You would be a little suspicious if your bill from AT&T came in the mail and it asked you to “Pay to the order of Randall L. Stephenson, CEO” right? Why would AT&T ask you to write to an individual person instead of the company? So why do some websites spend so much money on buying a domain name and building up their site, just to forget their email address?

You are doing yourself a terrible disservice if you own jandee.com, but your email address is jandeejewelry@aol.com.

Opuscule offers a comprehensive Brand Management package for your small business that includes setting up your website email address and showing you how to access it online, on your phone, or through Outlook.

Let’s explore the benefits and negatives of having an email address that differs from your website address.

PROS of having a different email and website

• You don’t have to check two different places for your mail (see below **)

CONS of having a different email and website

• Creates an instant distrust in the legitimacy of the contact
• Shows a lack of caring when it comes to products and services
• Confuses visitors and emailers
• Cannot direct curious traffic through your email address

** If you are comfortable with your yahoo email address, that’s fine, keep it. If you are not expecting much email to come in to your new website, that’s OK too. But don’t skip this step. There is a way to forward all the email that comes into your new website directly to your yahoo. This way, if you didn’t want to check two email addresses each time, you only have to login when you want to respond.

Imagine if Peapod came to your house in a old Toyota pickup truck, you might be suspicious. You would expect their delivery vehicle to be clean, professional, and covered in their branding.

Also, email addresses can help guide curious users to your website. For example, if your email address was  chicago-lawyer@hotmail.com, this would not help drive any traffic to your site. If anything, it would help drive traffic to hotmail.com. My email address is bowman@opuscule.com, and now curious web users know that opuscule.com exists, and that I have something to do with it.

Our thoughts are simple: fix this, immediately, and if you don’t know how, we can help. Fixing this is so simple and in some cases, free. Ensuring you have a consistent email address and website is part of creating a consistent Brand Management.

Contact an experienced Small Business Brand Management expert in New York today for your free initial consultation.