In this post I’ll show you how to get the pro look of a branded email address (such as [email protected]) while still using Gmail’s awesome feature set… without anyone knowing.
It takes only 3 easy steps.
FIRST A BRIEF ASIDE
Thanks to everyone who has given me permission to send you emails and bonus content using the sidebar signup form. I’m working on some fun things exclusively for my Insiders. It’s great to see so many photographers visiting from outside the US – particularly Norway, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Also, I appreciate everyone who has written to say thanks for the free e-book, especially my fellow DWF members. You’re welcome.
LET’S TALK GMAIL
With all the emails coming in, I’ve been surprised by how many wedding photographers are using Gmail addresses (such as [email protected]) for their businesses.
I certainly understand the allure – Gmail’s features and accessibility are fantastic!
Nonetheless, Gmail is generally perceived as being for personal use, just like free website providers such as Blogspot and Tumblr. There is a business legitimacy cost to not having an email address on your business website’s domain (such as [email protected]). Using personal resources is the opposite of what an established, trustworthy company would be expected to do.
WHY A BRANDED EMAIL MATTERS
Your choice of email matters because in weddings trust is the coin of the realm. That means doing everything possible to demonstrate legitimacy, organization, and professionalism. This is especially true when trying to book long distance weddings as a location-independent free-range photographer! No matter what work you’re after, it is always good business practice to distinguish yourself from your less-polished competitors as much as possible.
Sending your potential clients messages from a formal email address is an easy way to bring your presentation up a notch.
WHY IS GMAIL SO GREAT?
Gmail is free, accessible anywhere you can get on the web, and offers a peerless feature set. It doesn’t work like traditional email, it’s smarter.
Gmail brilliantly:
- Groups your email exchanges into conversations (threads) rather than just stacking your inbox with individual messages. This is a far more logical way to manage your correspondence with people.
- Eliminates traditional folders and allows you to ‘label’ messages instead. This allows a message to be placed into multiple categories, such as ‘customer receipts’ and ‘print sales’.
- Provides an ‘archive’ for all the messages that no longer belong in your inbox. This way of filing saves you from constantly being forced to choose between dumping messages into folders or the trash.
- Offers, by most accounts, the best spam catching ability in the world.
WHY ISN’T A GMAIL ADDRESS GREAT FOR BUSINESS?
- Simply put, a Gmail address doesn’t look professional. It looks like you’re using your personal account. I know we live in an increasingly casual world where this kind of personal/business overlap is more acceptable. However when trust is required the appearance of professionalism still goes a long way with customers.
- Gmail is free, with zero warranty. If Gmail fails like it did in 2011, so does your business. This is highly unlikely to occur, of course. But it is also highly unlikely that big banks and corporations could be hacked and expose hundreds of thousands of customers’ account data.
GET THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
In a matter of minutes you can set up Gmail so it can send and receive emails from your business address. It all works quietly behind the scenes, without anyone knowing you’re using Google’s awesome platform!
Don’t worry, your regular Gmail address will still work uninterrupted. Your new-and-improved inbox will now hold the messages from both accounts.
HACK YOUR GMAIL IN 3 EASY STEPS
STEP 1: Create an email address on your own domain
The process for this is different for every website host, but it’s very easy once you know where to look. If you get stuck, your host’s support techs can easily help you with this common request.
First, create an email address to use for your business, such as [email protected], with your web hosting provider. In all likelihood you don’t have to worry about setting up clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Mail to read your messages. Virtually all hosts have webmail portals so you can log in right with your browser.
Make sure that your new email address works and actually receives messages; you’ll need to use it for the next step.
STEP 2: Create a Gmail identity for your account
Gmail's top right 'gear' icon for Mail settings
Now we have to help Google handle your business email address. All the mail settings you’ll need to adjust can be accessed through the gear icon in the upper right hand corner.
The first stop (shown below) is the Accounts and Import tab >> Send Mail As >> Add Another Email Address You Own. This section lets you create an ‘identity’ – an email address other than your standard Gmail address. Enter your new branded email addy.
Find Gmail's 'Accounts and Import' settings
Add a Gmail Identity
SMTP, which the next step asks you for, is the web server protocol that actually sends your messages. If you have an SMTP server for your branded email, enter it here. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can just use Gmail’s SMTP server to send your messages. (The only downside is that Gmail’s server names will appear in your messages’ coded header details. That’s no big deal because virtually no one ever sees this information.)
