It’s time to let the cat out of the bag

That is, let the world know about your website and domain, just by sending out an email. Here’s what we mean.

I presented information at a pair of events over the last few days geared toward small business entrepreneurs. Many of the people I met are still using a generic email address with a “gmail.com” or “yahoo.com” domain, or one from their local Internet Service Provider (ISP). To my mind, there is a better way to email.

A better idea is to use your own domain (for instance, ours is “goatcloud.com”) for your email addresses. Using your own domain name, assuming you have one and it’s where your website is, connotes seriousness of purpose, that your business is for real. We know that perception in the business world is crucial. You may have the most incredible business but if your business email address is [email protected] (no offense to Jerry if he or she exists), people may pause and say, “Is this business for real? They don’t even have business email.”

Slightly better, but still not good enough, is something like “[email protected]” for your cupcake business empire. Why not “[email protected]”? Doesn’t that look a bit more serious? Again, perception is crucial.

What about cost? Minimal! Most domain hosts, including GoatCloud, include email as part of the hosting package. The added cost, assuming you have a domain and website, is essentially zero.

Wait, you say, I’ve had this email forever, and I don’t want people to get confused, or I don’t want to lose people or emails by moving to a new email address. Not to worry. Here’s how, for business purposes, you stop using your old and tired personal, generic email address without even bothering to tell anyone about it, while not losing a single email. And at the end of the day, you’ll be promoting your business and website just by using a new business-oriented email from your own domain.

Steps to move from a personal email to a business email without losing email

  1. Establish the new email address using your business domain. Do not bother informing anyone directly about the change.
  2. Start using that new email address on all your promotional material, online and off. (This may include updating account information on assets like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and etc.)
  3. Stop sending new business email from your old email address.
  4. Forward all the old email automatically to the new account with email forwarding.
  5. Reply to any business email from the new account.
  6. Send any new email from the new email account.

What will happen? Well, over time your contacts gradually will just start using the new email account (without you having said a word to anyone). Some will ask whether you’ve changed email and you can say yes, you have for business.
 
The old account will still exist. Emails will still arrive. And you can even still use it for personal purposes if necessary (though not recommended if your old email is  something like “[email protected]” as that old email has a business connotation). Over time, the old email address will rarely be used at all, and never for business.

Visit this page if you are interested in using that new email in additional ways as a marketing tool.

Do you have a success or failure story concerning this issue? Let us know in the comments.

If you need some technical assistance to transition to a branded business email, please give us a call at 518-557-7613 or send us an email.

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