The first impression you make on customers may include the e-mail address that you use. An address like janedoe42@hotmail.com looks amateurish, whereas jane@mycompany.com is much more professional. Here’s one way you can make the switch, typically for under $20 a year.

1. Pick and register your business domain name (the part of your e-mail address after the @ sign). If you have a common business name, it might be already taken, so you might have to get a little creative. Some sites that provide this service are godaddy.com and 123-reg.co.uk, or search for domain name registration in your country and check that your choice offers free e-mail forwarding (most do).

2. Sign up for a GMail account. Many other e-mail services will also work. It doesn’t matter too much what this address is, as your contacts usually won’t see it.

3. Set up e-mail to forward to your GMail account. You can usually do this from a control panel that you’ll be given access to after step 1. Instructions for GoDaddy

4. Set up GMail to make it look like you’re sending messages from your new business e-mail address. Set this as your default account.

That’s it! Now you can log into GMail and treat that as your business e-mail address, your contacts won’t be able to tell the difference.

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