Why You Shouldn’t Use Free E-Mail Accounts Like GMail, Yahoo or Hotmail, etc.

Posted on August 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment

First let me start out by saying that there is nothing wrong with using free e-mail accounts. In fact they are terrific for many reasons and I have several accounts myself that I find very useful. Like anything else, used properly, free e-mail accounts are highly recommended.

On the other hand…

If you already have a registered domain name for your business you should definitely be using e-mail accounts from your own domain web hosting account such as info@yourbusiness.com. Why? Because in the first place, it promotes a positive image of your company and profession. When you think about it doesn’t info@microsoft.com seem much more professional than bill.gates@yahoo.com? Absolutely.

Forwarding Domain E-mails to Free Accounts

Here’s another thing that many people do that is unprofessional and can cause problems. They have a domain, set up and email account and proudly announce their contact e-mail as info@yourbusiness.com. But then they have those e-mails forwarded to a free e-mail address such as mrsbusybody@gmail.com, for their own convenience. When they reply to an e-mail, the person who contacts them gets a response from mrsbusybody@gmail.com instead of info@yourbusiness.com. They are probably thinking who is mrsbusybody@gmail.com and why is she sending me an e-mail? Off it goes, unread, to the junk e-mail or spam box.

Which also brings up the possibility that the person receiving your email may have spam filters set to reject e-mails as spam from free e-mail account providers. Do you really want to take the chance that your e-mails are getting filtered out as spam just because it’s easier for you to forward everything to your Gmail or Yahoo account? For anyone conducting a business, this is a lazy and surefire way to annoy your customers. Worse yet it may give them the impression that you never answered their e-mail inquiries, when in fact you did but your reply went unseen to their spam folder.

Sometimes forwarded e-mails are actually weeded out by the free e-mail account provider. In some cases, you will not even receive the forwarded e-mails due to errors on behalf of GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. Many companies such as AOL, Comcast, etc. that provide free e-mail addresses with their services DO NOT ALLOW e-mail forwarding from another account. If something goes wrong, don’t blame your web hosting company where info@yourbusiness.com is hosted. Nine times out of ten, the problem lies with your free e-mail provider. Good luck calling Google or Yahoo and asking them to look into the issue.

Bottom line is why would anyone want to deal with this entire situation at all when you have your own domain name and e-mail accounts? Simply use your webmail (most hosting accounts have webmail access) or configure MS Outlook or other e-mail programs on your computer to retrieve your e-mails automatically. Save yourself a lot of potential headaches in addition to providing a more professional, business like appearance with your e-mails. Use the free e-mail accounts for things like signing up for promotions, etc. to keep the spam and junk mail out of your business e-mail account.

And finally, here is the best reason for using your domain e-mail account – advertising.

If you use a free e-mail account on your website, business cards, print and other ads, what happens if your free e-mail provider switches names, etc.? For instance when Adelphia was purchased by Comcast, everyone who was using johndoe@adelphia.net had to pay a lot of money for new business cards and other changes. At that point, wouldn’t you realize that instead of changing to johndoe@comcast.net, wouldn’t it make more sense to use johndoe@yourcompany.com? As long as your domain name is paid up, you’d never have to worry about changing the e-mail address again. Simple enough?

Filed Under: Promote Your Website, Technology, Your Website

How to Avoid Being Banned by Search Engines

Posted on August 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Search engines will ban web sites that try to improve their rankings artificially, so it’s important not to do anything accidentally that even hints at trying to fool them. Use the checklist below to help you avoid any misunderstandings between your web site and the search engines.

Cloaking is for Romulans not Websites!
Cloaking is an artificial technique that malicious users employ to deliver to search engines content that’s not delivered to web site visitors. Some web sites try to trick search engines by delivering specific content that only the search engines will see.

Avoid Using “Doorway” Pages
Doorway pages, are web pages or domain names that are stuffed with keyphrases and submitted to search engines. Usually no meaningful content, just high value keywords meant to lure visitors into a website that may have no such relevant content. Search engines hate these tactics and so do visitors.

Stuffing is for Thanksgiving not your Website
Make sure your web site’s most important keywords are in every description, but don’t stuff too many keywords into it! Directory editors don’t like descriptions that basically read like a list of keywords.

SEO Takes Work
When it comes to optimizing your web site for search engines, there is no one single, magic solution. It takes time and patience to achieve high rankings, but you can work to boost your search engine rankings by following tips from SEO industry experts, using the checklists above, and remaining diligent about optimizing and promoting your web site. Don’t use artificial techniques.

Filed Under: Promote Your Website, Your Website

Alpine Web Media Website Updated

Posted on August 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment

It’s been awhile but we at Alpine Web Media, LLC have completed an upgrade of our website. Like the mechanic who is so busy his own car never gets fixed, we finally had a few days to make some changes and get the website up to 2011 standards.

A lot has changed in the web design world over the past few years. Now, instead of designing static, HTML websites, customers are requesting content management systems (CMS) type websites. Thankfully, since WordPress 3.0 came out with a major overhaul, that is now much more affordable than in the past.

Because of this great new breakthrough, we can now offer affordable real estate websites that tie into MLS and IDX systems via widgets and plugins. Check out an example Vermont real estate website here.

We have also found better shopping carts and the best news of all is that some of them are free of cost and opened source. The catch is that for all the best bells and whistles, you’re still going to have to opt for a paid shopping cart or e-commerce system. Here is an example of Open Cart, which we really like for it’s clean appearance and functionality.

And finally, we have added a pricing plan grid which should make selecting a website and web marketing system much easier. We found that most people aren’t really sure what they want so we hope this new pricing plan option works well.

Filed Under: News