When I was living in a small town where there wasn't a lot of information about the internet, I saw instances every day of local businesses who make the excellent decision to get a website, but still use their old email name at their Internet Service Provider [ISP] - OR - a yahoo or hotmail or other free email name.

Every time I see this I want to approach the business and let them know this is something which could be having a negative effect on their business.

Now it's not just in small towns where this happens - I am seeing it more and more online, and I think a lot of people just don't know they have a choice.

I recently visited a client who had chosen an excellent domain [website] name, and who was setting up their new website [using my online web builder BuildAWebsiteTonight.com].

I explained that they could now have up to 100 email names, all using their new domain name. Imagine my surprise when my client said,

No thanks - I'll stick with the old one.

WHAT??!

Why oh why not??

Instead of trying to *force* someone to change their mind [always ask and ye shall receive ... well, at least if you ask nicely], I asked them what their reasoning was, to see if there were any misconceptions in there.

The first and foremost reason was because my client thought that they were receiving so many emails for their buzsiness that it would be just too complicated to let everyone know they had a new email name.

Sure, this seems like a huge task, but is in fact quite easy to solve.

Another reason I heard was that the client thought no-one would be able to remember the new email name.

This is in fact the opposite of what the client thinks - once their clients know about their new website, they will *expect* that the email names will match the website.

Are there other reasons?

Yes - if your email name matches your website name it looks professional and organised.

People only have to remember *one* name - the website name - so this makes it easier for everyone.

"OK - so HOW do I get my customers to change to my new email name?"

The best way is to set up a plan of action:

• decide how long you want to take for the changeover e.g. 30 days, 15 days - the choice is yours
• unless you're changing your ISP [Internet Service Provider] or your dial-up internet account, you won't need to tell your ISP about your email name change
• within your website hosting account, set up the new email names to match your website
• start using your new email names
• make sure you set up your new email names in your email software too, so you can start checking for messages a.s.a.p.
• start adding a footnote message to *every* outgoing Reply email, which tells people about the new website and that old email names will not work after a specific date - a month is a good amount of time for the changeover
• change your automatic email *signature* to include the website name and use the *new* email name, mention the date old email names stop working
• make stickers or have some printed - bright colours are best - you can stick these on outgong printed mail, invoices, and any other document which will leave your office - even on the envelopes
• on the sticker you could put a message which says something along the lines of: "We are proud to announce our new website http://www.put-your-website-name-here.com! From [date] our old email name will cease to work, s please use our new one which is info@put-your-website-name-here.com"; this gives your clients notice of an upcoming change - gives them time to get used to it change your business cards - if it is too expensive to print new ones, contact your printing company to see if it's possible to *overprint* the new details, it this isn't possible, see if you can get a stamp made to put the new details on the current business cards; of course the best solution is to get new cards if you can afford it
• if you have flyers or brochures or any other printed collateral, you need to think about putting your new website name and new email name on them; can they be overprinted? can you put a sticker on them?
• 3 weeks before you plan the changeover, add a new line to your email signature, along the lines of: "Our old email name will no longer work on [insert the date]. Please update your email address books with our *new* email name, info@put-your-website-name-here.com.com" - this will now g on every email which you [or your staff] send
• you could also add a note something like this, "Please add our new email name to your email address book - put-your-website-name-here.com"
• the main thing to remember is to start using your new email name as soon as possible, and everyone who writes to your old email name should get a reply from you using the *new* email name
• on the specified day you must stop using the old email name - totally - it is time for change!

Phew! It looks like a long list doesn't it?

But in reality it's a range of things to think about - and decide how you would like to change your printed business card, business documents, brochures, etc. Thinking about it is the first step to looking professional with your email name.

"How hard is it to change my email settings?"

You will need to set up a new email name - you *don't* want to delete your current email name.

Go to your email software, create a NEW email account. You will need settings from your website hosting company - the POP3 and SMTP details.

The main things to remember:

* if you have a new hosting account with your website, have the POP3 and SMTP details ready

* know the new email name/s

* if you haven't changed ISP, use that setting for POP3 and SMTP.

Send yourself a TEST email to the new account.

Check messages for the new account.

Bravo! It works! You can always contact your website hosting company or ISP if you have any hiccups setting this up.

Not too hard, was it?

What do you think about this - is this something you agree with, or don't think is necessary? I'd love to hear what you have to say - and hey - if you'd like to Tweet about it, that would be grand too :-)

Cheers

Teena