How free is that free email account?

SecurityCategory
3 min read
Nancy King

Are you disappointed with your “free” email? Is it no longer meeting your needs, or are you just getting tired of all the ads? Remember that time you called your boyfriend “Baby” over email? I’ll clue you in — your email provider scans every last sentence for keywords, so there’s a good chance they tacked an ad for baby clothes to your message. Yikes! I wonder what surprise your free email provider added to that resume you sent out last week, or if your email even got past its recipient’s spam filters.

Don’t you just want email to just be email? Your very own email, expressing who and what you are.

You don’t have to use a super-long email name with a few extra random numbers. With a business-class email address, you can choose a short and memorable email address that represents what you’re all about. It can be something simple like yourname@yourbusiness.com or you@yourname. Whether for personal or for business, when you send an email, your recipient knows it’s from you.

How free is that email, really?

Here are five things to think about when deciding whether to use a free email account or a branded email connected to your unique domain name:

1. Online merchants might turn you down. Online merchants know that anyone can get an email account with these providers without proving they are who they say they are (some of these people aren’t as awesome as you), so some have started refusing customer orders with free email accounts.

2. Use it or lose it. Haven’t used it in awhile? Did you know you could lose the account and your username? That’s OK if you’re not emotionally attached to your username, but if you used it to register at websites like your bank or for shopping, you could be out of luck.

3. It’s next to impossible to get an easy, memorable name these days. There are just too many Matt Smiths running around! What if you lost the actual username you used back in the inaugural days of the Internet? You’ll have to add a random (long) number if you want to use the same one again. (mattsmith123439@hotmail.com IS available. Sound good?)

4. POP charges can add up. If you’re not being charged for POP access to your email, you’re in luck. For some accounts the charge is MORE than the cost of buying a domain and a year of paid email.

5. Providers can tack on ads. Ever heard the adage, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”? It’s true about email, too. You pay for it one way or another — including ads in your email for products you don’t endorse when you send your mom a happy birthday message or that all-too-important thank you message after a job interview.

When you call the small business consultants at GoDaddy, they can help you choose the right email plan for you and your business. Now our email is even more exciting than ever! Professional Email from GoDaddy is more than email — it’s a whole productivity package for the business owner. Whether you’re just starting out or business is booming, we have a solution that will work for you.

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