Email Servers

As we've discussed earlier, you shouldn't be using a gmail or yahoo email address for your business, but one that reflects your business. So let's touch on how to make that professional email address happen.

Let's assume at this point that you have chosen a domain name. To start using it, you need a mail server that can talk to a DNS server so that your emails can be properly routed to and from you. There is a decision to make at this point. If you are planning on having a web site, then the mail server will be included in your web hosting plan.

If you don't want to tackle a web site yet, many registrars offer yearly contracts that just give you access to the email server portion. For instance, godaddy.com sells .com domains for 12.99 a year. You can then add an email package for as little as $1.99 a month. This allows you to read your mail on the web or download it to your PC/Mac mail program or mobile phone.

If you are planning on a basic website, then you need to decide whether you want your domain name registered at the same place as your website. I personally recommend using one company for your registrar and another company as your website hosting company

This way, if you decide that the hosting company you picked has lousy tech support and want to move your site, all you do is go to the registrar and point your domain name to a new host's TCP/IP nameserver address. Transferring domain names from one registrar to another takes up to a month and you don't want your website hostage to the process. I've made that mistake.