gmail?
 

My brother is starting a business. He has initially set up an email account for it through gmail.

You businessy folks, do you use gmail? Is it good for a new business? Does it have that "professional" flavor?

Any input is welcome!

I'll throw my two cents in, even though I'm not a "businessy folk."

It depends. If I was going to hire a guy to paint my house or mow my lawn, I wouldn't mind a gmail address. If I was going to call up a temporary employment agency to get a bunch of warm bodies to come in for a project at my place of work, I'd be highly suspect of any business with a gmail address, and wouldn't use them.


How is he trying to represent himself? Small individual in business for himself, or the face of a larger company?

The gmail service itself is fine--in particular the spam filtering is better than any other product I tried which was in my price range for personal use. (Which was not limited to free products, but did not extent to high-end corporate solutions.)

I agree with glatt. Think of it this way. What plumber would buy a van to use for his business, and have the Ford logo on the side of it in the same size as the name of his business? This is what you're doing when you use an email address with @aol.com, @gmail.com, etc. for your business.

However, if you own your own domain, you can set up Google Apps for Your Domain and run the gmail system (including POP and IMAP access) with your own address. That's actually what I do for my personal email, and I strongly recommend it. Buying the domain itself is a small expense (I'm talking $15 per year small) so there's IMO no excuse for any business not to have one. The standard version of Google Apps is free. They have a higher-end version with some fancier features that costs money.

I swear to God, the other day I saw a business van of some kind, and I don't even know what service they were offering, that was painted on the side with some type of scene apparently depicting something to do with whatever they do, and the only thing I took away from it was the confusing observation that there was a large, beautifully illustrated Doritos bag in the picture. Not as a feature, but sort of in the background. But still visible enough for me to read the Doritos logo and note that the design on the bag was really well duplicated, with the exact right colors and everything.

I don't think Doritos had anything to do with the business, so all I can figure is that they got their nephew, an over-zealous, aspiring graphic artist, to paint the van and gave him free reign on the design...? I do know this for sure: I don't know even the name of their business, all I remember is Doritos.

I've seen vans like that, Flint. Great stuff!

The business is actually portable sanitation (yes, portable toilets.) He has chosen very professional looking logos etc (and don't think for a minute that he and the rest of the family haven't had a lot of laughs coming up with comedic slogans and stuff. It is after all portable toilets.)

He did say he had looked into a domain name, and found them cheap. He didn't know much about what to do with it after that, though. I will definitely forward him the info about the domain stuff.

Thanks for the input.

I said "it depends" before. I'm changing my answer. He needs to drop the gmail address and get his own domain.

Noted and suggested. I think you're right, too.

But follow SD's note. Use Gmail with your own domain. In fact you can even get the domain from Google now, instead of network solutions (never use) mydaddy (sometimes use) or dotster (often use).

At this point, I recommend taking the leap and tying as much of your life and business to Google as possible.

Oh, everyone isn't domain squatting? j/k
:)

Ok.....

This business runs off a yahoo account. I will never get why....I don't ask those questions.
:)
Go with Microsoft Outlook? It's sophisticated enough to be compatible with just about everything on the planet, and user friendly enough for a beginner to use. A domain isn't a bad idea and it "looks professional". But I think it's more of a matter of what will be most useful to him. Besides- If your contacts are in Outlook you have the advantage of using those, even if the internet is down.

I don't know. There are probably better services than Outlook by now, and I am showing my true colors of behind-the-times-ness. I just don't like to see all the basics be completely internet based. There are a lot of features that Outlook has aside from just mail as well. 'nuff said, I'm probably wrong on this one.