When you’re just getting started in your first business online, you’re going to want to save as much money as you can. One extra cost that you probably don’t want to be dealing with is setting up your own business email address.
Whilst you can use a standard email like Gmail or Hotmail, this probably isn’t the best idea – at least not for your business, anyway. If you want to maintain a high level of professionalism, then you’ll want to use a business email.
But, how do you access a business email, and can you do it without purchasing any extra product? Well, let’s take a quick look at this and find out.
Can I get a Business Email without Domain Ownership?
The bad news is that you actually can’t get your business email without owning the domain name that you need for your business. You will have to register a domain name and use its email hosting to set up your business name.
So whilst you will be able to use any old name at gmail.com (for example, [email protected]), this isn’t going to look very professional. You can go ahead and register a domain whenever you want – here’s a list of the best domain registrars.
What is a business email?
If you’re not entirely sure what I mean by a business email, then here’s an explanation. Whilst you know you can register [email protected] for free, business emails generally use the business name instead of the gmail part of the address.
So, if Sandra’s business name was London Pet Shop, then she would need to purchase londonpetshop.com. Then you can go ahead and set up the email name [email protected]. This is what is considered to be a business email.
You don’t even need to use the name admin either – you can use anything you want to before the domain name. So, she could set up her email address as [email protected], or even [email protected] too. It’s really up to you.
Why do I need a business email?
If you’re not sure why you even need a business email, then there’s a couple of reasons why you’ll want to get one.
- Professional – Have you ever seen a business card with a gmail or a hotmail address on them? No, me either. Using your domain name as your email address is considered to be far more professional than just using an email address that anyone can register for free.
- Credibility – You want your customers and potential customers to take you seriously, don’t you? Getting your own business email address set up can definitely help to add to the value and credibility of your brand overall, so it’s something that you should definitely look at doing.
- You might as well – If you’re setting up a business email, then the likelihood is that you already own the domain name for your business (or you should, anyway). You can easily set up a business email address with your domain name. You don’t even have to have the website set up to do this, so you might as well get it done!
Conclusion
So, whilst a business email address isn’t a necessity to have, it’s definitely going to be a major plus for your business in terms of both professionalism and appearance. Plus, domain names generally aren’t very expensive for you to register, so there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t go ahead and set one up. Don’t forget that using domain registrars can make this process smoother.
If you don’t already have one, then you can easily register a cheap domain name to get started. If you’re in the US then you can use .com, and if you’re in another country then you can use .com or the extension of the country that you’re in (e.g. co.uk).
You may be interested in: “Top Email Signature Generators for Your Business”