A bit ago I was talking with my fellow Floridian Music Therapist friend, Carolyn Dachinger, and we got on the subject of email address’. We all know that it’s unprofessional to have a vanity email address and when you graduate from college you will no longer have your university email so…
What should your email address be?
My thoughts are to keep it:
- Short
- Sweet
But, I really have no knowledge about this! I just use my name because it felt like the right thing to do. I set it up a long time ago and never looked back.
So, I thought I’d throw it out to you…
What are your tips for creating your professional email address?
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
If one has a website, which more and more music therapists out there seem to be doing, it’s quite easy and affordable to get an email address that is associated to one’s domain name. At least, that’s what I’ve done.
I appreciate having a personalized, yet professional email address that is separate from my personal accounts and is connected to my website. It makes things seamless.
Another great post, Michelle!
I also have a few email accounts, but in particular, created an email account specifically for my blog/domain name. It is just simpler that way, and readers can easily remember your blog name as the email. The easier you make it to remember, the more likely people are to remember it!
Here are my thoughts on the e-mail issue.
1. Pre-website
If you don’t yet have a website, I would suggest an e-mail address that gives a shortened form of your name or a professional moniquer (i.e. jlmt@____)
“JLMT” is a shortened form of “John Lawrence, Music Therapist” but even without knowing that you know that I am a “MT”.
2. Post-website/blog
Use either “contact@website” or “info@website”. Unless you are trying to sell a specific product/advertise your services, I would also suggest that you avoid a website entirely and post frequently to a blog. This allows you to “interact w/your audience”. A website tends to be “too static” these days IMO. Radical I know!
I’m with Faith. When your website is in your email address, then you can switch from gmail to yahoo to msn to hotmail with NO bumps in the road because you OWN your email address. =) And if everyone knows that your primary email address, then you never have to worry about changing it, even when you change mail clients.
My two cents. Good question!
I’m a huge huge fan of google products, so naturally, I use gmail. It’s an @ that everyone knows, so I am not stuck having to spell the full address! I’m also too spacey to remember to check e-mails through different providers, so I have a personal and a business gmail account that I bounce between with some of the awesome tools google has to offer.
Re: the actual address part, I use my business name with some abbreviation KeyChangesMTS
What a terrific topic! And one that’s especially relevant since more and more therapists are getting online with websites and blogs and social networking pages. I also agree with Faith and Kat. My professional e-mail address is linked to my website, which helps me immensely in keeping my personal and work messages separate! I think it also helps clients and colleagues remember my e-mail address and website easier since they’re the same.
One note about John’s suggestion to not have a website and only post to a blog– I recently read a therapist’s blog article regarding the ethical dilemmas of blogging and allowing others to comment/interact with you (as therapist) on your blog. Depending on the subject matter and comments, it could be construed as offering professional advice which begins to get into professional behavior/relationship issues. By answering a commenter’s question to your blogpost seeking advice from you, you could be entering into a professional relationship with that person, and that entails some responsibility that you may not necessarily wish to undertake from simply posting to your blog. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea– just an area in which we need to be mindful of our conduct.
I am a fan of multiple addresses. I keep my business on one (promoting my web address, of course) and from this site I continue to keep in cOntact with my direct biz contracts and individuals looking to do biz with Developing Melodies. I have a professional address that I use for everything else, managing list serve email, professional organizations and subscriptions to newsletters and such. I then have a personal address for all shopping, family and non Music stuff.