Have you ever noticed that the advertisements shown on your Gmail account are ALWAYS on your “Interest list”? For example, the lip gloss advertisement displayed on your Gmail account is exactly the same product you just browsed on Sephora website an hour ago. Isn’t that a bit of a stretch to call a “coincidence”?
An automated algorithm is used in free webmail (referring to free web-based email accounts) such as Gmail to determine which ads are shown. Despite the fact that Google claims no humans actually “read the emails”, it is safe to conclude that your contents in free email accounts are being scanned. The more “targeted” the ads that Gmail displays are, the greater the chance users will click. And, advertising is the key that supports all the features Google provides for free.
This leads to the second question: is it safe to use free email services at all? This really depends on what purposes you use the free email services for. Using an @gmail.com or @hotmail.com account to subscribe to your favourite brand names or making a reservation at the restaurant for your anniversary date would not cause any “life-threatening” issues. However, it is strongly recommended that users should separate different email address accounts for different purposes. For example, for sensitive data such as personal banking account login and PayPal/credit cards account login, you should consider using emails that you can have more control of instead of free webmail services.
Getting yourself a personal domain not only gives you an online identity but also an alternative way to acquire more control over your email account. You can customize different settings in the control panel for your domain email accounts. For ease of access, you can even set up your domain email account on your mobile devices (iPhone or any other Android devices) and computer using a mail client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Mac Mail, etc.). We’ve created series of video tutorials on how to set up your domain email accounts on different devices. Check out this playlist on our YouTube channel. Also, all emails received at our mail servers are checked against public blacklists for spam and email viruses.
Many web hosting providers offer email services which are already included in the hosting plans. For example, our Basic Hosting plan offers 10 email accounts and only costs you $1.95/month. Aside from security reasons, domain email accounts help you differentiate your business from your competitors. Even if you are a student, having a personalized domain name while sending out your resume would make you stand out from the other applicants, who most likely have a Hotmail, or Gmail Email address.
Registering a domain at Doteasy only costs you $15 a year, which is significantly less than the amount of money spent on coffee. With our Basic Hosting plan, not only will you have 10 email accounts set up using your personalized domain, you can even create a website in just a few clicks using our powerful but easy-to-use web apps such as website creator, hosted gallery, webform, blog and forums builder, with NO coding experienced required. For a limited time only, you can register a .COM/.NET/.ORG (and much more) for $5.95 with the coupon code 2013EDSCOM (1st Year Only. Promo ends on Apr 7, 2013).
Act quick before someone takes your domain name!