It happens all the time -- I ask a small business owner for their email address and I'm given something like TheirBusiness@yahoo,com. "But I thought you had a website," I'll say. "I do," they respond. Alrighty, then. Now, a Yahoo account is fine for keeping up with the family, forwarding stupid emails, and using for registration sites, but it's not for business. Neither is gmail, hotmail, rocketmail, msn or aol. And it's not good marketing.
If you have your own URL you should be using it for your email -- period. Most hosting companies offer email accounts and if they don't...well, that's just dumb. Here are 3 important reasons to have email address be you@yourdomain,com:
- More Professional Using your domain just looks better. You're not using a the same service as your 14 year old and you don't have to be joe1267@msn,com because there are already 1,266 joes ahead of you.
- Establishes Connection They have your name and they have your company -- it helps connect you to your business and vice versa. People do business with people, not companies. We want to put a face and a name to a business, it keeps us feeling human. You know when you call your cell phone carrier and you can't get a person to interact with? Yeah, that feeling of being an account, not a person -- we don't like that.
- Keeps You Organized Having a business email account helps keep things tidy. When I check my email it all comes into one place with seperate folders -- my personal accounts, full of interesting news from family and friends, and idiotic forwards that I will only delete.
Now, most hosting providers offer 2 ways to use your email account: Web-based, where you can access your account online from anywhere; or POP3, when you use an email client like Outlook or Thunderbird. It's no different than your Hotmail account, but makes you look oh, so much better!
If your web designer/developer didn't offer or suggest setting up email accounts, they did you a disservice. Rolling your Internet presence into a cohesive package is important for building your brand on the web. Helping you get the most out of your investment should be part of the job, but so many just build it and leave ya hangin'. Maybe it's time to shop around.
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
