Is your email address still yourname+yearofbirth@gmail.com? Or perhaps it’s something more exciting like iroxthiswholeworld@att.net, or drunkdude164@rocketmail.com? It may be ok to give those out to your friends. But you do not want to give those out to your clients or patients.

In the world of business, you want to have your own professional, branded email address and website that only promotes your practice.

Why?
Professionalism. Compare having the email address Balla4life3@yahoo.com versus henry@evosiawellness.com Which one better represents your professional practice as an acupuncturist? Which one looks like a real business? Everything you give out to your customers should represent you, right down to the smallest detail.

Trustworthiness. In the anonymous Internet world, it’s really difficult to know who you can trust. There are scams everywhere. Even in real life, we often run through a subconscious list of indicators to see if someone is trustable or not. So whose website would you give your money to: www.verizon.net/~theycmerollin56 or www.evosiawellness.com? Your custom branded website, and the email address it is based on, will add to your credibility. They bring congruence to the professional image you want to maintain for your existing and future patients.

Usability. yourname@yourdomain.com is a lot easier to remember than something you were trying to mash together at the last minute because all the good easy usernames were taken on Yahoo. You want to make it easy to remember, both for you and your patients.

Marketing. Having your own domain name and custom email address reinforces brand awareness for your practice. Having your practice's email promoting gmail is like wearing a Nike swish symbol on your lab coat. You become a walking advertisement for someone else's business. Plus, info@evosiawellness.com sounds a lot better than evosiawellness@gmail.com, doesn't it? Marketing is important. It will set you apart from the pack.

How do I go about getting my own domain name and email? Read our article on How to Get Your Domain Name and Branded Email

This article is written by Evotion, a technology company that specializes in providing technology services for changemakers, including acupuncturists and Chinese Medicine practitioners. The original article was published on the Evosia Blog, a blog about holistic living.