How many of us have cringe-worthy email addresses from our youth? My first email address was my dog’s first and middle names (yep, I’m a bit extra) at Hotmail.com. I would never give that out in any professional capacity. An email address is a key to your professional identity. Here are some tips on how to create a professional email address.
Make it pronounceable
Our minds are conditioned to read the sounds in our name and require specific syllable patterns that make it easier for us to read. This helps people to remember and pronounce your email address. If you’re designing a unique email address, find a way to create the letter combinations that will be easy for others to read and say, even if it may be confusing.
Be yourself
This is an essential one to consider. Your professional identity should be more about who you are than your job title or company name. You want to stand out as an individual with this email address, so avoid using generic terms like “info@” or “webmaster@.” It also helps to avoid mislabeling your messages as spam.
Keep it short
Something to consider when creating a professional email address is how long your email address will be. If your domain name is already lengthy, you don’t want your colleagues and customers to have to type a short story just to send you a message. You want it to be memorable and easy to type, but there are certain limits that you need to consider when making sure that it’s not too long. Try to keep the maximum length to about four words or less.
Using Keywords or Identifiers
You can use your name, the name of your company, or other keywords or identifiers as part of your email address. These are good ways to let people know who you are and give them a quick reference point when looking for you on the Internet, but they are not necessarily professional. You should only use this if your entire business is related to the email address somehow.
