Email Hosting

There are three primary email hosting services, free hosting, dedicated hosting and hosting that is part of a web hosting package.

Dedicated email is handled by specialized hosting companies that provide email without other web services. These can be billed out in a variety of ways including by the email account, by the server – if you go with a dedicated server and in some rare instances by the email. Many small to medium size businesses use hosting providers while most large companies have the internal infrastructure to handle their own email needs.

When looking for a quality hosting provider be sure to look at these features:

• Disk storage – how much space do they allow you to use to store your email, the more the better.
• Number of Email Accounts – the more the better.
• iCal support – if you are a Mac or iPhone user this is important if you want to sync your email to your iCal.
• Webmail – This allows users to access their mail from a web browser – all email providers should offer this.
• IMAP – This is a common protocol email applications and cell phones use to access email.
• SMPT – Another protocol various applications use to access email.
• Anti-Spam technology – This is an on going battle for every email user. Make sure your email-hosting provider has great anti-spam software and procedures in place. It can save you hours of wasted time sorting thru junk emails.
• Anti-Virus technology – Like anti-spam technology this is also very important. You want to make sure you don’t catch a virus as well as not sending one to all of your friends.
• Contacts/Address book Import/Export – Make sure your email provider can sync with your contact management software.
• Webmail Spell Checker – Nothing looks more un-professional than an email with misspelled words. Make sure your email hosting provider offers spell checking.
• Auto Responders – These are very nice to have but usually not a deal breaker.
• Sharable Folders – Are you able to share folders with your colleagues – if you work with a team this can improve work flow.
• Pricing – Does the pricing fit into your budget.

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