Email Addresses Tell Who You Are

How you use the Web tells others quite a bit about you.  In particular, your domain name and email address says a lot about who you are as an individual or company.  Successful people know the pitfalls to avoid.

Rules for Email Addresses

  1. Always use the company’s domain name!
  2. Always use the company’s domain name!
  3. See rule #1 and #2

Using your company’s domain name not only looks professional, but reinforces your Website address.  Free email accounts (gmail.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com) should be avoided because:

  1. They are often perceived as unprofessional and the address tells customers your company can’t afford a Web account tied to the company domain name.
  2. Free email addresses are used by scammers because…well…they’re free!
  3. Because they are used by scammers, free email addresses often trigger fraud alerts.

So, if you care about how you and your business come across to potential and existing customers, make sure your email address uses your company’s domain name.

These days, having your own company domain name isn’t really a choice – it’s become a necessity.  The first step for your business is to have a short, easy-to-remember, domain name registered.  The next step is to have a centralized email system (like Microsoft Exchange, Zimbra, etc.) for your company and have all of your employees use the company email address.