There are several a businesses or organizations who still use an e-mail address with a nondescript domain address. For example, mary@bwyse.com matches www.bwyse.com. This shows comittment - not to mention that all “real” businesses have “real” email accounts . . . or so think potential clients … Nothing is as bad as joesmovers@aol.com or accountant248@comcast.net. Your credibility is extremely important to potential clients. Don’t make yourself or your business look “fly by night”.
There’s really no excuse for this. Domains cost about $10-12 per year, and you can get your e-mail hosted at your custom domain name free by Google. Google has made the steps easy to set this up. Perhaps you feel you’re not tech savvy enough to do it yourself, then hire a professional to set it up for you. The email hosting can be set up in under 2 hours.
Every business and organization should have a custom domain name for their e-mail at least, if not for their Web site. NuMedia Specialist is offering to donate time to set it up for you in 2011.
We’ll pick one organization each month (maybe more if the response is great), and we’ll get together and ensure you have a domain name set up and walk through the process of getting your e-mail hosted by Google Apps and your MX (mail exchange) records properly configured in your DNS.
Even if your business isn’t ready for a website – at least purchase a domain name that is related to your business and create email accounts on that domain name. You can also put a simple one page splash page on the domain name with your contact information. This is the best place to start – especially if you aren’t ready to invest in a complete website solution.
