If you work for a company and have a company email account, then you should only use this for company business. Your employer will probably have an email policy (you should check) that will lay out the do's and don't of this account. In any event, avoid using this for personal business. Most company policies claim ownership of the account and you may have no right of privacy (Human Resources policies vary, but you should assume the worse). Of course, if you are a contractor, or change jobs frequently, then you will eventually lose this account.

The ISP Account

Most people end up sticking with the email account supplied by their Internet Service Provider (ISP). So you might have an account called This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Using this account as your main email address isn't a bad idea, unless you plan to change service provider, in which case, you can wave your mailbox and address goodbye.

The Free Email Account

There are now a number of good, free email accounts out there. Examples include Google's Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL's Aim and many more. They all provide a reliable service together with plenty of space, spam filtering and the ability to access their accounts via a web interface or an email client such as Outlook Express. One big advantage they all have is that they are not tied to an ISP.

Using Your Domain Name

Despite owning a domain name, many business owners fail to associate their email address with that name. I see this mistake all the time on both sides of the pond. Scan the ads in your local business pages and see for yourself. How many email addresses can you spot that end in @yahoo.com or @some-isp.com? You'll be surprised! If you wish to promote a credible online presence then you need to associate your email address with your domain name. The two are intimately linked with one another. You should then include your domain name and the associated email address on all of your promotional material and business correspondence. It is also good email etiquette to include this information as part of your email signature. For more on email etiquette, download the Tetsou whitepaper - 7 Deadly Sins of Email.

Using Your Hosting Account

If you have a domain name linked to a hosting account - that is, you have a website - then you should use this as your primary email account. So your website would be www.yourwebsite.com and all your email addresses would be This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The advantage is that while your email account stays with your hosting provider, your email address stays with your domain name. Should you have to change your hosting provider, you simply point your existing domain name to the new host. Your email addresses stay the same thus protecting your marketing dollars and any promotional material associated with them. If you wish to simplify things further, you can forward all email to a single email account. This could be one of the free accounts mentioned above, as this will be independent of either your ISP or your hosting provider.

Don't Have A Website?

Now here's the thing. Even if you don't have a website, you can still register a domain name. It's cheap and simple to do online and only takes a few minutes. If you have a business - not just an online business - you should always try to register a name that is associated with your business name: yourbizname.com or yourbizname.co.uk to protect your brand. I always recommend both types of domain for a business if possible.

Most registrars provide you with 'control panels' to manage your accounts including the ability to forward any mail directed at a particular domain name (you'll need to check that your domain registrar provides email forwarding as products vary). But, please take note: being able to forward email, is not the same as being able to store and retrieve email. For this you still need some form of mailbox on a server and client software to retrieve the email. This is not a problem as you can forward mail to one of the free email services, such as Yahoo Mail or Gmail.

Keeping Things Simple

Even if you don't use all your accounts, you need to check them periodically. You can do this in one of two ways: forward all email from these accounts to a single, primary account, or use a single account to access all other accounts. My preference is to forward multiple email accounts to a single account and sort them accordingly.

Summary

• Don't use your work email for private use. It may not be private.
• Choose an email account independent of your ISP. A free email account from one of the big providers is a good bet.
• If you’re in business or operate as an independent contractor establish a domain name and use this as your primary email address. Owning a domain name gives you the ultimate portable address and protects your marketing dollars.
• If you have a website, ensure your email addresses and accounts are linked to the same domain name. It will enhance your credibility and promote your brand.

Tetsou