It drives me insane to see a nicely designed website or signage and it all looks professional until you get to the email address… You’re either nodding or going WTF? My email address is fine and I don’t have to pay a cent! goatfucker200@hotmail.com has served me well. I did just make that email address up but you get the picture. An unprofessional email address that you think was funny, cute or sassy could be losing you business BIG TIME!
Is your business legit or dodgy AF
I know its not just me that thinks twice before emailing a dodgy-looking email address. When I look online for say a business, lets say a company that make a film of your pet dog. I find one. They have a nice website but their email address is dogfilm69@hotmail.com I am going to think twice. Am I emailing the actual business or is it some weird sex thing? Or are you going to spam the shit outta my email address if I email you? I might be a little paranoid but that happens when your job involves working in web design on the daily.
The other thing that frustrates me is you have a website. Let’s say its www.dogsonfilm.com.au You already own the domain name! Why not turn that into a professional email address??? Its so freaking easy!
SEO! You have to be in it to win it!
Imagine how much business you would lose if someone with a similar business name had a professional email address and a registered domain name similar to yours? So what if dogfilm69@hotmail.com is your email and only point of contact other than a Facebook or Instagram account. What if another business starts called Dog on fil Brisbane. Then they register the domain name dogsonfilm.com.au and set up the email: book@dogsonfilm.com.au They are going to rank higher than you on the Google search for one. They also have created ownership of that name. Sure you could have been in business longer, but unless you have some kind of digital footprint, you will fall behind. Yep there could also be trademark issues as well from either end but that’s a whole new story.
So if it’s purely for the sake of being found online or even existing online. Buy your domain name now!
Branding
Strengthen your brand with your professional email. The email address bark@dogsonfilm.com.au incorporates the business name. As soon as you see that email address you know what their website is because you have their domain name. If you’re really into digitally stalking a business, you can probably guess what their social media pages would be called as well. So simple!
Junk mail
How many of the emails you send from your free email address are going directly to junk mail? Why? Because your clients or suppliers email providers are putting your cheap ass into the junk folder. You will be forever written off as spam until the receiver sees your email and tags it not spam. But it is a process to do that. How often do you check your junk folder? I can tell you I do once a month if that. Unless a client insists they sent an email and it’s not in my inbox, I will check junk.
Setting up a shiny new email address
If you have a web designer/developer or IT person that has all your domain name details, they can help set up your email address. If you have all your domain name details you can most probably go it yourself. Just follow the prompts from your domain name provider and your email provider.
If you don’t have a domain name yet, what are you waiting for?! They start from around $15 per year. I highly recommend Ventriap They are an Australian based company and their support is amazing! I do have an affiliate with them, pop in my email address at the end of your purchase if you want to help a sista out 🙂
I use Google Workspace for my email. I like it because it's easy to use, affordable and you can access it anywhere. From your phone, tablet or computer. I also like that it comes with online storage and office programs like Sheets (equivalent to MS excel), Docs (equivalent to MS word), calendar and more. Prices start from $9.40 AUD per month.
My email advice:
- Keep it simple, short and easy to understand
- Choose a domain name that is your business name. If it’s taken, get creative. So if dogsonfilm.com.au is taken, you can shorten your name or change the extension (.com, .brisbane, .au, the list goes on)
- Personalise it. If I made an email address for my fake business Dogs on film, I’d use tracey@dogsonfilm.com.au
- Avoid generic names like admin@ or sales@ They have been done to death and can also go to junk folders because they are so boring and generic. Well not the boring part, I made that up. Pick something unique to your business. For example bark@dogsonfilm.com.au or bark@dogsonfilm.com.au
- Watch those abbreviations! Sunita Lutz (Irvine Valley College) – slutz@ivc.edu Damn girl! That ain’t right! Make sure if you abbreviate for an email address you check that shit first! To check out some more abbreviated funny email fuckups, go here.
