Lets face it, Google isn’t going anywhere. Chances are that even if you aren’t using the Google search engine, you are interacting with Google and may not even know it.
But why is a Gmail account a must have?
- An Alternative To Your Work Email – Its a great email account to use for personal email. When I sign up to buy things online where I am concerned I may receive spam email, I use my Gmail account. I also use this account when I buy personal things online so those emails don’t go into my work email account. When I register my domain names and websites – so that if my work email is down, I can still receive those emails to my external (Gmail) account.
- The Google Universe – Google links a lot of its services to its Gmail system. Like Google Anlytics (to view your website traffic) and Youtube. It is better for you to have access to those systems from your Gmail account and give access to others in your company rather than have an employee take control of those with their own personal Gmail account.
- Built In Tools – There are some useful tools you can access with your Gmail account like Google+ (social networking), a built in chat client called Google Talk, and Google Reader (blog/rss feed reader).
- Mobility – An on-the-go business owner in today’s day and age needs be in constant contact. Gmail works across multiple mobile devices with beautiful native versions for the iPhone, Blackberry & Droid.
- Cost – How about free? Yep, you get all of this for nothing. No subscription charge, no pop up ads, nothing.
There’s the top 5. I could go on further and talk about the features of the platform (storage capacity, built in search, intuitive layout, etc.). If you don’t have one yet, you can sign up for a Gmail account at http://www.gmail.com/