As hard as it is to believe, email is now 50 years old. It was invented back in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson as a part of ARPANET – the computer network that gave rise to the internet. And ever since businesses started to get online in the early 1990s, email became their default communication method and remains so to this day.
At this point, it’s fair to say that our email addresses help to define who we are online. And that means that the email address you use professionally will speak volumes about you and your business. For that reason, you need to choose an email address that gives people the impression that you’re serious, trustworthy, and competent. Here’s why that is and how you can choose the right email address for your business needs.
Why Your Email Address Matters
Even though It should go without saying, it’s not a good idea to use whatever personal email address you already have for your business communications. And if you don’t understand why, consider this: imagine you’re a decision maker at a reputable company, and you receive two competing proposals for a job you’re outsourcing. The first one arrives from John.Doe@expertsincorporated.com. And the second one comes from Cuddlykitty69@aol.com.
All else being equal, which proposal do you think has the greater chance to make a good impression?
If you chose the first proposal, you’re right. And even if the second proposal was superior in every other way, it would still be at a significant disadvantage. First, the email handle it came from doesn’t sound like it belongs to a serious adult. And second, the domain it’s coming from – aol.com – isn’t known for hosting real business email addresses.
How to Choose a Business Email Domain
The first place to begin when choosing a business email address is with the domain name. That’s the part of the address that appears after the @ symbol. Since the email address you’re looking to create will represent an organized business, you should purchase a domain name that matches (or is related to) the business’s name.
So, if your business is called “Security Squad”, you’d want a domain name like “securitysquad.com”. If an exact match isn’t available, you can opt for a variation on your business name or a different suffix, like .net or .biz. Once you have your domain name purchased, you’ll then need to choose an email service provider.
There are a variety of email providers that will let you use your own domain name. The most popular among them include:
Once you’ve chosen a mail provider, you’ll be ready to set up your business email address. Here’s where to start.
How to Choose a Business Email Address (Examples)
With your domain secured and your email provider set up, the next step is to choose your email handle to go with it. There are several naming conventions that businesses opt for when setting up their email systems, and they help to minimize confusion and enforce standardization. The most-used naming conventions are:
- FirstnameLastname@businessdomain.com
- Firstname.Lastname@businessdomain.com
- FirstinitialLastname@businessdomain.com
- Firstinitial.Lastname@businessdomain.com
You can, of course, choose whichever naming convention suits you best. If your domain name is especially long, you may wish to use a shorter naming convention. So if your full name is Michael Smith, a shortened business email address example would be Msmith@businessdomain.com.
The important thing to do is to choose the naming convention that provides enough flexibility for however large you expect your business to become. In other words, with ten employees, just about anything will work. With a thousand, you may start to encounter name conflicts if you use a short naming convention.
How to Configure a Professional Email Address
Businesses aren’t alone in needing professional email addresses. Individuals need them too, for a variety of reasons. They’re useful for job-seekers sending resumes and communicating with hiring managers. They’re a must for freelancers that often interact with clients via email. And they’re necessary for consultants – even when they’re only working for a single client at a time.
But unlike businesses, individuals don’t need to go as far as purchasing their own custom domain name (although they certainly can). They can simply create an email address with a reputable email provider and that will usually suffice. Reputable email providers include:
If you create a properly formatted email address with any of the above providers, it will make an excellent impression on the people and businesses you contact. Just as with a custom domain name, the key is in formatting your handle.
You can opt for any of the naming conventions listed above. These days, most people use the Firstname.Lastname convention for their professional email handles, so a professional email address example would look something like Michael.Smith@gmail.com.
Wherever possible, you should avoid the use of numbers in a professional email address. The same thing goes for diacritics – even if the proper spelling of your name includes one.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, the simplest rule of thumb to follow when creating a business or professional email address is to keep it simple. You want the people you email to know who you are and who you work for just by looking at your address. And as long as the email address you choose is situation-appropriate and looks something like one of the email address examples listed above, you should be just fine.
