Many of you who have sat through my classes know that I’m not a big fan of professionals using free email addresses in business.
A domain name with matching email address is not expensive, and shows the public that you take your business seriously.
There are a million reasons for having a domain name and matching email addresses; we’ll cover those in another article- for now lets look at the reasons NOT to use a free email address for your business:
- An email address that does not include your domain does not promote your website. If my email address was kgranger@gmail.com you wouldn’t know my website address, but if it was kgranger@arrangingpixels.com— instantly you could find my website.
- Free addresses do not offer flexibility on outbound mail. Did you know that bellsouth.net and rr.com do not allow you to send email while on another network? Have you ever been on the road and your outbound mail will not send? Don’t trust your outbound messages to a “personal” email address.
- What if you move out of a rr.com or bellsouth.com area? How would people find you if you were all of a sudden on comcast.net or embarq.net? What if you want to change from cable to sattelite? What if you want to move from your standard bellsouth connection to VoIP? If you have an email address with your home internet provider you’re obligated to stay with them or you lose your email address!
- Yahoo and Gmail addresses arent all they are cracked up to be either. Ever wonder why Gmail still says Beta? Because they do not want responsibility for your email if they have a failure. Anyone can get a gmail or yahoo address in minutes- does that show a comittment to your clients? When I engage with a business online and they use a yahoo or gmail address I’m immediately on guard.
Purchasing a domain name can cost you as little as $10-$15 per year… and a quality hosting program can be as inexpensive as $10 per month. If you do not take your business serious enough to make this small investment- be prepared for your clients not to take you too seriously either.