I'm not going to lie.
I cannot believe that -9 years into the 21st century- I have to write this blog post. But it seems that many businesses just are not getting the message.
Domain email addresses are VITAL to your marketing success. Not all email addresses are the same.
There are two kinds. For the sake of this blog, we are going to call them Domain Email Addresses and Residential or Free Email Addresses.
Domain email addresses would be something like yourname@yourcompany.com.
A residential email address is -for the sake of this blog- everything else. Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo, Rogers, Sympatico, Interlog, AOL, of any free email service or any email service that comes from your Internet service provider.
Having a domain email address is not just important because it is the professional business thing to do. There are several KEY reasons why you need to start using a domain email address:
1) It is central to maintaining your brand when conducting any kind of online communications. When you use a residential email account, you are not pushing forward your brand (yourcompany.com), you are pushing your free email account's brand (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc).
2) At every turn, your clients must be reminded of who you are and what you do. This is no more easily done that having your company name as part of your email. And before you ask: NO. It doesn't count if you place your company name with a Hotmail account for example. (yourcompany@hotmail.com).
3) They tend to be more reliable in service than free email accounts.
4) They integrate easily with Blackberry and iPhone systems.
5) Many domain email accounts come with back up options to ensure that your correspondence is always preserved in case your computer crashes
6) Almost all domain email accounts allow you to either download your emails to your local computer via a mail reader like Outlook, or they allow you to access your mail via a web portal. This means that you can access to your emails from anywhere.
7) Almost all web hosting providers offer email services. So if you have a website, odds are you can have a domain email as well. Setting one up is easy, and your hosting provider will be more than happy to assist you.
Many people choose to use a residential or free email service because it comes as part of their home Internet package or because they think it is easier to use.
The problem is that using it makes you look cheap, and unsophisticated -something you don't want to be seen as in the business world.
But other than the pure optics of the situation, there are really important NOT to use a residential or free email services:
1) They don't come with any kind of guarantee of "up time". This means if your email server crashes, your free email provider has no obligation to get it back up and running within any window of time. You can be out for hours or even WEEKS. Heck, Hotmail can shut down tomorrow with no warning and there is nothing you can do about it.
2) They tend to have very paranoid SPAM and virus settings that might toss important messages or messages with important attachments into your JUNK folder where you may not see it. In some cases, attachments will be deleted all together because of virus fears.
3) Many professional companies flag emails received from residential or free email accounts, so YOUR emails might be sent to the JUNK folders of your clients or potential clients.
4) With the rise of online scams, many businesses are no longer taking seriously correspondence coming from free email accounts.
5) Some clients might take issue with important and potentially confidential business correspondence taking place over a 'freebie' email account, as they are subject to constant hacker attempts. In fact, you might be subject to legal action as a result.
Domain email accounts are so important to your online business image. Getting one is easy, affordable, and fast. Believe me, you are going to lose more business by NOT getting one, than you will spend using one.
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
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March 09, 2009
The Importance of Domain Emails To Marketing
I'm not going to lie.
I cannot believe that -9 years into the 21st century- I have to write this blog post. But it seems that many businesses just are not getting the message.
Domain email addresses are VITAL to your marketing success. Not all email addresses are the same.
There are two kinds. For the sake of this blog, we are going to call them Domain Email Addresses and Residential or Free Email Addresses.
Domain email addresses would be something like yourname@yourcompany.com.
A residential email address is -for the sake of this blog- everything else. Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo, Rogers, Sympatico, Interlog, AOL, of any free email service or any email service that comes from your Internet service provider.
Having a domain email address is not just important because it is the professional business thing to do. There are several KEY reasons why you need to start using a domain email address:
1) It is central to maintaining your brand when conducting any kind of online communications. When you use a residential email account, you are not pushing forward your brand (yourcompany.com), you are pushing your free email account's brand (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc).
2) At every turn, your clients must be reminded of who you are and what you do. This is no more easily done that having your company name as part of your email. And before you ask: NO. It doesn't count if you place your company name with a Hotmail account for example. (yourcompany@hotmail.com).
3) They tend to be more reliable in service than free email accounts.
4) They integrate easily with Blackberry and iPhone systems.
5) Many domain email accounts come with back up options to ensure that your correspondence is always preserved in case your computer crashes
6) Almost all domain email accounts allow you to either download your emails to your local computer via a mail reader like Outlook, or they allow you to access your mail via a web portal. This means that you can access to your emails from anywhere.
