Whether you’re selling products, promoting services, or simply want an online presence for your company, having a real world address at your own domain is important. Sure, email services like Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail may be used at no cost and are easy for beginners to set up. But free email services have their disadvantages:
Advertisements — in your inbox and, worse yet, in your outgoing emails.
Unreliable — there is no assurance that your email address will be supported over time.
Unprofessional — free addresses look cheap on brochures, websites, and business cards.
Acquiring your own domain email address is more dependable over time and it gives you more control over your email. And it definitely makes you look more trustworthy, dependable, and professional. If you want to get one, all you’ve got to do is follow these quick steps:
Think of a good domain name
A domain name is the address of your online space. Yahoo.com is a good example of web site. Brainstorm carefully for a name that’s unique, easy to recall, and reflective of your brand, business, or personality. Avoid childish or unprofessional names; you should find a name that will last you quite a long time. Also observe some second-choice names if the preferred name has already been registered by another person.
Get your domain and hosting low cost
Register the domain name and subscribe to web hosting. While your domain name is your online address, web hosting provides your online space. Think of it as the distinction between your home address and your actual house. You may opt to acquire your domain name and web hosting plans separately, but choosing just one company is suggested for beginners — that way, you wouldn’t have to configure them to work together.
If your preferred domain name was already registered by someone else, you have the choice to try another domain name, or to try a similar name with a different extension. Examples of extensions are.com,.net, and.org. If yourbusiness.com is taken, try registering yourbusiness.net.
As for web hosting, it’s vital to find a quality web host. Below are some issues to consider when subscribing to email hosting:
Email accounts. If you own a business, you’re only some of the one who’s going to use this domain for your email address. Ensure that your web host provides sufficient email accounts to accommodate your business partners and employees so that they can enjoy the benefits as well.
Email access. Make sure that you can log into your email through your medium of choice, whether it’s through a web browser, a desktop application, or your mobile phone.
Spam protection. A good spam protection system could save you considerable time and frustration.
Email features. You may decide to send a quarterly newsletter or occasional promotion announcements to your customers. Or you may want to have separate email addresses for your different business roles (such as customer feedback, support, and billing) — all forwarded to one address for easier retrieval. Get email hosting that makes everything you need possible.
The web hosting itself. Even if you simply want a real world address now, you may want to use the same domain to set up a website in the future — so pick a hosting providers that will fulfill all of your potential needs.
Create and test your email address
Use your web host’s control panel to set up your new email address. Once it’s been created, figure out how you desire to access your mail. If you want to read email straight from your computer, use a desktop application like Outlook or Thunderbird. If you’d like to check your email on a web browser, ensure that your web host offers webmail access.
