How To Use Gmail Accounts To Control Your Email Clutter
We all have the same complaint. Too much email. I think it’s really bad for us online entrepreneurs. We join so many lists for so many different reasons, that sometimes we forget who the people are and what we opted in for to begin with!
Well, many organizational or productivity “experts” would tell you the solution is to simply unsubscribe from all these lists, but I don’t think that’s the solution. Not for me anyway.
I still wanted to have access to information from many different people/businesses in many different niches – so I just had to figure out a way to get it in some sort of sensible order. That’s when Gmail Accounts stepped in. These email accounts can help you get email-organized in a way you may not have thought of.
1. Gmail accounts are free so you can create as many as you want.
2. Gmail accounts are easy to add and integrate into your Outlook or Apple Mail applications.
3. You can set up your Gmail accounts as POP or IMAP accounts. I use IMAP so I can work within them offline as well.
4. Gmail accounts are more respected then other free email accounts like Hotmail or Yahoo accounts because of the tough spam filters Google has in place for them.
5. You can use Gmail accounts as the “return” address for your ezines and newsletters because of the great spam filter.
And here’s the best thing…
6. You can create separate Gmail accounts for different purposes, therefore streamlining how you send and receive information. Keeping things “clean” as an accountant would say. That way you don’t have emails from people you love, say like a coach or mentor you have, and automated ones from Twitter all mixing and mingling in one account. That’s when things get frustrating.
So that’s why I have separate Gmail accounts for:
1. Personal Emails: kids’ school emails, friends, and family.
2. Competitors Newsletters: I don’t use any identifying information in this email address (like my name:).
3. Sales related emails from all sites, I funnel into one Gmail account.
4. A Gmail account in the name of each of my websites for various site specific emails.
5. Coaching only: I use this for coaching clients so I can grab emails at home and away easily.
6. Article submissions: I use this email for all article directory submissions.
7. Mentors whose email I want to read every time they send something
8. Alerts (Google, Twitter, Facebook, New subscribers)
Now I know that it may seem like a lot, especially when you may have company website addresses, but the real time invested was the initial set up. Once I did it, I was sooo glad. It’s like a filing system for my email clutter that worked a lot better for me than color coding incoming messages to one email address.
*Just a note that this works best if you have the accounts in Outlook or Apple Mail. In order to switch easily between Gmail accounts on the web you have to turn on multiple sign-in under one of your accounts.
One last thing, if you start getting spammed to one of these emails, it’s not the same hassle as if it happens to one of your site email addresses. With these accounts, you can simply stop using the email and start over again. Easy breezy:)
Conclusion
If you’ve had success ridding yourself of email clutter or getting better organized with Gmail Accounts or with another solution that doesn’t involve mass unsubscribing – share it with us below in the comment section. We’d love to get some new ideas!
Lisa Angelettie
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Hi Lisa, I have 2 gmail accounts so far. Where is the multiple sign-in option found, and do you have to have the same pwd for each acct?
Hi Daree,
I should have made that a little more clear in the article – sorry.
Sign into your Google Account here: https://www.google.com/accounts/Login
You have a Google account if you have gmail or any other Google product (adsense, docs, etc.)
In the middle of the page you will see “Personal Settings”. Right under your email address and
alternative email you will see the “multiple sign in” setting. Click on EDIT to change sign in from
off to on. After u have done that, you will see that in the top right hand corner of your account page
that you can choose from a drop down menu – which account you want to sign into.
I have different passwords, but that’s only because I use 1password to manage all my passwords.
It automatically fills in the info for me if I am on web, although I mostly access the emails via
Apple Mail on my main computer. I also have two of my “main” ones going to my iphone. Again,
I don’t have to input the passwords every time – phone just accesses emails.
I also have 1password on my laptop. You can use the one license on more than one machine (if I
remember correctly:) and so when I’m traveling – again I don’t have to remember the passwords:)
Learn more about 1password =====> http://tinyurl.com/27fnrte