Is your email address holding you back?
Email is a vital tool for communication in the modern world. It’s a fast and convenient way to stay in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. However, your email address can also hold you back!
An email address is often the first impression you make on someone, and it can be a lasting one. If you’re using an unprofessional, outdated, or an email address that doesn’t suit your brand, it could give off the wrong impression.
It is important to use an email address that is associated with your name and your brand; it will make you appear more credible and professional. If you are concerned that your email address is holding you back, there are a couple things you can do:
Consider registering a custom domain name. You can register your own domain name at GoDaddy or you can contact us and we would be happy to help you out. Having a custom domain name is the first step to establishing a credible online presence. There are several factors you should consider when purchasing a custom domain:
- Length – Your customers aren’t going to appreciate trying to send an email to “michael.cottingham@theworldbestsoftwarecompanywereallyrock.com”. Your domain name should represent your brand, be memorable, but also be short enough that customers on mobile phones won’t get frustrated typing it. Sometimes when your company name is long (ie. Razor Sharp Consulting) it is advantageous to register a full domain name (ie. razorsharpconsulting.com) as well as a shorter domain to be used for email, etc. (ie. rsc.dev). We can setup your email address at both domains so that it won’t matter how your customers email you, you’ll receive it.
- Brand Representation – Your domain name should represent your brand as much as possible. If your company name is Razor Sharp Consulting, you should probably try to register razorsharpconsulting.com as your primary domain name. Search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo rank websites based on many factors, but having the search string match the domain name is very highly weighted.
- Top Level Domain (TLD) – After you’ve chosen a domain name that represents your brand, you need to choose a top level domain. Without going into a detailed explanation of name servers and DNS (contact us if you’d like to hear it).. TLD’s are the last part of the domain name after the “.”. You’ll notice that there are many many options to choose from and consideration should be taken when choosing one. Some TLDs are dedicated to countries (ie. .ca, .us, .eu, etc.), while others are dedicated to the type of usage (ie. .app, .group, .club, .dev, etc.). We generally recommend businesses focused on doing business in a single country to use a country domain, while businesses targeted globally can use the other domains such as “.com”.
Consider purchasing inexpensive hosting for your email from one of the common providers, Google, Amazon, Microsoft. We would be happy to help you if you are unsure how to do that as well.
When a business uses an email address with a custom domain and both first and last name, it gives the impression that the company is larger and more professional. Companies that use only first name (ie. mike@example.com) may appear smaller because they only have a single “Mike” at the company.
Using these very inexpensive tips will show your customers that you’re willing to invest in your image to be seen as a credible business and is helpful in building trust with potential customers and clients.
If you are looking to create a lasting impression, make sure your email address is working for you, not against you!