Email options
Email is an important aspect of your web presence. We’ll get you started with a professional email address that will complement your professional website!
All too often we see businesses who have spent money on a website, but are still using an unprofessional address such as yourname@hotmail.com or yourname@bigpond.com. These are fine for personal use, but your business address should always be yourname@yourdomainname.com. We’ll get you started with a professional email address when we set up your website.
After deciding on what your email address will be, the second aspect of email to consider is how you want to use it. There are many email options and configurations. Please read below for more information about the most popular options.
Email POP accounts
An email POP account is the ‘traditional’ way to do email. An email POP account is an email account that you set up in your chosen email program such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Entourage, Mac Mail etc. Your emails are collected on the server, and each time you log in to your email program, they are downloaded to your computer.
If you already have an email account from your ISP (e.g. yourname@bigpond.com, yourname@iinet.net.au, yourname@internode.on.net etc) you will be familiar with the concept of a POP account.
This is not a webmail based solution, as your emails get downloaded to your desktop computer.
We would set up all new email addresses and supply you with the usernames and passwords required to set up the account in your email program of choice.
Email forwarders
An email forwarder is simply that – it forwards email sent to one address directly to another address. For example, if your website was www.example.com, mail sent to info@example.com could be forwarded to john.smith@hotmail.com
This is not generally used as a primary email method, as when email is forwarded, it is effectively going to your private account. When you hit ‘reply’ the ‘from address’ will be your private account and this isn’t necessarily professional.
However for quick email routing, these are quick and easy addresses to create, and no set up is required your end. And there are some situations where this is the most suitable choice, such as where the person to receive the email changes regularly such as an office-bearer in a club.
There is no set up required at your end for this option – everything is done at our end when using forwarders.
Google Applications (webmail)
If you need maximum flexibility and device independence, this is the way to do it! If you’re familiar with Gmail, think of this option as ‘Gmail for businesses’.
Google Applications (Google Apps for short) is a collection of services Google offers, bundled together with some extra features for businesses. There are several versions, but the two most popular are the free version and the business version (costing $50 (USD) per user per year) and gives you more storage space and some extra features. Also included are many Google services such as Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Groups, but here we will focus on email.
Google Applications option allows you to have a large number of email addresses, allows you to manage them yourself.
The huge advantage of this product is the webmail aspect. You will be completely device independent and be able to check your email from any computer or device. If your computer breaks and you have to get a new one, your email is still there – no setup required as you just need a web browser.
However, if you are more comfortable using a desktop email program such as Outlook, you can still download your email from Google Apps via POP or IMAP. In fact, some staff members can use their email via the webmail interface, and others might prefer a desktop program. This is all possible under the Google Apps system.