If you have multiple Web sites, or multiple emails for different purposes, things can become pretty confusing. However, you can reduce the stress and confusion by consolidating email addresses and assigning certain address for certain purposes. And if your home business has progressed to a point that allows you to outsource some of your administrative functions, you can even enlist the help of a virtual assistant to help you.

Lynette Chandler at Sparkplugging offered this helpful information on changing the way you do email for your home business:

The first thing I did was decide which addresses I wanted to keep. Once they were decided, the addresses were assigned a specific purpose. For example, one is strictly private, for personal stuff, staff and clients only. No exceptions. Then another was for mailing lists. Then I have one ‘public’ address and there’s another for support for all products, services, websites.

Just doing this cut down my email confusion considerably but that wasn’t the only thing I did. I hired someone to check, manage and respond to all the other addresses but one. Now, whenever someone asks me for an email address, during an interview or setting up an email list, I use the public one.

It is possible to get organized with your email addresses. And once you do get organized, you can cut back on some of the time you spend dealing with paperwork and focus more on improving your home business.