I know that all small business owners want their businesses to be professional. Many times, it can really be the small things that make the difference. For instance, how are you communicating with your clients? For most people, the answer is probably through a completely free service depending on the scope of your business. We like free. We do. But, what if I told you that for just $2.75 a month you could have an incredibly professional business email address? That’s literally a cup of coffee and considering most of us run on caffeine this is a worthwhile investment! So without further ado – let’s get cracking!

How many of you have a business website? You may have set one up through a plethora of sites, though I highly recommend WordPress if you are in this for the long haul. If you haven’t, we’ll get you on track to do just that soon. Let me be very clear with you – there are a lot of things I have yet to learn about domains, hosting, etc. But I have done this before and that’s why I wanted to share my knowledge with you. I struggled through it. It’s not hard, but it does take a little bit of a time investment if you’re not very technologically savvy (i.e. me).

Creating a Professional Business Email Address

Why self host your site?

In order to get a fancy schmancy business email address, I do recommend paying for your website to be self-hosted. What does this mean? Essentially it can help with your website’s security and loading time. Both of these could cause a bad experience with potential clients if they are negatively addressed (or even not addressed at all.) Another important feature of deciding to pay for hosting on Bluehost is that they provide customer service if your site is experiencing issues. Having a self hosted site can also give you more freedom with your site down the road. This gives you a place for your website to live and be stored. You need one. Once you self host your site, you can get your very own business email address to set you apart from the rest.

Step 1: Set Up Your Bluehost Account

Selecting a Plan

You can do this a few different ways. If your site is on wordpress or you choose to create a wordpress for your site, then you can select this link for the $2.75 monthly price. If you do not have a wordpress site and have no interest in signing up for one then you can just visit Bluehost and pay the $3.95 monthly price. With either option select Get Started Now. Both will bring you to a page where you can select what plan you would like, though for WordPress users this is very discounted.

Once you’ve selected this the plans will populate. The Basic plan should probably be enough if you have 1 website and won’t need more than 5 email addresses, which is probably most people.

Choosing a Domain

After you’ve selected this you can find a domain for your business website! The name that appears for your website and at the tail end of your email to help create your business email address. Both are known as domains. This is just what your potential clients will see. I don’t think anyone would argue with me that joe@abcompany.com is probably a more professional address than joegazanapolis3@gmail.com or abcompany@gmail.com.

Most people choose to utilize the name of their business for their domain and business email address. You can learn more about creating the right domain for your business here. Once you have settled on the name you’ll need to check the availability. Chances are you’ll have to play around until you find an available version, this is part of the fun! Or, you may already have a domain. In that case just enter it on the right hand side.

Once you’re ready to move forward to the following step you’ll select next.

This will take you to the payment and personal account info! Now that you’ve completed this step you’ll be all set to make your own personalized and professional business email address.

Step 2: Utilize the Email Management Tool

Scroll to the middle of your page. In the second segment named email you’ll be selecting the email manager icon.

Next you’ll be selecting the create email account button. You’ll notice that your domain autopopulates on the right hand side, which already looks WAY more professional!

You can then choose your name or a whole host of services that your company may provide including booking, sales, contact, etc. For instance if I was in charge of managing the sale of physical product I might choose sales@daretocultivate.com instead of just my name. Whatever is going to be professional and informational will work. You’ll also have to enter a password once you settle on this one. There will be a few different options for the default webmail client closer to the bottom part of the form, and after researching a little more I selected Horde. Select save whenever you are all finished.

Step 3: Forward to An Email You Actually Use

You can utilize Bluehost to check your email. In all honesty, it just makes it easier and takes up less time to connect it to an existing account so all of your messages get forwarded to where you actually read them. You probably have a Gmail account set up for personal/business use already, if not don’t worry, click here to set one up!

Gmail Portion

Once you have your gmail account open you’ll hover over the gear icon on the top right of the page and then select settings.

Select Accounts and Import, then Add a Mail Account.

A window will pop up, here you will enter your email address that you created earlier. Then select next. There are now two different options.

Select the second one that reads import emails from my other account (POP3).

You’ll next fill out the username portion with your full email that you created at Bluehost and then the password for the email you chose as well. Once you have completed these fields select Add Account.

Bluehost is going to want to verify that this is for real. So you’ll select yes, I want to be able to send mail as ____________@yourdomain.com.

It’s going to want you to enter the name you would like to appear in regards to any messages sent. Once again it is going to want you to verify your information so just enter your username as the full email for Bluehost and your password.

Verification Code via BlueHost

Finally just follow the instructions to get a code for confirmation. This cements the process that will forward the mail from Bluehost to the gmail you commonly use. This code will be sent to your inbox within your Bluehost email. You can find this by selecting the panel named email accounts within your email manager and selecting view inbox. Once you’ve copied and pasted this in there you’re good to go!

Do you have a professional email business address already? If not hopefully this will this help you make one! It does take a little time but will help distinguish your small business in the long run.

Want to learn more about managing your social media through Facebook? We’ve got you covered with posts about creating your business Facebook page, why you should be on social media and when to post on Facebook! We even show you how to make a gorgeous and professional cover photo for you business Facebook page for just $1!

Thanks for reading!

 

Lauren