Is that really your email address?

Does your business email address end in @gmail.com, @outlook.com or – oh please no… – @hotmail.co.uk?  If so, are you happy that this reflects your company?

Most small businesses start off as an idea – a trial – so it makes a lot of sense to keep your overheads as small as possible, hence why most people sign up for a free email account.  While I’m certain the majority of these email decisions are made as a temporary solution, often life and a rapidly increasing business gets in the way of making changes. After all, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it – right?  Wrong.

I have lost count of how many “I’m a web designer/SEO expert/Accountant” spam emails I’ve received recently from @gmail accounts.  I know they’re spam as the text is almost word for word the same and so I implement the delete button without hesitation.

But what happens if one of those instant deletions is a carefully crafted email from you, using your gmail account?  You’ve spent days on the wording, making sure the graphics aren’t too overpowering and yet it gets deleted without even being opened?  Why?

It’s because I didn’t know it was from your company; I just saw ***@gmail.com and assumed it was the same as the rest of the spam.

Part of the reason you have a freebie email address is also one of the biggest problems: anyone can make a free email account. This means someone emailing you from Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo could literally be anyone. An email from your domain, meanwhile, can only come from you.

Let’s imagine you have someone who helps you out with your social media. It’s very easy for them to register a free email to communicate on your behalf but what happens if it all goes pear-shaped and you need access to your social media accounts? You can’t use the email recovery option as they’ve got control of the free account and it’s a real pain to prove who the ‘real owner’ of the company is.

If you had given them access to an email account from your domain, you would have retained full control of that account and be able to access the password reset links. If an employee leaves, you can redirect their emails so you don’t miss anything, and in the worst case scenario, you can change their password to prevent them accessing their account.

What to do next?

Set up email addresses using your company’s domain name. If you’re a sole trader, I suggest you set up a minimum of 2 email addresses: info@ for general enquiries and as a ‘catch all’, and one for personal replies and important correspondence, such as yourname@, or yourinitials@. To help reduce spam, consider adding .surname or using your initials instead.

But I don’t have a domain as I don’t want a website!
Just because you own a domain, it doesn’t mean you have to have a website. Through our dedicated server, we can offer email hosting from as little as £5 per month, for up to 5 email addresses.  We can also arrange to register a domain in your name, so you can avoid the tech-speak.

Websites can be really useful though; think of them as an extra member of staff, there to answer frequently asked questions, tell customers about your latest offers or show people where you are located. But I digress.

Accessing your emails couldn’t be easier:

• Webmail – as long as you have an internet connection, you can access your email via a web browser.
• Email client – pretty much all phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers have an email programme and through IMAP, you can download your emails across multiple devices.

So is that it?
There may be other reasons why you still use a free email address:

• you don’t have time to change it,
• think it’s going to be a complete nightmare and,
• don’t want to mess it up.

All valid points but not insurmountable because that’s where Awenek comes in. We can register your domain, set up your email addresses and talk you through the setup process.

No nightmares and no messes.  So why not arrange for us to call you to get the ball rolling?  “New Year, New Start” and all that.

I NEED MY EMAIL ADDRESS SORTING

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