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craft business question on eMail addresses

J

Jesse Tutterrow

Joined
May 5, 2017
Messages
137
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17
Location
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
For all the years I owned a computer consulting business I maintained a website, company logos, business cards, letterhead, etc. As I transition to a Craft business I am trying to justify the expense of a business eMail address (Jesse@businessName.com) which would cost between $10 and $20 per month. A free alternative would be a Google Gmail address of Jesse_businessName@gmail.com.

What do you think? Is a free Gmail account going to seem too amateurish?

For those of you who have a craft business, do you pay for a more professional eMail address?

Thanks in Advance, Jesse
 
Kept my personal one, which was through comcast. I did have a web site with the e mail linked to it. That was a small monthly fee. Only down side is the crap you get from businesses wanting to help your business out. Phone calls also. I did find out that comcast had lousy security when my site got hacked. Was told to set up G main for an e mail address as their security was a lot better. Might be better to have a separate business e mail, or just set it up as another personal e mail address.

Oh, Google farms out their 'renew or update' your business listing. It goes to a bunch of sites, and if you are patient enough to listen to the recorded message and press #2 for don't contact me any more, that message may possibly be listened to by that one site. After about 10 years, I haven't had a call from them in a while.....

robo hippy
 
I maintain a website with a domain name that has email addresses connected to it. If you plan on doing this for more then a year and are willing to pay 3 years upfront there are plenty of hosts that have great intro deals. I have a phone number as well through google voice the basic stuff is free and i don't have to worry about linking my personal phone numbers to my site. When someone calls it pushes the call to my cell phone and with the app installed i can choose what number to call out from. If someone leaves a message it transcribes it into an email and sends it to me.
 
Do you plan to have a web site for your new business? If so, with most hosting plans, the email address comes along for free.

I don't think anyone pays attention to email address domains anymore. Gmail is nearly ubiquitous. (I'd get a separate account for businessname@gmail.com as the primary business email address) I think the days of being relegated to "unprofessional" for using an AOL address are about past (most people under 30 have no idea what AOL was) A business without a web site still strikes me as a bit odd-- I've run into a couple that use only Facebook or Etsy and it makes me wonder how serious they are.

With GSuite you can use the Gmail back end with your own domain name, but I think that is like $10/month.
 
FWIW, I had a basic website for building custom fishing rods. When I inquired about starting it on a forum, one fellow said he got more business from his Facebook page. Go figure.
 
We sell 98% of our products at the Charleston Farmers market. I had a web site for 5 years and realized that we didn't sell enough to justify the cost. I put a care sheet and a business card with everything I sell and if people want additional items they call me or send an email.
 
It should cost you $10-$20 per year, not per month. A couple options to look at. First is Google domains. You'll register your domain using their service. Then you can set up an email "alias" - you'll use your regular GMail account, but can send and receive as your business name. The email alias doesn't cost any extra. I have used this. The instructions could be a bit clearer, but once you have it set up and figure out, it works well for only the cost of registration.

You can also register your domain elsewhere. I like NameCheap. They offer a email service starting about $10/year. I haven't tried their email service.

Either way, your yearly cost should be under $20.

Aside from that, no, I don't think a GMail address for a craft business is amateurish. I've seen lots of artisans and small businesses using GMail addresses.

Oddly, I think of GMail as being generally viewed as "more professional" than some of the alternatives like Yahoo.
 
My web site provides an email address but I don't use it. I have it routed to one I set up on gmail. I agree with Roger, gmail is widely accepted as a legit email domain and no one really pays attention to the provider, unless it's AOL and then you would likely get some odd stares. I'm also debating on whether to keep the web site. I have it primarily as a way to support being more professional at market events, folks expect you to have one, but I don't sell anything from it. All my online sales come from Etsy so wondering if just using Etsy as my main online presence makes more sense.
 
Randy, you can have your domain name point to your Etsy page (or Facebook, or any other URL). It's easy enough to do with NameCheap. I'm sure other registrars support it as well.
 
Thanks All,

I own 2 domain names ( JTCousulting.US for computer, and GatewayCustomWoodworking.com for wood). GoDaddy hosts the domain names, a web site, and my eMail. A few months ago GoDaddy decided that my woodworking eMail Jesse at Gateway Custom Woodworking could no longer be a free eMail address and wanted to charge me for it. Since I am already paying them 100+ per year for names and website I don't feel I should have to pay more for an eMail address for my woodworking business.

For those who spoke against AOL. AOL = Americans withOut Learning is a common phase I hear consultants using. Every time I was hired by someone who used AOL it seemed like they had less computer savvy than other customers. So I would never use AOL for anything. For anyone who uses AOL please except my apology as I am sure you are the exception.

I actively did computer consulting since the late 80s and had a functional web site most of the time. I never got a new customer from the web site. Word of mouth was the best advertising. MD 1 would hire me and then tell all of his colleges that I was helping him and they would hire me. So Web site was never a priority. For woodworking I constantly hear that no one sells anything off their web site. Your experiences?

Transferring a domain name, web site, eMail can take up to 48 hours. During this time your eMail may go the the new site, old site, or disappear. Senders may get a rejection notice. Some automated mailing lists will drop you if a single eMail fails. I subscribe to too many lists that I enjoy reading about to risk loosing one.

I think I will go with Jesse_businessName at gmail for an address. After I get to know a repeat customer I may inquire if they think Jesse at businessName would be better.

Again, thanks for the information.

Jesse
 
Had GD when I closed my rod building business. They wouldn't prorate the cost. Paid for 7 months that I didn't need. Crossed off GD.
 
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