If you need to use a free email provider then Gmail has to be the one of choice.
Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Aol now have so much behind the scenes filtering going on that users are unaware that upto 30% of their incoming messages are simply not coming through. I have had to advise clients to add a warning message to their enquiry forms on their websites to Hotmail and Aol users that they simply may not receive the reply, there is also one on HHAD's contact page.
Of course if you need to rely on email for business purposes you should buy and host your own domain which can be done for less than a hundred bucks a year.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
buksida wrote:If you need to use a free email provider then Gmail has to be the one of choice.
Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Aol now have so much behind the scenes filtering going on that users are unaware that upto 30% of their incoming messages are simply not coming through. I have had to advise clients to add a warning message to their enquiry forms on their websites to Hotmail and Aol users that they simply may not receive the reply, there is also one on HHAD's contact page.
Of course if you need to rely on email for business purposes you should buy and host your own domain which can be done for less than a hundred bucks a year.
Actually you don't even need to host it really if you just want email and no site. If that's the case, 123-reg.co.uk will sort you out for about 3 or 4 pounds a year, and you can set it up to redirect the emails to your gmail, and set up gmail to send outgoing messages as if they come from your domain (free). Easy-peasy.
Not really a problem. I use gmail in this way for business purposes even on sites I do host as it's useful to get at my stuff on the move, on my mobile, etc.
Hosted domains are all accessible by webmail anyway so being mobile isn't an issue. Just comes down to personal choice in the end but I do chuckle when I see businesses advertising and their contact address is Hotmail.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
As an export manager I come across quite a few companies using hotmail and yahoo accounts as a matter of fact. Most of them use it for a few months to receive bulk and as soon as it gets heavily contaminated with spam they simply abolish and open a new one. They only use their provider's email service for 'serious' communications.
But I agree with your remark and I myself prefer not the use these services because it certainly gives an unprofessional first impression of your business.
We are all living in 'the good old days' of the future.
buksida wrote:Hosted domains are all accessible by webmail anyway so being mobile isn't an issue. Just comes down to personal choice in the end but I do chuckle when I see businesses advertising and their contact address is Hotmail.
Not many let you use your mobile phone and gmail has a particularly nice mobile interface especially if you use their software. As for advertising your address as hotmail, yes it looks unprofessional, but as stated you can make it look like it's all through your domain and no-one will know that gmail or hotmail had any part in it unless they start examining your headers.
I use Gmail as a back up one to my normal ISP and actually is much better at accepting larger email files than my normal ISP.
I have large files emailed to me for proof reading and when my normal ISP bounces them back, I have had no problems recieving them with gmail. Also do not get the spam factor you get with Hotmail
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