7) Almost all web hosting providers offer email services. So if you have a website, odds are you can have a domain email as well. Setting one up is easy, and your hosting provider will be more than happy to assist you.
Many people choose to use a residential or free email service because it comes as part of their home Internet package or because they think it is easier to use.
The problem is that using it makes you look cheap, and unsophisticated -something you don't want to be seen as in the business world.
But other than the pure optics of the situation, there are really important NOT to use a residential or free email services:
1) They don't come with any kind of guarantee of "up time". This means if your email server crashes, your free email provider has no obligation to get it back up and running within any window of time. You can be out for hours or even WEEKS. Heck, Hotmail can shut down tomorrow with no warning and there is nothing you can do about it.
2) They tend to have very paranoid SPAM and virus settings that might toss important messages or messages with important attachments into your JUNK folder where you may not see it. In some cases, attachments will be deleted all together because of virus fears.
3) Many professional companies flag emails received from residential or free email accounts, so YOUR emails might be sent to the JUNK folders of your clients or potential clients.
4) With the rise of online scams, many businesses are no longer taking seriously correspondence coming from free email accounts.
5) Some clients might take issue with important and potentially confidential business correspondence taking place over a 'freebie' email account, as they are subject to constant hacker attempts. In fact, you might be subject to legal action as a result.
Domain email accounts are so important to your online business image. Getting one is easy, affordable, and fast. Believe me, you are going to lose more business by NOT getting one, than you will spend using one.
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
I cannot believe that -9 years into the 21st century- I have to write this blog post. But it seems that many businesses just are not getting the message.
Domain email addresses are VITAL to your marketing success. Not all email addresses are the same.
There are two kinds. For the sake of this blog, we are going to call them Domain Email Addresses and Residential or Free Email Addresses.
Domain email addresses would be something like yourname@yourcompany.com.
A residential email address is -for the sake of this blog- everything else. Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo, Rogers, Sympatico, Interlog, AOL, of any free email service or any email service that comes from your Internet service provider.
Having a domain email address is not just important because it is the professional business thing to do. There are several KEY reasons why you need to start using a domain email address:
1) It is central to maintaining your brand when conducting any kind of online communications. When you use a residential email account, you are not pushing forward your brand (yourcompany.com), you are pushing your free email account's brand (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc).
2) At every turn, your clients must be reminded of who you are and what you do. This is no more easily done that having your company name as part of your email. And before you ask: NO. It doesn't count if you place your company name with a Hotmail account for example. (yourcompany@hotmail.com).
3) They tend to be more reliable in service than free email accounts.
4) They integrate easily with Blackberry and iPhone systems.
5) Many domain email accounts come with back up options to ensure that your correspondence is always preserved in case your computer crashes
6) Almost all domain email accounts allow you to either download your emails to your local computer via a mail reader like Outlook, or they allow you to access your mail via a web portal. This means that you can access to your emails from anywhere.
7) Almost all web hosting providers offer email services. So if you have a website, odds are you can have a domain email as well. Setting one up is easy, and your hosting provider will be more than happy to assist you.
Many people choose to use a residential or free email service because it comes as part of their home Internet package or because they think it is easier to use.
The problem is that using it makes you look cheap, and unsophisticated -something you don't want to be seen as in the business world.
But other than the pure optics of the situation, there are really important NOT to use a residential or free email services:
1) They don't come with any kind of guarantee of "up time". This means if your email server crashes, your free email provider has no obligation to get it back up and running within any window of time. You can be out for hours or even WEEKS. Heck, Hotmail can shut down tomorrow with no warning and there is nothing you can do about it.
2) They tend to have very paranoid SPAM and virus settings that might toss important messages or messages with important attachments into your JUNK folder where you may not see it. In some cases, attachments will be deleted all together because of virus fears.
3) Many professional companies flag emails received from residential or free email accounts, so YOUR emails might be sent to the JUNK folders of your clients or potential clients.
4) With the rise of online scams, many businesses are no longer taking seriously correspondence coming from free email accounts.
5) Some clients might take issue with important and potentially confidential business correspondence taking place over a 'freebie' email account, as they are subject to constant hacker attempts. In fact, you might be subject to legal action as a result.
Domain email accounts are so important to your online business image. Getting one is easy, affordable, and fast. Believe me, you are going to lose more business by NOT getting one, than you will spend using one.
Yusuf Gad
President, a5MEDIA inc
http://www.a5media.ca
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
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