Is it unprofessional to use a Gmail address for a sites main point of contact?

condra

For a long time, things like hotmail email accounts gave a bad impression of online businesses, but I'm seeing more and more "professional" websites using Gmail addresses, rather than @theirwebsite

I'm wondering what people think of this? Have the rules changed since Gmail has become so ubiquitous? (and so damned good)

Thanks for any thoughts on this!

Eoin

I still think of it as unprofessional, but I'm not sure I could give a good reason why.

nellyshark

Personally I think gmail rocks, Im a gmail fanatic, google enthusiast and android phone user but I personally think it looks most unprofessional especially as gmail can be used for organisations, hell I use it myself, can chat with my gmail contacts but still have my own domain :cool:

bobbytables

I really don't think using free addresses provided by email service providers such as gmail is professional. Fine 4personal mail but not for business.

However and here's the good news...There's a separation between an email address and an email service. With gmail it is possible to use any domain you want as your email address with the Gmail service (which I agree is a great service). All you have to do is update you DNS MX records for your registered domain name and along with Google Apps you can create up to 50 unique email addresses at your domain name for free. A premium account is required beyond that.

So you can have the best of both worlds, a professional address and all the benefits of the Gmail service. None of your correspondents will ever know you are using GMail.

Eoin

Yeah, maybe it's just that it looks like you won't shell out for a decent hosting account.

I also expect to be able to email info@domain.com. I see loads of vans with a website with a proper domain, but an email address for something like hotmail or gmail. You shouldn't have to try and remember both.

condra

Thanks again for all the replies.

Its just that Blacknights email thing sucks a bit. Maybe I'm just pampered by how good Gmail is.

It would seem that forwarding to Gmail is an option, though I'm not sure where to start. I'll look into it.

RoadKillTs

It would seem that forwarding to Gmail is an option, though I'm not sure where to start. I'll look into it.

Log into the control panel. Click on Emails, then email addresses. Then click on your email address. On the top click the Forwarding tab then the Forward List tab. Enter your gmail address in the field. Click OK.
All done.

Eoin

RoadKillTs wrote: »

Log into the control panel. Click on Emails, then email addresses. Then click on your email address. On the top click the Forwarding tab then the Forward List tab. Enter your gmail address in the field. Click OK.
All done.

The problem with that is that replies will come from your gmail address, so then a customer will have two email addresses for you. Even if you set gmail to download your POP3 email, the return address will be something like firstname.lastname@gmail.com (on behalf of properaddress@company.com)

Why not see how much it will be to pay for using gmail with your domain as bobbytables mentioned?

KJF

Why not set up google apps for my domain.
http://www.google.com/apps

It's trivial to set up and once done you get all the benefits of a gmail with your own email address for your domain.

tinktank.ie

daymobrew

eoin wrote: »

The problem with that is that replies will come from your gmail address, so then a customer will have two email addresses for you. Even if you set gmail to download your POP3 email, the return address will be something like firstname.lastname@gmail.com (on behalf of properaddress@company.com)

You can add properaddress@company.com to Gmail so that you can send as this address.
See Settings - Accounts and Import - Send mail as.
You can also choose to send the email via Gmail servers or your hosting company mail servers.

Black Swan

Use a professional address, then forward it to your gmail account.

Eoin

daymobrew wrote: »

You can add properaddress@company.com to Gmail so that you can send as this address.
See Settings - Accounts and Import - Send mail as.
You can also choose to send the email via Gmail servers or your hosting company mail servers.

Yeah, but I think it still says username@gmail.com on behalf of username@company.com

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

Use a professional address, then forward it to your gmail account.

But then replies will be from another address, which doesn't look great.

EL_Loco

looks cheap, and if you're in the web site/design/tech business and you haven't even setup your own, well, it just looks bad on a number of fronts.

personally I use doteasy.com 10 email addresses, 100MB space, no ads on your site. came to about 90 quid for 5 years.

