is forever (that is, as long as you pay the yearly fee). Your host is only for the time of the contract. Your domain can be switched between hosts, if you like.
The advantages of such:
- You can have your own website with general information on your consulting work. Might give some hits and work.
- It looks much more professional to have an emailaddress in your own domain than any hotmail or gmail or aol-address. For example, s.algoud@algoud_consulting.com is better then s.algoud85@gmail.com and if the firm grows, your colleague will be j.doe@algoud.com.
- It will stay as long as you want.
On the short run, the most important thing is that your new provider has webmail (so you can use your account from anywhere) and possibly pop3-also, so you can keep using Outlook or Thunderbird as you are used to. If webmail, be sure it has enough capacity to store all necessary mails. And a good uptime and guarantees for backup (if using webmail) are nice also.
On the long run, you might be interested in tools to host your own website. But, as I said, it's rather easy to switch hosts.
I'm sure some of our American members will have suggestions for reliable hosters.
Kees
I am a self-employed consultant who relies heavily on email to stay in touch with clients, business contacts, and friends. Years ago, I used an AOL address, but then migrated to a comcast account when I got their broadband service. I just switched over to Verizon FIOS (much more reliable!) and am faced with trying to let dozens of people know I have a new address (since I don't want to keep paying Comcast just to use their email account). And, who knows, I may leave Verizon in a few years. I am uncomfortable with a Gmail account since I don't necessarily like Google's computers reading my emails and deciding what ads to serve based on the content.
I am thinking I should just get my own domain name and set up email with it. That way, I can keep it for life. Is that a good idea? If so, what hosting service should I use? I've heard of GoDaddy because of their superbowl ads, but don't know where else to look. Suggestions?
Thanks.

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