If you're a very small or local business, you may not think a website can be of much use to you. However, whilst it can easily be argued that a website is useful for any business, there is no question that email is an absolute necessity. Your customers will expect to be able to contact you via email with questions, suggestions and requests. If you want to show your customers that you are a professional and trustworthy business, it's worth investing in your own domain name so that your email addresses will look like they really belong to your business.

When you buy your domain name, most registrars will offer a free email redirect service, which makes your new email addresses redirect to your current inbox, so there's no need to check yet another service. Alternatively, if you have a website, your web hosting company might provide a POP3 mailbox for you so that you can access your emails online or with an email client, as a separate account to your current email address.

There are several benefits to using a personal domain name for your company email addresses. Firstly, it just looks more professional. An email address such as "yourlocalplumber@freemail.com" just doesn't give the right impression: your customer will think that you couldn't afford your own address, or that you didn't know how to set one up, or worse still, that your business is only intended to be short-lived and that therefore you are not to be trusted. Something like "john@yourlocalplumber.com

just looks so much better – you seem to be well-established and trustworthy, and you are not affiliated with any other companies.

Secondly, if you have an email address with your domain name, your customers will know where to find your website. Even if it's just a contact card with your email address, name, telephone number and business address on it, having a website lends your business credibility and gives your customers a place to go to have their questions answered and to check up on you. You will be grateful for the trust that a good website can instil in your customers.

Thirdly, you can give the impression of a large, well-established business by offering several email addresses for different "departments". Even if you're a one-man-band, you could have "info@yourlocalplumber.com" for enquiries, "sales@yourlocalplumber.com" for quotes, and so on – and these email addresses can redirect to the appropriate person, or to just one inbox where you can follow them up yourself.

Having your own domain name for your email addresses can be a real asset to your business. The professionalism and integrity it will lend your company could be invaluable.

By Natalie Catchpole