Although people like me have had hotmail email addresses for over ten years, it does not mean that using this address in the workplace is either credible or professional.  I do not think that using a common, free email looks good on a resume to a top tier law firm.  Nor does sending emails to prospective clients or even new social networking associates with an email that is littered with ads seem an approach that means that people will take you seriously.  Using the email address provided to you by your Internet Service provider does not look much better (In Australia the ominous bigpond.com.au address prevails) and both of these have the disadvantage that the services could end at any time.

I have found a solution (I have not been paid for this) that will provide you with reliable, free, professional looking email for the price of going to a movie once a year. It also means that you can get your own name at your domain (andrew rather than and0ew8492 or similar that you will get at hotmail).

After having a week full of study, exams, routers blowing up and work there has not been much that is positive - however I was able to solve one issue that has been bugging me. I have had email hosted at terabell.com however my hosting account does not give me much storage, nor is it entirely reliable.  I have found a service that provides me with up to 100 free email addresses; each with over 4GB of storage and run by one of the world’s biggest companies. (Disclosure; I have not been paid for this post nor will I benefit from it in any way)

Google is promoting its "Google Apps".  This is a collection of online tools such as calendar, documents and email that it is hoping will displace Microsoft’s dominance in the business world.  So What - I hear you ask, how does that help me create an email that looks professional so I can apply for that lucrative clerkship or job? They are also opening it up for small businesses to host your own email.  You do not even need to have a web page hosted; you just need control over a domain.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Find a Domain Name that is free, and sounds like your name or is professional in nature.  I would suggest that you go with a .com as they generally look the most professional to me.  You can find and register domains here, you can also find vouchers for this service at RetailMeNot - meaning you may get a domain for approx $6 for one year
2. You can go to https://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/editions_spe.html and sign up for a small business account with the domain name that you have just registered; creating an email address where you would like to receive updates.
3. You then need to Verify that you own the domain - Go to your registrar (where you bought your domain) and then follow Google’s instructions on how to verify
4. You then need to change your MX records with your registrar - Don’t worry this sounds complex but there seem to be instructions with Google for most registrars
5. You then need to setup as many emails as you like (you can also create a catch all email so all emails that are not to an address go to this email)
6. You can point things like mail.yourdomain.com to google so you can get to your mail easily - this just involves changing some more CNAME records as in step 3
7. If you are like me, you probably don’t want to login online each time and want an email client.  I use thunderbird.  To do this simply login to your email account and go to settings and activate IMAP - then follow the instructions located here to connect to your mail account (just substitute any emails in the example from gmail.com to whatever your email is you want to login with)

You will now have email that is reliable, ad free, comes from a domain that you control (so you are not in the same boat as all those spammers who use hotmail ) and is something that people will take seriously.

These instructions may sound complex but I have been through it twice and it took me 15min the second time.  Best of all - provided you pay for your domain each year you should be able to use this forever without having to go through those instructions again.

I doub’t that you will use the 4GB but if you want more you can pay for more.

I think that it is doubly impressive as most people will think what you have done is very difficult and you will increase your technical abilities in their eyes without much effort as all. 

So…. I urge you to loose your old daggy hotmail - and use your own email - it is close enough to free and will be something you will not regret.

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If you have had problems implementing this or understanding my instructions please comment below.