## Why Email Still Matters for Small Businesses Online Ever since we’ve been able to ‘log in online’, email has been our go-to communication medium. Emails predate the era of social media platforms, and continue to provide an instant and reliable form of communication. Emails are also easy to use, often free to send, and do a great deal to showcase your competency, and to establish your personal and business reputations. **In short, emails are still a direct line of communication with current clients, prospects, and other stakeholders in your industry–such as suppliers, investors, and staff members.** Unlike telephone communication, emails also reduce the stress of coordinating between time zones and language barriers, saving a ton of time when sending messages. Emails are instant, and can be accessed wherever you have a link to the internet. The popularization of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp do compete with emails, yet emails continue to outrank other conversion routes across many industries. That’s why we say without a doubt that email communication is highly efficient, and great for all your marketing needs. Email streams and campaigns can help you engage with customers, and ultimately keep in touch about updates and special offers. **Why else should you consider using emails to communicate with colleagues, or to stay in touch for personal reasons?** Because you benefit from immediate outreach, unlimited accessibility, records-keeping access, easy tracking, targeted communication, and cost-friendly marketing streams. Let’s take a look at each of these benefits to explore the other ways in which email continues to be the top communication avenue–whatever your communication needs: ## 5 Ways a Personalized Email Host Will Help Your Business ### 1\. Immediate Outreach Unlike other communication methods such as letters and telephones, with a good email host you can compose, send and receive information quickly to just one or thousands. An email gives your customers access to information within a few seconds, and lets them open your communications when it’s convenient for them. Note however that most email hosts do not make it easy to mass message; that is, you’re going to rely on your email marketing system (ActiveCampaign or MailChimp) to send major blasts instead of you sending the same information to each individual. If you’re looking to send mass messages with your hosted email service, you’ll likely have to create a BCC list to blast a ton of emails at once–though be careful with your subject lines as you don’t want them to pop up as spam! ### 2\. Unlimited reach and accessibility Emails sent from a good host can be accessed and used from just about anywhere and everywhere, whether you’re the sender or recipient. You can send emails anytime, anywhere in the world! This endless flexibility and ease of access can be super helpful for international businesses as well, since rarely do time differences have to be considered. ### 3\. Access to email records Email hosts provide great opportunities for organization, for instance, allowing you to keep track of incoming and outgoing messages, which makes it easier for you to go back and reference information you’ve already sent. Email hosting platforms also let you store and categorize information in folders, which helps with communications organization. You have everything saved online in one place, and can even use search functions to access email archives–or other documentation that may have gotten lost. These days, you can even store your files within your email account ‘drive’, which offers up easy access and ease of file sharing when you’re on the go! **Warning:** If your email is attached to your website hosting, and a virus hits your site (or your site goes down, or if your hosting server has an issue) you are going to lose all of your emails unless you have a backup. You can avoid these risks with a separate system, or by using Gmail or another paid business email service. ### 4\. Protects your business reputation As mentioned, if your email host is directly connected to your web host, there is a greater risk that your brand will become associated with a virus, or be vulnerable to spam emails sent by black hat actors. These sorts of intrusions can cause your domain reputation to tank, meaning that your emails (even ones you send for marketing and sales) will end up in spam or phishing folders. With Gmail and other business email services, no such reputation risk exists, leaving you free from the stress of having to troubleshoot your email system every time you want to send an email. ### 5\. Cost-friendly mode of communication Considering the value and effectiveness of emails, it is no surprise that many email hosting platforms offer so much for free. From images to files to audio to video, there is no cost (or a relatively small cost) of sending this information to anyone, anywhere in the world! In addition, it is a paperless method, which saves you from printing costs and contributes to a green and eco-friendly environment. Not to mention of course, that a great email host will negate the risks you might incur by packaging email with your web hosting services. By avoiding these risks, you’ll not only improve site security and longevity, but you’ll save money on troubleshooting any issues that may arise from keeping them connected. ## Time to Separate Your Email Host from Your Web Host Now, by this point you may be thinking: yeah, I want an email host. What’s the big deal? Well, we’re here to tell you that just because you can get email hosting as an ‘all-in-one’ feature of your website hosting package… …doesn’t mean you should. That’s because web hosting and email hosting are two different fish. So, if you want the best emails to reach your customers, getting a separate email host service is what we recommend. The idea is that, by getting a separate email host, you not only get the unique impact you’re looking for, but you’ll improve brand consistency across all your future email marketing efforts. Not to mention, if you end up taking the all-in-one approach, your website hosting may negatively affect your email hosting, and vice versa. One simple corruption to your website could thus render your marketing efforts completely null should you maintain your web hosting and email hosting in one place. That’s what makes separate email and website hosting a no-brainer when it comes to helping you stay organized and safe as you grow your business. It’s also one of the foundations that’s going to help as you scale to accommodate more sales, more conversions, and more customers for your business! We’ve been using a separate email hosting provider since the beginning of The Digital Navigator, and helping clients get their own email hosts is something we take pride in.