How do I buy an email address?

I've had a Yahoo email for many, many years and am using it for both personal messages and business communications. This arrangement is now becoming messy as my business is growing very fast. I have finally decided to take the plunge, buy an email address and launch a small web site. This will make my business appear more professional. However, I'm not sure if the new email will be as user-friendly as the one I use on Yahoo. Any guidance will be highly appreciated.
Miranda Govender

A professional email solution, one which you pay for, is always better than a free option. Why? More control, better support and less chance of 'losing' messages from the server. The last point is especially applicable to Yahoo! Mail which, at the time of writing, still doesn't let you download email to the local computer for free unless you use the Yahoo email program. Any way, if you wish to buy an email address, here are the different options.

Continue using Yahoo! email but purchase the Plus upgrade

Assuming you're using the free version, get the Yahoo! Plus upgrade which costs less than $20 a year. The major advantage is the ability to download Yahoo email and store messages on your local machine using the POP3 email protocol.

All popular email programs like Outlook Express, Outlook or Windows Live Mail can access your Yahoo account (once it's upgraded to Plus) using the Post Office Protocol (POP3). The major advantage: messages once downloaded will be available on your local machine even without an internet connection.

Thus, with the Plus upgrade you can not only check messages using Yahoo webmail interface but also with email client programs.

Buy your own email address

Unfortunately, Yahoo! Mail email address, even with the Plus upgrade, just doesn't make the cut. Your business will still seem like a mom and pop store, if you know what I mean. A business email address needs to impress prospects and clients and it will fail to do so if it comes from a popular (and free) email service such as Yahoo, Gmail or Hotmail.

To project a professional image, one of competence and trust, you need to get an email address on a personalized domain name, typically one that will be the (future) web address of your company's site. Details on where and how to get your own domain name are below - it's a fairly simple process. You can then buy an email address as an add-on to the domain name order.

• Assuming you've already decided on the name of your business, head off to Network Solutions to buy a domain name and email addresses. FYI, NetworkSolutions was the first company to sell domain names in the world and is still probably the best.
• You can get a complete business package - domain name + web hosting + web site + email from Network Solutions at a very reasonable price. By the way, if you want to hold off on the web site, simply buy the email package with the domain name.
• Multiple email addresses can be set up on your domain name. Thus, you can have one for 'sales', another for 'support'... this is all in addition to a personalized email address for each employee!

Will the email you buy be as friendly as Yahoo! Mail?

I've always rated Yahoo email as the best email in the world because of the ease of use of its webmail application. However, you may find the interface of the new email address better. So it all depends on individual preferences. You definitely would take a couple of days to learn the ropes of the webmail of the email address you buy.

Any case, as mentioned above, the best way for professionals to use email is through dedicated email software. Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail and Thunderbird are some popular free email programs. You should also look into the option of using a more professional email program like Outlook which costs about $140. Outlook integrates well with other Microsoft products, includes a calendar and is more robust. Thus, when you buy an email address from Network Solutions, you can not only access it with webmail but also via email programs.

Continue to use both email accounts - Yahoo! address and the one at your domain name

Yes, you can use both the Yahoo! account and the new email address you buy at the same time. In fact, you can even link them up by automatically forwarding messages from Yahoo to the new account (Plus upgrade needed) or vice versa.

Remember that as your business grows, checking email through webmail will become a little unwieldy. I strongly recommend using an email program as it will not only save you lots of time but will also help you organize and manage email better. To know more, read about the advantages of email programs like Outlook Express.