In a past article, I wrote about the benefits of using a domain e-mail, such as bob@company.com instead of using a hotmail or aol-type e-mail address. I’d like to explain the options available when using a domain e-mail, since this is a commonly asked-about topic by our clients.
First, keep in mind that when you own a domain, you can create any e-mail address you want at that domain. For example, you can have bob@company.com, mary@company.com, info@company.com, sales@company.com, or anything, else. In these examples, “company.com” is used as an example of whatever your domain actually is.
There are basically two ways to set up domain e-mails:
Option 1: The e-mail address can forward to another existing non-domain e-mail address. For example, bob@company.com forwards to your personal bob@hotmail.com e-mail. That would mean that any e-mail sent to bob@company.net would automatically forward to bob@hotmail.com. The benefits of setting up the e-mail this way is that you still get the professionalism of having a domain e-mail, and also that you don’t have to check two separate e-mail accounts, since all e-mails are going to your personal hotmail, yahoo or aol account.
The negative thing about having your domain e-mail forward is that when you reply to e-mails sent to your domain e-mail, the recipient will see your hotmail e-mail address, not your domain e-mail address. For example – Joe sends you an e-mail to bob@company.com. That e-mail forwards to your bob@hotmail.com e-mail address. When you reply to Joe, it will show that the e-mail you sent came from bob@hotmail.com.
Option 2: Set up your domain e-mail address as a separate account in Outlook or your e-mail program. This is by far the more professional option, since any e-mails you send out will show your domain e-mail address. The only down-side is that you need to set up this separate account in Outlook, and check it separately from your personal e-mail account.