Quoting myself from that old thread:
Quote:
In general, the shorter the better. I prefer something friendly like firstname@12345.com. If possible, get a four- or five-letter domain that is easy to spell and remember, and only use .com, .net, or .org. The best is .com. Most of the others have worse deliverability and cause errors. Even if it isn't .com people will enter .com by mistake. In general, the longer your address the more often it will get entered incorrectly and cause lost messages. I collect email addresses for a nonprofit and it is frustrating how often we find email addresses entered incorrectly the first time. If you just use firstname@12345.com it sounds friendly and not intimidating, and if you have it set up correctly they will see your full name in the email header.
The #1 factor with a professional email address is to sound like a real person reaching out. I think using your real first name does that.
Having written all this, I see every variation of email from all types of professionals every day. I am amazed how many "professionals" use some rinky dink yahoo or aol address they set up in high school, or a professional that shares an email with his wife and family. Don't do it!
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Don't use your family name as part of the address unless it is easy to spell and common enough that people will know how to spell it, or else 75% of people will make mistakes entering it. I know because my family name is not common, even though I consider it very easy to spell--it is two common words together. However, it is entered incorrectly by others probably 90% of the time.