Use Your Dot Com for Business E-mail

Your e-mail address is many times the first impression anyone will have about you as that is the first thing they see in their inbox. When communicating on business related or professional activities, you do want to make the best impression possible — including the fact that you are tech savvy!

When it comes to business communications or those related to your professional life, you need to use your domain name as your e-mail address. That’s called branding and what true professionals understand.

Examples: john@widgets.com or jane@janesbusinessname.com

Not johnswidgets@aol.com (shows your are most likely very technochallenged and have yet to make the jump to use technology seriously) or jane@gmail.com. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and MSN addresses, while just fine for personal e-mails, all give a less than stellar impression of how seriously you take your business and your use of technology.

Online free e-mail services are considered “throw away accounts” because they are used by spammers and then shut down. In a day when using your own dot com (even if the dot com is simply your name) is inexpensive, I’ve yet to hear a valid argument for using throw away accounts in lieu of one’s own domain name.

As with anything that has to do with the success of your business, this is only one small investment that will pay you back by leaps in bounds in regard to that one chance first impression. (If you don’t have your own domain name yet, on my WordPress Consulting site I have some Domain Tips to consider before you register your domain and put it to use.

In a day where to have a viable and successful business means potential customers expect you have a quality Web site and use technology properly so that you can build their trust and provide efficient customer service, your e-mail address is a serious part of your business’ branding efforts.

A decent server or service provider and a few changes to your e-mail software settings is all it takes and you’re there!

What does your e-mail address say about you?