So, you’ve started a business. You’ve purchased your domain, had a web designer create a website that profiles your business, products and services. Great! Now it’s time to start serving your customers, earning money and living the dream.
There is one small problem, however. The dreaded GMAIL, Yahoo or other generic email address. It’s a problem for a number of reasons.
It’s unprofessional. After having gone through the hard work of buying a domain and building a website, the additional effort required to create a couple of email boxes on that domain is insignificant. It makes it seem like the branding of the business is only partially complete. It’s also a nearly instant giveaway that the business has only one employee or perhaps that it is a disorganized mess if there are multiple users for that one email address. Is this the kind of service a client can expect from your business?
It lacks forward thinking. Sure, a single email address is sufficient for a one person operation. But what if the business begins to grow and now all of a sudden there are 3 employees. Do they just use their own personal email addresses?
It’s un-secure. Hacking and cybercrime in general is becoming an increasingly prominent issue in society, one that’s unlikely to diminish any time soon. Anyone can create a copycat generic email address with a simple typo in it and start impersonating you. Don’t believe me? Do a search on “typosquatting”. This is outside the fact that the cybercriminal could be a disgruntled employee. No, an email address on a company owned domain does not automatically prevent this type of behavior but the right system will have Data Loss Prevention(DLP) measures in place to mitigate the problem. Recent advancements in technology make this affordable for even the smallest of businesses.
Whether you’re a small business owner or a web developer, please take the extra few minutes to set up proper email addresses for your business or clients. Not only will it give your business a more credible and professional appearance, it will be easier to manage when additional employees come on board and also help save face with your clients should something go wrong.
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