You're right, too, that signing up for newsletters with your professional email address (i.e., at your own domain) gives you a chance for free marketing. The recipient, another professional such as yourself, looks and says "Jane@CoolPastryKingdom? Wow, I have to check that out!" and could become a perfect client, referrer or strategic partner. (Junk mail? Shmunk mail! Strategic use of a spam filter and using the rules function of your email program makes the marketability of a "grownup" email address far outweigh the negligible protective powers of a freebie.)

Finally, having a professional email address that reflects your domain name makes it so much easier for people to remember you. I can't tell you the number of times I haven't remembered someone's exact name and haven't wanted to log into Ryze or Facebook just to figure out "hey, who was that?" I can often remember just enough of the domain name to Google and get what I'm seeking, making me more likely to sign up for someone's newsletter, recommend them to clients or investigate their products.

All that said, I admit to having an odd bias against almost all the freebies (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.), I don't have as strong a negative reaction to Gmail accounts. Perhaps it's the anti-junk stance of Gmail or my ridiculous affection for all things Googlified.

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Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
Visit http://www.juliebestry.com to save time and money, reduce stress and increase your productivity

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