You there, yes you!
You with the email @gmail.com, or @btinternet.com.
Huddle up, come closer. And bring along your friend who has his own website – yep, the one painted on his van, the one that looks good, professional even, except for the line painted underneath that shows his email @talktalk.co.uk
Do you drink beer, wine or coffee?
OK, so you’re not on the breadline then.
Did you type some text into a search engine or even at the top of your web browser to come to this page?
Great, so you’ve passed the second test.
You, yes YOU dear reader are perfectly able to take off the stabilisers and go out on your own into the world of the web and set up your own email and/or web presence.
If you have ANY professional ambitions, the very fact that you’re still using the email you were given by your service provider, is letting you down in a big way. It’s telling me and your potential customers or future employers that although we’re living in 2014, you still haven’t grasped the most basic of web skills.
It’s time you changed this. And I’ll even hold your hand and show you what to do.
Give me 2 minutes of your time. Can you do that for me?
Great.
Go to a good domain registrar. I use 1&1 (this link is an affiliate link and pays a few pennies to help keep me in beer/wine/coffee but if you’d prefer a non-affiliate link you can click here instead)
Click on the ‘domains’ section.
Put your full name in the search box and try the .com option. If that fails look for .co.uk, .net, .me.uk
Keep drilling down until you find a free domain.
Click buy, fill in your details and make payment of between £0.99 and £1.99 for your first year.
Sit back and relax. It will take some time to set up your new domain to handle your email, but for now you’ve taken the first step in taking control of the internet and your own web identity.
2 minutes.
What next? You’re now going to need to set up your email account. In signing up, you’ll have been given details on how to either forward your mail to your existing email account, use 1&1’s webmail service or set up your preferred email program to use your new domain.
If you’re still unsure, or would like me to write a post to show you the best way to do this, just ask in the comments.
But for now, bask in the small victory of knowing you are building your own identity online, free of any other corporation.
Leave a Reply