There's a right way and a wrong way.

We, involved in home business, will always find a time when we need to write a business letter, but just how do you write one correctly?

Firstly, keep them clear, simple and direct and do not use words that you are unfamiliar with. Create a tone that is courteous and business like without being pompous. Avoid slang and use your spell checker on your computer or check in a dictionary with any spellings that you are unsure of.

If possible type the letter rather than write it freehand.
Leave wide balanced margins with a line of space between each paragraph. Do not try to cram everything onto one sheet of paper.

Unless you have headed paper, set out your address and telephone number at the top right hand of the page with the date underneath. On the left and slightly lower than your address, put the formal name of the person to whom you are writing, his position or job title and the name and address of his organisation (the same information should be written on the envelope). Underneath, add any reference number from previous correspondence.

If you know the persons surname but not the first name or initials, put the company name and address first, with For the personal attention of Mr. Smith, underneath.http://www.workinghoursmagazine.co.uk/images/Write a letter.jpg" align="right" border="0" hspace="0" />

Use the same formula if you want to write to the holder of a particular position but do not know his name, for example, the head of a company against which you have a complaint: For the personal attention of the managing director.

Make sure that your name, in the style by which you prefer to be addressed formally, appears somewhere in the letter. Type or write it in block capitols above your address or under your signature if it is not on a printed letterhead.

Start & Finish: When writing to someone whose name you know, it is usual to include the name in the greeting at the beginning of the letter: Dear Mr. Black or Dear Mrs. Black. All business letters that have a name in the greeting should close Yours sincerely , on a line by itself in the right hand half of the page, above the signature.

In letters where you do not know the persons name, use an appropriate impersonal greeting, for example: Dear Sir or Dear Madam. Letters with any impersonal greeting should end with the phrase Yours faithfully, before the signature.

If you are not sure of the correct title or professional qualification a person has, check with their letterhead or business card or even call their secretary to ask the correct way to address the person.

If you are writing to a company or organisation but not to a particular individual within it, begin your letter Dear Sirs unless it is obvious that it is an all female group, of course such as the WI, in which case Dear Ladies should be used.

If writing to the holder of a particular position, such as the managing director of a company, whose name and sex you do not know, begin Dear Sir or Madam.

If you are not sure whether a woman should be greeted as Mrs or Miss the style Ms is accepted by most people or use Dear Madam, which is correct for a women of any age.

Where the name does not give any clue to the sex of a person, for example: Pat Smith or M.A. Kingsley and you know nothing about the person, use the name without any prefix for the address and at the top of the letter. A greeting repeating the name in full, Dear Pat Smith is best to avoid giving offence.

When writing to a man, put Mr before his full name in the address or Esq after, but not both. Use Mr in the greeting.

As a courtesy, you should include your name in the way that you prefer to be addressed formally, but it is considered incorrect for a man to style himself Esq or for people to put Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms before their own names.

Show which is appropriate after your surname, in brackets.