To complete the process Gmail will send a test email to your branded account with a link so it can verify that you actually own the account.
Once you’ve verified your email address, Gmail adds a dropdown menu in the FROM: field whenever you’re composing a message. This dropdown lets you choose which email account you’re sending your message from!
One other thing.
While you’re on this settings page, check the option ‘Reply from the same address the message was sent to’.
Set Gmail to respond using the correct account
By default Gmail responds to all messages using your standard Gmail address. It’d be a real hassle to keep changing the FROM: dropdown when writing your business responses, but fortunately Google provides this option as a fix.
Once checked, Gmail will automatically respond to messages from whichever address they were sent to.
STEP 3: Set your new business address to forward all emails to your Gmail address
Much like Step 1, this is a simple setting that every host allows. Simply set your business email account to automatically forward all its messages to your current Gmail address ([email protected]).
NOTE: This has nothing to do with the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ section in Gmail’s Mail settings. You must make this change using your web host’s site manager.
That’s it! Now Gmail will:
- Display all of your business emails (thanks to the forwarding you set up in Step 3).
- Manage your business emails as conversations with all the other great Google features.
- Automatically respond to business emails with your branded address in the FROM: field.
You are finished.
TEST EVERYTHING
Before sharing your new branded email address, make sure to test everything!
Send an email to your business account to be sure that it shows up in Gmail. Then respond to it from Gmail to be sure the FROM: address is correct.
A USEFUL TIP – Create a filter that labels all business emails
You may find it useful to view just your business messages like a separate inbox. Gmail allows you to do this easily by creating a ‘filter’ and a ‘label’.
A filter is a rule you can create in Gmail that manages incoming messages according to criteria you specify such as words in the subject line, the sender, or the recipient. You can make filters that send certain messages straight to the trash, mark messages as being read, or ‘label’ them which is Gmail’s version of putting them into folders.
Create a Gmail filter
To create a sidebar link that just displays your business emails:
- Go to Gmail’s search box and click the little dropdown menu to display the Search Options.
- Put your business email address in the TO: field.
- Click the option at the bottom of the menu to ‘Create filter with this search’.
- In the next stage of this form, select the option to ‘Apply the Label’ and create a ‘New Label’ such as @myphotography.
- Click ‘Create filter’.
Now you can instantly access all of your business messages by clicking the sidebar label called @myphotography.
BACKUP GMAIL
With this system you’ll always have a copy of incoming messages in your branded email account’s real mailbox. If this is important to you, make sure that mailbox does not automatically delete messages after a set period of time.
Alternately, you can backup your entire Gmail account FREE each week using the cloud service Backupify. For a few bucks a month they’ll do it nightly.
BONUS: TRICK OUT YOUR INBOX WITH GMAIL LABS
Gmail allows users to enhance their Gmail experience with cutting edge features called ‘Labs’. You can find the list of Lab options by clicking Mail Settings (the gear) >> Labs.
Add some Gmail Labs
Here are five great ones:
- Send & Archive – This adds another Send button that simultaneously archives the conversation. It’s great because there’s usually no reason to keep it in your inbox after you’ve responded; the add-on saves you a click.
- Canned Responses – This Lab adds a dropdown link in the message composer to insert snippets of pre-written text. This is a tremendous time saver for things you have to write routinely such as driving directions, meeting reminders, and answers to questions such as ‘can I print my photos?’.
- SMS (text messaging) in Chat + SMS in Chat Gadget + Right-Side Chat – This is actually a group of three labs that turns your Gmail in a text-messaging engine. Collectively they’ll add a text messaging chat box on the right side of your browser. This is a great tool for photographers who frequently communicate with clients through text messages during business hours.
- Quick Links – This allows you to add more links to the left side of your inbox. If you often click a label – let’s say ‘Wedding Inquiries’ – you can get to it faster by creating a sidebar link for it. I routinely use one that only shows Unread messages.
- Boomerang (Send Later) – This is not a Lab but a free third-party add-on to Gmail that adds message scheduling functionality to Gmail. If you’re a late night writer but want clients to receive your messages during normal business hours, this is for you. Get it at www.boomeranggmail.com. (Available for Firefox and Chrome only.)
