Getting business value with your own email domain

Electronic mail, commonly known as email, is popularly used for communication in the corporate world. For people who run businesses online, it is more than an optional mode of communication. It is an integral part of business.

The fact that it has become a part of everyday business is reason enough for you to consider owning an email as opposed to free web email addresses that are available. Using a free webmail account, such as you@yahoo.com , or any free webmail account, like Gmail, Hotmail, etc could portray you as unprofessional.

When you use a free webmail client, you are making your business look like a one man operation. This can trigger a number of ideas about your business in the mind of a potential client or someone who has professional interest in your company, such as the following:
- This person is using their personal email, which means they are probably new in this business.
- If they are new in the business, their product might be of a lesser quality than their competitor.
- If they are still using a personal email, this probably means they have not expanded.
In this article, we will cover all three variations of free email accounts and discuss the disadvantages associated with them.

Web Mail
While having the luxury to send online messages at no cost, it offers obvious benefits. The drawbacks might not be so apparent on the surface. A free service such as Hotmail leaves you very limited – you have no idea of how the account will be administered behind the scenes or what level of customer service to expect.

There is also no way of knowing what restrictions will be imposed in the future or if it will even exist all. Although it goes without saying, this is not something to put the fate of your business in. The bottom line is that your business deserves more than a free account. After all, would you send money to a company which was simply operating out of a free email account?

Email addresses supplied by an ISP such as AOL
The major problem here is that the provided email address literally binds you with the ISP, as most of them will not allow you to switch to a new service without paying ridiculous charges. More important is how this address comes across to your visitors. Anyone can sign up for an AOL account, essentially making you appear as the average Joe trying to pose himself as a legitimate business.

There could be several reasons why your ISP may no longer be able to support your needs: a mediocre quality of service, lack of virus protection and spam filtering and most importantly, the unprofessional blemish it stamps on your business. You can always make the switch to a different provider, but then again, that only factors in a different level of complexity.

Solution
You are not only losing the opportunity to brand but you are instead assisting to advertise your email courier.
So what is the solution?

The answer is stop advertising for your email courier, and buy your own personal Domain. Next sign up for email hosting or website hosting so that you can advertise your company URL in all the emails you send for example you@yourbusiness.com will show the client that if you are interested in knowing more about your company, visit www.yourbusiness.com.

There are many web hosting companies in Uganda, which can help you even acquire a personalised domain if you are going to use their company for hosting. Or you can ask your IT manager to buy a domain name online and get a web hosting company, then build the company mail server. So you can be in charge of your own mail.

You could also opt for Google Apps, which provides web hosting for office tools, which in the long run minimises maintenance and reduces your IT costs at $50 per year for a premium user with 25GB per account.

Google’s web-based messaging and collaboration apps require no hardware or software and need minimal administration, creating tremendous time and cost savings for businesses. End users can use the familiar Microsoft Outlook interface for email, contacts and calendar as they transition to Gmail and Google Calendar.

This option also guarantees you video chatting, sync with Blackberry, among others. All this on your personal domain.
Business owners must therefore, distance there work from web email accounts. They will do nothing but limiting your potential. By owning your own email account, you rid yourself from third parties and have more authority over the fate of your business.

Nakawooya is a software developer at Missy Apps

www.missyapps.net