I have a job@myname.com for job applications, info, then a personal address too. I have also have a few email aliases for things like ebay and certain technology sites. I can filter on these addresses in my email (I know you can do that based on the source address but it makes it more managable).

secondly, you want some name recognition, so if your site is in your address people are more likely to logon to yourname.com and have a look. If it's just gmail then where do they go?

nellyshark

I was able to set up the gmail org form my domain just my switching the dns for a subdomain I think, this was a few yrs ago mind. A professional address with all the feature of gmail. For those of you suggestion forwarding to a personal account then frankly imo dont. If you do set an alias so you respond as @domain.com

Trojan

Don't use gmail as the display email address, it absolutely does appear unprofessional.

condra

Blacknights email system is pretty bad though, but I guess I'm stuck with it for now.

daymobrew

eoin wrote: »

Yeah, but I think it still says username@gmail.com on behalf of username@company.com

I sent from Gmail (using Google mail server - the default route) to yahoo.com and hotmail.com.
Hotmail shows "on behalf of", Yahoo Mail doesn't, not even in the full headers.

Back in Gmail, when I use an email address that sends via my hosting mail server (which happens to be blacknight), Hotmail no longer says "on behalf of".
I think that this is a viable solution to OP.

nellyshark

I use gmail as my domains email and it shows up as me@domain.com

28064212

daymobrew wrote: »

I sent from Gmail (using Google mail server - the default route) to yahoo.com and hotmail.com.
Hotmail shows "on behalf of", Yahoo Mail doesn't, not even in the full headers.

Back in Gmail, when I use an email address that sends via my hosting mail server (which happens to be blacknight), Hotmail no longer says "on behalf of".
I think that this is a viable solution to OP.

^--- This. It used to be a problem with "send as" in Gmail, but once they allowed you to specify the servers, it went away

Liam Byrne

condra wrote: »

Blacknights email system is pretty bad though, but I guess I'm stuck with it for now.

I would assume that Blacknight's system is meant for occasional-use access (holidays or away from the office), and that they're expecting you to use something like Thunderbird or Outlook for normal use ?

After all, that's what an email server does.

A HTML interface to compose/read/forward etc is a whole additional ballgame.

Bob_Harris

condra wrote: »

Blacknights email system is pretty bad though, but I guess I'm stuck with it for now.

I'm not sure what you expect an email service to do.

With the Blacknight webmail (@mail) I can receive emails and send emails. What more do you want to do? Use a deskop client via POP3/IMAP if you don't like the web interface.

I don't get this gmail love in, what is so great about it?

Infact, @mail is superior to gmail. It has no ads and has a reading pane.

Eoin

Bob_Harris wrote: »

I'm not sure what you expect an email service to do.

There's a big difference between some of the webmail clients. My host uses smartermail, which is very nice to use and is pretty much a good alternative to using a dedicated mail client. My previous host used Horde which was horrible to use.

I don't know which one Blacknight uses, so can't compare.

Bob_Harris wrote: »

I don't get this gmail love in, what is so great about it?

It took me a long while to get used to it, but I've grown to like it. I still prefer the classic treeview on the left hand side type email client though.

condra

Bob_Harris wrote: »

I'm not sure what you expect an email service to do.
With the Blacknight webmail (@mail) I can receive emails and send emails. What more do you want to do? Use a deskop client via POP3/IMAP if you don't like the web interface.

I personally prefer using webmail to pop3, and I expect a premium email service to have all the features and elegance of a free one, namely Gmail.

I don't get this gmail love in, what is so great about it?

Infact, @mail is superior to gmail. It has no ads and has a reading pane.

gmail is the best email service Ive used and clearly it's popularity is more than just a love in.
More importantly though, it has an interface and features which everyone is used to, so I would be well in favour of it becomming more standardised. Online.ie for example use gmail for their service, so you can have an online.ie email but effectively sign into gmail.

When doing a site for a client Id like to be able to offer them a better webmail than Blacknight have. This is coming from a fairly loyal customer. Sometimes I think Blacknight forget that not everyone who wants to buy a domain name or even develop a website are tech heads.

daymobrew

condra wrote: »

Sometimes I think Blacknight forget that not everyone who wants to buy a domain name or even develop a website are tech heads.

Blacknight has video tutorials on to help set up a number of email clients.

p

condra wrote: »

When doing a site for a client Id like to be able to offer them a better webmail than Blacknight have. This is coming from a fairly loyal customer. Sometimes I think Blacknight forget that not everyone who wants to buy a domain name or even develop a website are tech heads.

Have you listened to a word anyone has said on this thread?

There are numerous ways (many explained in this thread) for you to use your own domain name as an email address and forward or connect it to Gmail so that you can use the Gmail interface and features.

condra

p wrote: »

Have you listened to a word anyone has said on this thread?

Yes I have. No need to be rude.