First impressions often last, and this applies even in the corporate world. When you send a business letter to a potential partner or client, putting the best foot forward helps big time in getting your favored response. However, before being concerned about getting positive feedback, you must first ensure that your letter will be read.

In most cases, the letter recipient gets other business letters aside from the one you sent. There might be a pile of business letters waiting to be read, if they are to be read at all. The trick is to make your letter eye-catching, and this does not mean going crazy with psychedelic colors on your business letter. This simply means making your letter look as professional as possible, so that it would command the recipient’s attention. A sure way to do that is to use a letterhead in your business letter.

Most letterheads contain the company name, the company logo, and perhaps the office address. These are just small details, but they spell the difference between a regular letter and an official looking business letter. Letterheads make it easier for the recipient to identify where the letter came from, and he or she may also get an idea on what the letter is about. If, for example, the other letters from the recipient’s pile are written on plain paper, then surely your letter with a letterhead would compel the recipient to pick up your letter and read it.

Making a letterhead is easier than it sounds; almost anyone can design a letterhead. However, there is more to designing a letterhead than haphazardly putting the company name, logo, and address on a sheet of paper. After all, a poorly designed letterhead sends the wrong signals. You might as well have used a letter without a letterhead instead of sending out a letter with a confusing letterhead. Making a letterhead entails thorough planning, so that you would get the best results when sending out letters.

When you are planning to design a letterhead, think first of the image of the company that you want to project to the people you write to. By determining the image you want them to see, you are given an idea on how to design the letterhead. If you want to command authority, then perhaps a conservative looking letterhead would be best for your company. On the other hand, if you want to highlight the company’s youth or creativity, then by all means use an unconventional letterhead. Just do not go over the top and use styles that are too crazy. After all, you are still going to write a business letter, and you want people to take you seriously; using too much graphics or eye-popping colors won’t help you in that goal.

You can create a letterhead with simple word processing software, but if you like fancier stuff, you can use a desktop publishing software. Play around with different layouts until you find the design that you want.

If you are a newbie to all these designing tasks, find comfort in the fact that there are letterhead templates available in most programs. This would help you get an idea of what most letterheads look like; you can just modify the template to suit your preferences.