Creating a professional image

What separates the successful small businesses from the home/hobby businesses is the manner in which they promote themselves.

If you have a website, what is your domain name? When you find business web addresses, you undoubtedly find a registered domain name more professional and reliable than one using a shared domain. (i.e. http://www.yourbusinessname.com/ vs. www.yahoo.com/yourbusinessname) Just going that one extra step and registering a unique domain name puts you in a more reputable light.

The same goes with your email. Most companies offer you at least one specialized email address to match your domain address. Using an email address of yourname@yourbusiness.com is much better than yourname@aol.com or yourname@yahoo.com. Not only does it show a more professional image, but it actually is better for your business. With the Spam laws and the filters in place on a variety of the consumer-based service providers, many do not offer a good way of emailing your business clientele. In fact, you may be getting blocked quite easily by sending and receiving messages through these services.

Just by taking this extra step shows you want to create a professional image, and that you care about the way your business presents itself to clients.