It’s weird that, in today’s world of Twitter and Facebook, people still don’t seem to have a good grasp of emails. It’s bad enough that people mess things up with personal emails but it’s worse when people do it in their business emails where things could go more horrible wrong with more grotesque consequences. Here are some mistakes to avoid when writing business emails.

Using an unprofessional email address. Your company should provide you

Childish fonts and emoticons. Oh sure. Most email clients and services offer rich-text editing. But do you have to write it in Comic Sans, in pink, and peppered with smileys? Not only does this make it unreadable for people, it makes you look like an immature thirteen year-old Justin Bieber fan.

Sending the email to the wrong person. Oh how many times has this happened? Before hitting send, make sure that you’re sending it to the right person. Gmail has an extra feature that would give you five extra seconds after hitting send to cancel the process just in case you go cross-eyed and butterfingers with the recipient line again.

Unclear subject lines. Keep in mind that subject lines are also being used to filter spam. So if you have very generic subject lines like “Hello!” (or forbid “Grow extra 2 inches!”), it’s likely to get flagged as spam. Even if you get through the spam filter, people now sort email based on the subject lines. So make sure the subject line is clear and gives a good picture of the content, e.g. “May 2011 Sales Figures Summary”.

Not being clear and concise. No one likes to read rambling emails. In today’s business environment, no one has got the time to read lengthy emails. Go straight to the point. Use lists and bullet points to itemize. Make it scan-able by using bold letters to emphasize key points.

Make sure to improve your email skills. Here are more tips on effective business communication via email.

Reply at the soonest possible time. Responding to emails is just as important as answering your mobile phone and face-to-face conversations. Email response should be sent not later than 2-3 hours after the time stamp of the previous email.

If you are unable to reply at the recommended time in much detail, just acknowledge the sender that you have received his email and you’ll get back to him with the appropriate response. Or better yet, use an autoresponder when going on extended breaks or vacation.

CC vs BCC. Use CC when it is acceptable for email recipients to display their email addresses like office memos and important company announcements. Use BCC when dealing with a larger number of recipients like marketing materials and newsletters. Also, use BCC if you want your recipients to remain anonymous to one another.

Email discussions within a group can also serve as meeting minutes. If private discussions related to the topic were done outside of the email thread, send the summary of the private discussion to keep the rest of the group “in the loop.”

Sometimes, the workplace is such a pit of stupidly drafted emails that sorting through your inbox is a chore in itself. Don’t want to be part of it? Here are some tips on effective business communication via email.

Always indicate the purpose of the email either on the subject line or the header of the email body. Some people filter their emails according to the priority and urgency of the email they receive.

Add tag words such as IMPT or URGENT if the email to be sent needs a reply as soon as possible. Add FOLLOWUP to the subject to let your recipient know that you haven’t received any response to your previous email.

Include a return receipt when necessary. Return receipts serve as an acknowledgement that the email receipient/s have read your email.

These could also save time since some return receipts are just a click away. Do follow the instructions for the return receipt if your co-worker has issued one to you as well.

Do not delete threaded replies. Threaded replies show the flow of communication regarding the subject being discussed. This will prevent any miscommunication from happenning since the conversation is recorded and both parties can easily refer to the previous statements.

This can serve as a proper manuscript should the email be forwarded to another person or someone is added to the email correspondence.

Conference calls are just like any other business meeting. Even if the participants do not see one another face-to-face, conference calls are still governed by rules of meetings.

Make sure that you have an agenda before you start the call. The last thing you need is to meander during the meeting only to find out that you left important matters out just as you hung up.

Best thing to do is to create an agenda and make sure that each of the participants has a copy at least a day before the meeting.

Appoint a chairperson. He or she will keep things moving and will check that everyone follows the agenda. The chairperson will also moderate during debates and any votation needed.

Kids often complain that their parents do not listen to them. This might actually be true, or we may be hearing them but not really listening to them.

Stop what you are doing and focus solely on your child. Listen without interrupting and refrain from forming judgments before you’ve even listened to the whole story.