How to Choose a Professional Email Address for Business? (With Examples)
As hard as it is to believe, email is now 50 years old. It was invented back in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson as a part of ARPANET – the computer network that gave rise to the internet. And ever since businesses started to get online in the early 1990s, email became their default communication method and remains so to this day.
At this point, it’s fair to say that our email addresses help to define who we are online. And that means that the email address you use professionally will speak volumes about you and your business. For that reason, you need to choose an email address that gives people the impression that you’re serious, trustworthy, and competent. Here’s why that is and how you can choose the right email address for your business needs.
Contents
Why Your Email Address Matters
Even though It should go without saying, it’s not a good idea to use whatever personal email address you already have for your business communications. And if you don’t understand why, consider this: imagine you’re a decision maker at a reputable company, and you receive two competing proposals for a job you’re outsourcing. The first one arrives from John.Doe@expertsincorporated.com. And the second one comes from Cuddlykitty69@aol.com.
All else being equal, which proposal do you think has the greater chance to make a good impression?
If you chose the first proposal, you’re right. And even if the second proposal was superior in every other way, it would still be at a significant disadvantage. First, the email handle it came from doesn’t sound like it belongs to a serious adult. And second, the domain it’s coming from – aol.com – isn’t known for hosting real business email addresses.
How to Choose a Business Email Domain
The first place to begin when choosing a business email address is with the domain name. That’s the part of the address that appears after the @ symbol. Since the email address you’re looking to create will represent an organized business, you should purchase a domain name that matches (or is related to) the business’s name.
So, if your business is called “Security Squad”, you’d want a domain name like “securitysquad.com”. If an exact match isn’t available, you can opt for a variation on your business name or a different suffix, like .net or .biz. Once you have your domain name purchased, you’ll then need to choose an email service provider.
There are a variety of email providers that will let you use your own domain name. The most popular among them include:
Once you’ve chosen a mail provider, you’ll be ready to set up your business email address. Here’s where to start.
How to Choose a Business Email Address (Examples)
With your domain secured and your email provider set up, the next step is to choose your email handle to go with it. There are several naming conventions that businesses opt for when setting up their email systems, and they help to minimize confusion and enforce standardization. The most-used naming conventions are:
You can, of course, choose whichever naming convention suits you best. If your domain name is especially long, you may wish to use a shorter naming convention. So if your full name is Michael Smith, a shortened business email address example would be Msmith@businessdomain.com.
The important thing to do is to choose the naming convention that provides enough flexibility for however large you expect your business to become. In other words, with ten employees, just about anything will work. With a thousand, you may start to encounter name conflicts if you use a short naming convention.
How to Configure a Professional Email Address
Businesses aren’t alone in needing professional email addresses. Individuals need them too, for a variety of reasons. They’re useful for job-seekers sending resumes and communicating with hiring managers. They’re a must for freelancers that often interact with clients via email. And they’re necessary for consultants – even when they’re only working for a single client at a time.
But unlike businesses, individuals don’t need to go as far as purchasing their own custom domain name (although they certainly can). They can simply create an email address with a reputable email provider and that will usually suffice. Reputable email providers include:
If you create a properly formatted email address with any of the above providers, it will make an excellent impression on the people and businesses you contact. Just as with a custom domain name, the key is in formatting your handle.
You can opt for any of the naming conventions listed above. These days, most people use the Firstname.Lastname convention for their professional email handles, so a professional email address example would look something like Michael.Smith@gmail.com.
Wherever possible, you should avoid the use of numbers in a professional email address. The same thing goes for diacritics – even if the proper spelling of your name includes one.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, the simplest rule of thumb to follow when creating a business or professional email address is to keep it simple. You want the people you email to know who you are and who you work for just by looking at your address. And as long as the email address you choose is situation-appropriate and looks something like one of the email address examples listed above, you should be just fine.