I’m amazed by the fact that there are still websites out there with their own domain name which are using free email addresses (Hotmail, Yahoo!, Google Mail &c).
I find it very peculiar: if you’ve forked out for yourdomain.com, why aren’t you using it to your best advantage, and making use of email addresses as well? In my opinion, nothing looks cheaper than a free email address. I would have serious second thoughts about dealing with a business that didn’t use their own domain email addresses; it suggests a lack of professionalism and technical expertise.
If you aren’t using your own domain email addresses, it’s time to sort that out. The simplest way to start using your own domain email addresses is to set up an email redirect, which is usually provided free by hosts or domain registrars. This means that your new email addresses can be set up to redirect to the inbox of any other email address to which you have access, meaning that you don’t have to check several different inboxes. Alternatively, your hosting provider may offer one or two free POP3 email accounts, with the option to pay for extra ones. These POP3 accounts tend to be more powerful and offer more storage space than free accounts, but if you are using an email client then this may not matter.
You may as well also make use of free email redirection by using several addresses which all redirect to your inbox. This can give the impression that your website has several departments or members of staff.
Another major benefit that I can see of having your own domain email addresses is that your email recipients will know where to find your website! No such luck if you’re using a free Hotmail account.
As an aside, if you prefer not to use an email client but find that you are having to check too many email accounts, you could use Google Mail as a web-based client equivalent. With Google Mail, you can send and receive emails using any email address to which you have access. See my article on setting up Google Mail to deal with several addresses.
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