Wouldn't you really rather have your own Email domain name?

Most of us use our "work" email address most of the time. On the other hand, there are those times (and reasons) where you need a "personal" email address. And what will happen when you eventually are no longer with the company, even if it's your own. What's the best way to handle that?

Get your own domain name -- something you can manage, control and keep for life. It's easy, and almost free -- no more than $9.99 per year.

What, in fact, does your "personal" email domain say about you, particularly if you want to be taken seriously by others? How about GrandpaJim@Yahoo.com or SamandNancy65@hotmail.com? (our apologies if anyone is actually using such names). Would these be taken seriously by a prospective customer, employer, or another community service volunteer?

Here are some do's and don'ts for domain name choices:

First, there are a set of "K-Mart" freebie domain names that you should steadfastly avoid if you want to be taken seriously, particularly in business:
@hotmail.com
@yahoo.com
@gmail.com

Then there's @aol.com -- perhaps the "Buick" of ISP's -- not taken seriously by ANYONE in business.

The next cut above these are the "real" ISPs, such as:
@mindspring.com
@earthlink.net
@charter.net
@attworldnet et al.

These are the "standard residential" email domains that most people have access to. In fact, they usually have 5 or so mailboxes available to them if they want to use them. JackSmith@Charter.net is a whole different deal than OldManJack@gmail.com

I continue to remind people that for only $9.99/YEAR they can have their own domain name for life, like tweaver.com, and they'll never have to worry about this again. Start with http://www.godaddy.com/ to shop for a domain name you like. You can generally have as many mailboxes as you need for whatever purpose -- we have an rsvp@tweaver.com mailbox that we use on invitations. My own Terry@TWeaver.com email address will be mine for decades -- through renaming of ISP's, switches of service providers, etc. Same for my wife. Never have to worry about it again, and it's easy to give over the phone and for people to get right.

If you have some interest in this but don't know exactly where to start, click on terry@tweaver.com and send me an email.