Your email address should belong to you, not your internet service provider (ISP).

January 04, 2009 | Alex Webley | Comments 6

For most people online, their email address is a vital component of life. So much hinges on it.

It surprises me that so many people are still using the email address provided by their Internet service provider (ISP). I stopped using mine in the 1990’s, when I started using domain based email.

Still others use Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail. Gmail, by Google, is very good in my view, however why not have the best of both worlds? – your own domain based email AND Gmail functionality via Google Apps – or just your own domain based email. I will explain why…

(Note: Google Apps is for more sophisticated users and can be used in conjunction with your own domain name – click this link if this applies to you).

When you have an Internet service provider (ISP) based e-mail address, or one provided by Hotmail or Yahoo for example, you can often be very limited in what you can do with the address, and the facilities that you can have associated with it. Some additional features can involve extra costs too.

In the case of an ISP e-mail address, if you ever change to a different ISP then you will lose your original address, which can be a real nuisance bearing in mind the number of people and mailing lists which are likely to have your e-mail address. How much easier it is to own your own domain-based e-mail address which will remain the same even if you change your ISP 20 times – in other words, you will not have any risk of missing out on your e-mail and neither will you have to waste your time (and other peoples’) with administrivia.

One of the key reasons why people do not have their own domain-based e-mail is because they are unaware of how easy and inexpensive it is to obtain and set up.

Let me give you an example. It it is possible to register a domain name with a reputable domain registrar for anything from USD $0.99 to USD $40 per year or more; depending on special offers and-or the suffix (.com, .info, .net etc).

The domain registration service which I will be recommending has goodies included with the purchase of a domain such as:

Free Personalized Email Account - FREE fraud, spam and virus protected email - your personalized email account is customized to the domain name that you use for your Web site (you@yourpersonaldomain.com). Currently comes with 1GB total storage. Web-mail is available, as well as a download to desktop option. Web-mail includes a large variety of free electronic greetings cards and a schedule feature. Email scheduling is a rare and very useful feature because it allows you to send emails at any preset future time in the hours, days or weeks ahead.
Free Photo Album – Share, print and store your photos online, hassle-free. Share, store and even order prints for your favorite photos, right from your domain name, with your own personal online photo album! The Photo Album’s login-free sharing takes the hassle out of viewing photos. Plus, you can enhance your pictures with built-in photo editing, keep personal photos private with password-protected albums and more! (Free version is Ad supported feature, but no pop ups).
Hosting with Web Site Builder! Activate free hosting for a Web site you’ve already built or create a 5-page Web site. Just open your Internet browser, select your images and type your text. In the time it takes to do it, your site gets built. Drag-&-drop text/images, add your photos or graphics and much more. Password-protected Web pages, specialty content and editing features make it secure and simple! (Free version is Ad supported feature, but no pop ups).
Starter Web Page - Enjoy a professionally designed home on the Web in seconds! Put your domain up for sale at its own address or tell the world your site’s “coming soon.” Customize with your own text, graphics and links – even choose color combinations. Comprehensive Web site-building tools available.
Quick Blogcast - Create, manage and promote your own blog and podcast. Post your stories, thoughts and ideas on your blog and invite readers to leave comments. Use our recording tool to create your own audio and video podcast and upload it to your blog to share with visitors. Publish and promote your podcast (and the blog it’s hosted on) with automatic notifications to popular listing services including iTunes®, Feedburner and more. Whether you’re writing your own personal journal or looking to influence audiences, this must-have blogging application is free with your domain purchase. (Free version is Ad supported feature, but no pop ups).
Getting Started Guide - ’Making the Internet Work for You’ is your guide to the Internet basics, from domains to Web sites, e-commerce to marketing and MORE. Having trouble getting started? The Guide is great place to find answers fast.
Domain Forwarding & Masking - Direct different WWW addresses to an existing site. When someone types your domain name into a browser, they will automatically be forwarded/redirected to whatever URL you choose. And with masking, users don’t see the underlying address; only what they type.

Many good domain suffixes are available for under USD $15 per year and currently you can pick up a .info for as little as US 99 cents for a whole year! And yes, it really does include all the stuff (and more) in the list above! And no, it is not some cheap and nasty outfit; in fact they are world class.

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