Can I create a professional email address without setting up a website?
One of the questions I am often asked is 'Can I create a business email address without setting up a website?'. And the answer is yes but you will need to buy a domain. This leads to another question... what's a domain? So my domain is onlinetechhub.com. So effectively a domain is the part after the @ within an email address. So my email is [email protected].
I see so many business owners using generic email addresses such @gmail.com, @hotmail.com, @outlook.com. Honestly, if you are doing that then do yourself a favour and buy yourself a domain today.
And you know what, in the scheme of things, buying a domain is cheap and it will be one of the best investments you will ever make in your business.
By the way, I wouldn't recommend you buy an email address without having the option to set up a website. I mean, when you read the rest of this newsletter you'll find out why....
Here are the exact steps I took when I I first started my online business 12 years ago (and I would still do the same today)....
First of all I decided I wanted to buy a domain to (a) create a professional email address and (b) to create a website. After looking at the prices it was a no brainer to go for both options. Even if you aren't ready to build a website yet I'd go for option (a) and (b).
I visited a domain provider called Just Host and purchased their hosting package. Their current pricing is pretty much the same as it was 12 years ago - ￡2.95 per month - and includes hosting to create a website, a free domain name, a free email address, a free website builder, free marketing tools and 1-click WordPress install. I mean, what's not to like?
I installed WordPress for my website (it's the most popular package for websites as it is so flexible and Google loves it - it's great for SEO), created my website and set up my email all for pretty much ￡2.95 per month.
And you know what, you only have to buy the hosting once. Once you've purchased the hosting you can effectively create multiple websites with multiple domains. Obviously you need to buy the domain each time, but once you have the hosting you are pretty much good to build your empire.
So will you be buying your professional email address and hosting today?
German-English Translator | Freelancer | Marketing, B2B Communications, Subtitling
7 个月Thanks for the advice, useful to have this presented so clearly to an artsy major like myself! Would like to note thought that Just Host has become Blue Host now and costs about ￡10 a month, with ￡2.84 being their discounted price for the first term (having just looked into this)
Consultant @ KJR | IT Consulting, DevOps, Full Stack
11 个月For security & privacy reasons, I do not recommend buying a domain and hosting (whether Email or Web) with the same company as the Domain Registrar. For example, suppose your domain registrar or website is breached (via a hack or otherwise). In that case, you open up the ability for these bad actors to infiltrate your hosting and completely take over your website, moving it from one host to another and making it extremely difficult to get back. Therefore, provided you are using strong and different passwords for both services and your hosting is separate, it would be impossible for these bad actors to take over your website and hosting completely. In any case, in this day and age, you should ensure that 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) is applied to your hosting and domain registrar accounts wherever possible to add an additional security layer. However, I agree with purchasing a domain for your small business over using a generic or common email provider such as Gmail or Outlook. It is better marketing and makes it easier for existing or potential customers to find you via SEO etc.
CEO/Owner
2 年This is very helpful and just the information I was looking for. Thank you, Alison!