photo credit: TheeErin

AOL made millions of dollars for years because computer users are afraid to change their email addresses. All week long, I hear, “Oh, it’s too hard to change email addresses now.” Or, “It will take forever to change my email address with everyone.”

Come on folks…we’re using computers! You don’t have to fill out a change of address form and march it down to the postal office. You don’t have to send out a post card to every person you know. You don’t have to fill out a change of address for all your bills and utilities.

Changing email addresses is actually pretty painless and can be cathartic as well. In fact, think of it as going into the digital identity protection program. Here’s how to make it a smooth transition:

1. AOL and other national providers will let you maintain your email address for no cost…so the transition to a new one, can be made as slowly as you want.
2. If your current email provider doesn’t let you keep your old address, build in a month or two of overlap time to help you ease into the new address.
3. DO NOT USE YOUR INTERNET PROVIDERS EMAIL!
4. The reason for rule #3 is that if the Internet provider gets bought out or goes out of  business (or you switch providers or move), you will be changing emails addresses again. Instead, opt for a free web mail address from Yahoo or Google. OR, better yet, if you want a guaranteed, permanent email address, get your own domain email (read my tip here on how that works).
5. Create at least TWO new email addresses. One for trusted family and friends who won’t spam you to do death with forwards, and one for shopping and your friends who are serial forwarders.
6. Use BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) to send a note to anyone in your address book that you want to have your new email address.
7. For banks, online financial accounts, newsletters, etc, log in to your web account and use their tools to change your email address. OR, you can unsubscribe from newsletters and other email, then re-subscribe with the new address.

That should do it. It doesn’t take long, and your new, clean inbox will be well worth the 10-15 minutes it takes to make the change. Happy emailing!

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1. Changing your email address is easy
2. Create a Permanent Email Address for Yourself
3. Rick’s 3 Rules of Email
4. Bresnan Email Woes
5. Use Disposable Email Addresss to thwart spam

Tags: address book, BCC, copy, email, Gmail, Internet, mailing, Office, spam, utilities, Yahoo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 am and is filed under Email Tips, Riding Shotgun with Rick. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.