This post is for people that run a small business or are about to start one and are unsure whether their current hotmail, gmail, yahoo or other free Email address is ok to be used on their business card. It is not! Please read on to understand why and how to address this important issue.
I see a fair number of new business cards every month and I cannot avoid noticing random Email addresses that are immediately telling me how little care people pay to this important aspect of their marketing mix.
An Email address should always be considered by its definition: an address. People should be able to relate to you and being able to send you relevant messages. As a minimum it should be give hints about your name and company name.
In order to help this simple process your thinking should be equally simple. If your name is john martin blogs and your company is called my company limited then as a minimum you should first ensure to have an adequate domain registered, ideally mycompany.com and/or mycompany.co.uk (if you are based in the UK) see my other post about domains for more information. When you register your domain you probably will need some hosting for your website and in the same package you should be able to get also Email management for very little money, usually under £50 per year.
Once you have your hosting sorted you should ensure to register at least two Email addresses. The first one should have of the following formats:
- john@mycompany.co.uk
- johnmblogs@mycompany.co.uk
- jmblogs@mycompany.co.uk
- johnm.blogs@mycompany.co.uk (perhaps the most used by large companies)
- johnmb@mycompany.co.uk
This is the Email that should go on your business card. The second one could be:
- info@mycompany.co.uk
- sales@mycompany.co.uk
- office@mycompany.co.uk
- enquiries@mycompany.co.uk
- contact@mycompany.co.uk
- or similar, depending on the nature of your business
The second Email address is the one you want to advertise on your website: it gives a more professional look to your company, particularly if you are on your own.
Having a free Email address like the ones indicated in the second paragraph just shows how little you care about your company and personal image: keep your personal free Email to exchange messages with your friend but ensure to have a professional looking Email for your business.