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The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find free email providers that offer web-based email

The benefit of web-based email is that you can access it easily from any computer. It is also not tied to your Internet Service Provider (ISP), so you can keep it even if you move or change jobs.

I recommend: Google's Gmail is a commonly used provider of free business email that provides a large in-box, spam filtering and integration with other popular Google features. Yahoo! Mail is another popular web-based email service that integrates with other online features at the Yahoo! website. Inbox.com offers a full-featured free email service, including a large amount of storage space. GMX provides a web-based solution that manages all your emails, allows you to work on more than one email at the same time and has lots of other features. After you review its main page, Create Your Free E-Mail Account.

Look for free email accounts that support POP3 and IMAP access

Post Office Protocol (POP3) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) are standard methods email applications use to communicate with an email server to download email. Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is another less common way to retrieve email. Most free secure email providers offer virus and spam filters, not encrypted services.

I recommend: Choose the free personal email available from SoftHome or the free Guest level at FastMail. Try the free version of Safe-mail for another option.

Get free personalized email along with other message features

The connectivity of the Internet and the increasing digitization of many forms of communication make it easy to bundle email, voicemail and fax services. Instead of having a dedicated fax machine, receive faxes in your email and print them from your computer. Check voicemail on the Internet or receive it as a sound file attached to emails.

I recommend: Use mail2web to pick up your email from any web-based email client, along with several other free features including instant messaging. Try several email and message-related services from uReach Technologies free for 30 days to test the value of its low-cost services, which include fax by email and voicemail.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Keep one free email account from a web-based service such as Gmail as a backup to your regular email to use when you switch between email addresses or if your regular email has an outage.

Guide to Free Email Providers

Use free email accounts for more than keeping in touch with family and friends

By CY Glover

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Keep the free email address you currently use when switching ISPs

As a business grows, so does the need for free email service. Providers such as Yahoo! and Gmail allow you to keep your current email address when changing ISPs without interruption. Your free personalized email is unaffected, always accessible and goes with you. A free SMTP email provider transfers your emails from one server to another, which allows you access from anywhere at anytime.

I recommend: Use free email utilities to help you manage day-to-day business tasks. Take advantage of free email retrieval and notification utility, email storage that allows lifetime retrieval access and email shells to block cyber-junk mail.

Make sure your free email address doesn't cost you

Proceed with caution when taking advantage of services that claim to be free. Failing to read the fine print can cost you. Most free email providers offer appealing upgrades for a small fee and allow you only a limited version for free. However, avoid getting billed for a free email service by doing a little investigative work and reading the terms and agreements.

I recommend: Review various types of free email services. You will find many reputable companies from which to choose. By answering a few simple questions, you can start using your free personalized email account today.

Connect to an online community through your free email provider

Free email services provide additional options when you receive your account. Take advantage of a full online experience by creating blogs for your business. Be creative when choosing services that will enhance your online presence.

I recommend: Trying Google’s online blog to familiarize yourself with the concept of providing current and potential business clients with tips and facts, informational columns and other helpful information through blogging.

Receive a business webspace with your free email account

With many free email accounts, additional upgrades such as your own free personal webspace are optional. Publish logos, photos and graphics to make your business space more appealing to your target audience.

I recommend: Windows Live Hotmail (formerly Hotmail) takes your online visibility to another level. Implement your marketing strategies and other initiatives through your blog communications.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Determine the features and special services that are beneficial to your business with your free email accounts.
• •  Read the details before signing up. Don't provide credit card or personal checking account information if you are truly seeking free email service providers.
• •  Keep in mind that service upgrades such as fax or online phone services will cost a nominal fee. Know in advance what the additional fees are.

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Combine your free email service with a free email client

There are a number of choices if you want to download your email to a desktop application rather than check your email on the web. Several good choices are applications that you can download at no cost. These feature-filled applications save you money while making your email easily accessible and organized.

I recommend: Thunderbird 2 by Mozilla is a powerful and flexible email application with a customizable spam filter and other security functions. Eudora is another email client that has a free version. It works on Windows or the Mac OS.

Protect your privacy with a secure free email address

Email is vulnerable to computer viruses, so any email service that screens for viruses is more secure than one that doesn't. Encrypted email utilizes a code to prevent people from reading it unless they have the ability to decipher the code. Unsolicited email, or spam, is another problem that free secure email providers try to address.

I recommend: Hushmail provides free secure email and the pay-for versions that add even more security functions. Sign up for free web-based email that protects your privacy at CryptoMail.

Become a free email provider yourself by offering email services on your website

Free email hosting can bring repeat traffic to your website. Give your users the chance to sign up for a pay-for or free email account, depending on your business model. Promote your business by adding a slogan or message to the end of every one of your user's email messages.

I recommend: Provide web-based email on your site using the services from Everyone.net. Give your visitors the option of checking their email right from your website using Zapzone Network (ZZN).

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you already have a website domain name, check with your web host to see how many free personalized email accounts come with it before purchasing more or signing up for free email elsewhere.
• •  When you have multiple free email accounts, you can manage them by collecting them in one place. Many email client applications, as well as some web-based ones, allow you to check several different email addresses in one place, so you don't miss important messages.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Web-based email

Web-based email is email that you access directly on the web, in your web browser. You don't need a separate application or email client, you just go to the website and log in. Many free email providers offer web-based email.

I recommend: Read about web-based email and how it works at Learn the Net.

Email client or email software

Email software, often called an email client, is the software that runs on your hard drive, and you use it to read and send email. This software interacts with the server on your email host to download new emails and to send out email messages that you write.

I recommend: Find a list of email-related terms and their definitions, including email client, at Microsoft.

Advertising tagline

One way free email providers make money is by placing a tagline advertising their website at the end of email sent by those using their services.

I recommend: Check out a list of free email providers and learn which ones append a tagline onto emails sent from their service at freebielist.com.

Email forwarding

Email forwarding is a service in which the provider re-routes and sends your email to a different address, which you specify ahead of time. You can use it to collect email from several different addresses at your main address, to send your work mail to a co-worker who covers for you while you're on vacation and for many other useful purposes.

I recommend: Get an extensive explanation of email forwarding and how you can use it at WiseGEEK.

Messaging service

A messaging service combines email, fax and voicemail into one offering to make it easier to manage all of the ways people can send you messages.

I recommend: Find out about a service that lets you receive faxes and voicemail in your email box at K7.net, a division of International Telcom.

Free email for webmasters

One way to drive traffic to your website is to provide free email to your users. This is also a good way of ensuring repeat visitors, and it can help raise awareness of your site with people your users email.

I recommend: Find out how you can offer free email on your website at Everyone.net.