand Smileys are tiny pictures made from ordinary ASCII characters that are meant to be looked at with the head tilted to the left.

Smileys came about when e-mail correspondents felt the need to convey emotional content such as sarcasm, laughter and other feelings as part of their messages.

Without smileys, simple statements could easily be misinterpreted:
You’re an idiot!

Sometime during 1981, Scott Fahlman, who is now a Principle Research Scientist in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, devised a scheme for encoding and conveying one’s feelings as small text “glyphs” to overcome this frustration.

Scott was the first to use smileys in electronic mail and in posts to BBS message boards and Internet newsgroups, as well as in personal e-mail.

The Emoticons
– Humor
(-: – Masking theatrical comments
:-T – Keeping a straight face (tight-lipped)
– Said with a smile
:-> – Alternate happy face
– Loud guffaw
:*) – Clowning around
– Licking lips
%-} – Silly
:/) – Not funny
:-” – Pursing lips
:-r – Bleahhh (sticking tongue out)
:-f – Smirks
:-p – Smirks
:-1 – Smirks
:-, – Smirks
– Disgusted
:-J – Tongue-in-cheek comments
:-! – Foot in mouth
:-$ – Put your money where your mouth is
– Talks too much
:-I – Chewing on bone
%&$%& – You know what that means…
– Shouting
:-y – Shouting
– Shouting
– Unhappy
:-c – Real unhappy
(:-& – Anger
(:^( – Broken nose
(:<) – Blabber mouth
?-( – Black eye
%-) – Broken glasses
:-b – Tongue stuck out
:-p – Left-handed tongue stuck out
> –-> –-(@ – A rose
||*( – Handshake offered
||*) – Handshake accepted
– Kiss kiss
o= – A burning candle to start a flame
~= – Flaming message
-= – A doused candle to end a flame
|-<> – Kissy face
[] – Hug
(-_-) – Secret smile
‘-) – Wink
– Say no more; nudge, nudge
:-* – Oops! (Covering mouth with hand)
:-# – Censored
:-8 – Talking out both sides of your mouth
>:> – Leer
:-X – Not saying a word
(:-… – Heart-breaking message…
– “Oh, noooooo!” (a la Mr. Bill)
#:-o – Same as previous
… –-… – S.O.S.
:-< – Forlorn
|-( – Late night messages
(:-$ – Ill
(:-( – Sad
%- – Hung over
:~/ – All mixed up
#-) – Another all-night partier
:-’| – With a cold
%+{ – Loser in a fight
( ) – You’re kidding!
<:-O – Eeek!
:-C – Unbelieving (jaw dropped)
*) – About to vomit

E-mail Shorthand2U2 – To You, Too AAMOF – As A Matter Of Fact
AFAIK – As Far As I Know
AFAIC – As Far As I’m Concerned
AFAICT – As Far As I Can Tell
AFK – Away From Keyboard
ASAP – As Soon As Possible
BAK – Back At Keyboard
BBL – Be Back Later
BITMT – But In The Meantime
BOT – Back On Topic
BRB – Be Right Back
BTW – By the way
C4N – Ciao For Now
CRS – Can’t Remember “Stuff”
CU – See You
CUL(8R) – See You Later
CWOT – Complete Waste Of Time
CYA – See Ya
DIY – Do It Yourself
EOD – End Of Discussion
EZ – Easy
F2F – Face To Face
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
FBOW – For Better Or Worse
FOAF – Friend Of A Friend
FOCL – Falling Off Chair Laughing
FWIW – For What It’s Worth
FYA – For Your Amusement
FYI – For Your Information
/ga – Go Ahead
GAL – Get A Life
GBTW – Get Back To Work
GFC – Going For Coffee
GFETE – Grinning From Ear To Ear
GMTA – Great minds think alike
GR&D – Grinning, Running & Ducking
GTG – Got To Go
GTGTTBR – Got To Go To The Bathroom
GTRM – Going To Read Mail
HAND – Have A Nice Day
HHOK – Ha Ha Only Kidding
HTH – Hope This Helps
IAC – In Any Case
IAE – In Any Event
IC – I See
IDGI – I Don’t Get It
IMCO – In My Considered Opinion
IMHO – In my humble opinion
IMNSHO – in My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO – In My Opinion
IMPE – In My Personal Experience
IMVHO – In My Very Humble Opinion
IOW – In Other Words
IRL – In Real Life
ISP – Internet Service Provider
IYKWIM – If You Know What I Mean
JIC – Just In Case
J/K – Just kidding
KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid
L8TR – Later
LD – Later dude
LOL – Laughing Out Loud
LTNS – Long Time No See
MorF – Male or Female, or person who asks that question
MTCW – My Two Cents Worth
NRN – No Reply Necessary
ONNA – Oh No, Not Again!
OTOH – On The Other Hand
OTTOMH – Off the top of my head
OIC – Oh I See
OTF – On The Floor
OLL – Online Love
PLS – Please
PU – That Stinks!
REHI – Hello Again (re-Hi!)
ROFL – Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROTF – Rolling On The Floor
ROTFL – Rolling On The Floor Laughing
RSN – Real Soon Now
RTDox – Read The Documentation/Directions
RTFM – Read The Frickin’ Manual
RUOK – Are You OK?
SNAFU – Situation Normal; All Fouled Up
SO – Significant Other
SOL – Smiling Out Loud (or Sh*t Out of Luck)
TANSTAAFL – There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TAFN – That’s All For Now
TEOTWAWKI – The End Of The World As We Know It
THX – Thanks
TIA – Thanks In Advance
TLK2UL8R – Talk to you later
TMK – To My Knowledge
TOS – Terms Of Service
TPTB – The Powers That Be
TSWC – Tell Someone Who Cares
TTBOMK – To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTFN – Ta-Ta For Now
TTYL(8R) – Talk To You Later
TWIMC – To Whom It May Concern
Txs – Thanks
URL – Web Page Address
w/b – Welcome Back
w/o – Without
WRT – With Regard To
WTG – Way To Go
WU? – What’s Up?
WWW – World Wide Web
WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get
Y2K – Year 2000
YGIAGAM – Your Guess Is As Good As Mine
YGWYPF – You Get What You Pay For
YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary
ZZZ – Sleeping

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