Try to listen between the lines as well. There are some things that your child is not saying. Look for clues in the tone of voice, the facial expresions, and body language.

Keep your speeches short and straight to the point. Long lectures don’t sit well with kids and their attention can only hold so much at one point. Be aware of your body language as well so you don’t contradict what you’re saying with what you are showing. The last thing you need is to discredit yourself.

Accept your child’s emotions, even the ones you don’t like. Let them express what they feel. Teach him or her appropriate techniques of how to handle the intensity of their emotions so they dont end up hurting themselves or other people.

Here are some tips and suggestions on how to make a warm and friendly answering machine recording for the family phone.

Discuss among family members who will deliver the message on the tape. It is advisable to have only one person do the recording, but if you wish to have more than one speakers, then go ahead.

Kids may be allowed to be included in the recording as long as they can speak clearly.

As this is a personal phone, you can be as cretaive as you want as long as it’s clean and wholesome. Some business contacts will also be listening to the message so the message should be clear and concise. Inside jokes and mature content are out of the question.

Write a script to follow and consider the time alloted for the recording. Never give out too much personal information and don’t forget to ask the caller to leave their message, name, and number for return calls.

Practice, record, and edit as needed.

Handling negative criticism at work takes a lot of getting used to. It can even be very tough for some.

Compartmentalize. This is the most difficult part when getting criticisms. Try to think that the criticisms are not about you as a person but what you are doing something and how you are doing it. If you can just step back from the situation to see that it’s not really about you, then everything else will be easier.

Focus on the suggestions on how you can improve your way of doing things. Nobody is perfect and see these criticisms as a way to correct mistakes and to find ways to accomplish tasks better.

To get used to getting criticisms, you can try to ask for feedback everytime you handover a deliverable. Take note of positive and negative feedbacks and try to learn something from both.

Still thinking if you need to updated and/or upgrade your office with new (if not the latest) technology in communication? Here are some factors to help you convince why you do have to:

Using the latest in communication technology in the office allows you staff to be accessible and in contact in the workplace. Cell phones and laptops are great communication tools, especially if your staff need to work off site.

Time zones also won’t be an issue. E-mail can be sent off to people in other cities, other states, and even other countries and they are sure to get them instantly.

Meetings can be held without requiring people to travel long distances. This can be done with conference calls which can be done with video on the web. This allows more flexibility to people who can’t afford to waste time traveling for only an hour of meeting.

This also lessens the time in preparing communication. Memos can be written as an e-mail and sent off in just one click. No need for printing and physically giving memos to employees. No excuse of not getting a memo anymore.

You were a new hire once too. Although the HR department of companies usually have a standard on-boarding for new hires, you can add your own welcome, especially to the newest member of your own team. It always pays to be nice.

The first thing you can do is to smile and greet the person warmly. Call them by their first name.You don’t have to be overly bright and bubbly, but as a newbie, it’d be nice to see a friendly face.

Ask the new hire to have lunch with you at your table. You can use the opportunity to get to know the person a little better, and vice versa.

Be helpful. You may be very busy but if you see the new colleague a bit lost, extend a helping hand.Make it known that your coworker can feel free to ask questions to you if they need information on anything.

Not only will this help building a good rapport with this particular co worker, but when the time comes that another new hire comes in, they might be the one who’ll be nice and take them under their wing as well.

It’s very easy to be detailed when creating a profile online, especially if one is excited about joining a social network for the first time. However, there is such a thing as giving away too much information about one’s self.

Simply withhold some information. Do not include your home address. Leave certain fields such as personal phone numbers and mobile numbers blank. You can even put only the month of your birthday and not the day and year.

Do not give away your passwords to anyone. Even if you don’t, somebody can steal it so it should even be difficult enough to crack anyway. But make sure that it is easy for you to remember though.
Remember to log in to official sites only.

Be careful when posting pictures of yourself and loves ones. These could be used to identify you, your friends, and family members. Make sure that you set your albums to private mode.

Make sure to explore the features of the social network sites you belong and take advantage of privacy controls. There is no reason why you can’t enjoy your time online, just be more safe.