Nowadays, a business’s success is fundamentally determined by its online presence. It is essential to pay attention, for example, to a well-structured, fast and reliable website, the management of social media accounts, SEO, high-quality content, and also to email communication.

A great many people still believe that an email address provided by a free service – such as Gmail – is suitable for business correspondence, because it is simple, convenient and already installed on most people’s phones; however, this can fundamentally damage a business’s reputation.

Why does an inappropriate email address spoil the overall impression?

The answer is extremely simple: if a business or service provider relies solely on such a free email service, it undermines its credibility in the eyes of customers and simply makes it appear less professional compared to a domain-based email service hosted on a web hosting platform.

Contrary to popular belief, these email clients are now easy to use and can be easily integrated with smartphones, whilst making a much more professional impression when the company’s domain name – rather than a free alternative – appears in the full address.

Furthermore, most free email services cannot be customised, do not allow the use of templates, or the addition of company signatures, images or logos to enhance messages; and even where such options are available, the emails do not look at all like those sent by a professional business.

However, whilst it damages a business’s reputation, there are a number of advantages to web hosting email that are worth considering. Let’s take a look at what these are!

Web hosting email is more secure

People now accept that they live in a digital world where security requires the utmost attention. This is particularly important when it comes to email, as business emails may contain sensitive information for which cyber security is of paramount importance.

Personal data, financial information and even trade secrets may appear in these, and free email services are far less secure in this respect than web hosting email services.

A single hosting plan incorporates a range of technologies, security protocols designed specifically for this purpose and GDPR compliance, ensuring that your emails are always secure.

In addition, SSL/TLS encryption deserves a special mention here, as it ensures that messages are always transmitted in an encrypted form – meaning only the intended recipients can read them, whilst hackers cannot view the content – which significantly reduces the risk of data theft, for example.

Although free email services also provide spam protection, web hosting email services offer this to a much higher standard. Modern filtering systems are constantly updated, ensuring adequate protection against the latest threats.

The web hosting email service is also sufficiently scalable

A major advantage of web hosting email services is that, unlike free alternatives, they offer users outstanding scalability, which is particularly important for a business that is growing or changing in a flexible manner.

You can specify from the outset how much hosting is to be allocated to your email service; if this proves insufficient, it can easily be expanded at any time, whilst messages can be accessed by several users simultaneously – a feature that can be particularly important in a team-based environment.

In addition to the customisable display of messages, the web hosting email service can be dynamically tailored in every respect to the needs and current requirements of businesses, and users need not worry about annoying adverts.

Web hosting email can be managed centrally

If we encounter a problem with a free email service, there’s no one we can report the fault to, no one we can ask for help from – we’re left with no choice but to wait idly for the support team, which is typically provided in English. This cannot happen with web hosting email, as the system administrator can handle it.

Thanks to centralised management, it is possible to quickly fix errors, modify problematic elements, carry out updates, create backups and make changes to the user interface; furthermore, the creation, modification and even deletion of new accounts can all be carried out in-house.

Another huge advantage of web hosting email is that it can be easily integrated with other business applications, such as CRM systems or project management tools, which can make productivity and administration much more efficient.

The web hosting email service offers extra features that we might not even have thought of before. For example, access can be monitored and configured, activities can be logged, whilst regular maintenance and technical support ensure continuous, reliable operation.

Web hosting email is much more reliable than free solutions

Reliability is another feature that speaks in favour of web hosting alongside email services. It is vital that the messaging service is constantly available to staff and operates completely without disruption.

When choosing the right web hosting, it is essential to ensure – particularly for those with a systems administration background – that email services remain operational at all times, whilst minimising downtime so that staff can continue to work without interruption.

As well as email, the issue of data backup is also a significant consideration when it comes to web hosting. Unlike free solutions, regular and full data backups are carried out here, thus preventing data loss. Should a problem arise, all emails can be restored very quickly, ensuring that business operations are not disrupted by any inconvenience.

With the better web hosting providers, you can set up continuous backups from the outset; these are important not only for the website but also for email, as they enable immediate – or at the very least, rapid – recovery in the event of any problems.

• email
• web hosting
• business
• spam