Patrick Walberg wrote:
Websites cost more than $8.95 a month!

It depends on who you get it through, Patrick.  Mine is less than $4 a month, and has gobs of features I'll never use. 

area291 wrote:

It actually makes perfect sense.  Many small agencies are comprised of a receptionist, a couple of bookers, an accounting position and an owner.  In other words, agencies are woefully understaffed.  Agencies also don't place high priority on  technology by installing intricate LANS, mail servers and high-powered desktops (one reason contact sheets are still far better than CD's for agency submission).

Well the main ones I wonder about are the ones who have really nice looking websites and a really professional look and attitude and the models they have seem to be doing fairly well even though the agency might be small. If you have a website,the hosting packages usually offer some sort of email package. If not , Eudora email works just fine and can be used for free. I just think  "@youragencyname.com" is so much nicer and more professional sounding than "@aol.com" . I have had AOL for years. The only reason I even leave my AOL mail open to accept email is because there are people I have lost contact with, and old friends who are just too stubborn to send email to my normal website email,lol.

Glamour Boulevard wrote:
...old friends who are just too stubborn to send email to my normal website email,lol.

Oh, that infuriates me to NO END!  I haven't used my Yahoo account for email for nearly two years, but my roommate STILL sends stuff there.

raveneyes wrote:
That being said, several hackers have taken advantage of the fact that Internet Explorer, Outlook, and Outlook Express are so intertwined with the Windows operating system to run executables automatically as soon as you open them in your email.  Fixes have been implemented by Microsoft to cover these security breeches, but nothing says that Microsoft won't leave another security hole.

This is why I have switched to Mozilla Firefox. I love it.

Dan  Hood  MM/Moderator wrote:

What agencies?????

I forget the names off hand, I just happened to think of it when I saw an agency name I did not yet recognize in a models profile on here as a contact for arranging shoots with her. If I find one of the profiles again I will mention one or two here.

Glamour Boulevard wrote:

This is why I have switched to Mozilla Firefox. I love it.

I also use and love Thunderbird and Sunbird (though that one seems like it's much farther on the back burner...)

DawnElizabeth Moderator wrote:
I am going to say that this is ridiculous at the least. Agencies are not allowed to have AOL email addresses? I know casting houses who do not have websites, but have AOL and Earthlink email addresses.

I am mainly talking about the agencies with AOL addresses but have really nice websites and such. If you have a nice website, you have access to normal company name email addresses "@agencyname.com".

Brian Diaz wrote:
Any business that does any business on the Internet and can't afford to invest the $8/month to have a website and use email addresses with its own name gets a black mark in my book.  That's not to say that no one who uses an AOL address is legit, but it's not a positive sign.  It just makes a bad first impression.  Plus, it's poor branding.

In the pre-Internet days, would you have rather received a letter from a business on nice letterhead paper or on a page ripped from a spiral notebook?

I agree. and heck, I and my business partners own a server and offer hosting for as little as *6* bucks!

Patrick Walberg wrote:
It gives me the creeps knowing that Microsoft runs updates on my XP windows whenever it pleases!  It's like Bill Gates having access to my computer!

If they are running automatically then that is something you have set your preferences to. Each time my XP says it has updates it asks if I want to download them or not.

Cool Artist2005 wrote:

Maybe they are too cheap or lazy to get there own domain?

Most of the ones im talking about are those *with* very nice websites.

Olivier wrote:
Why does the name of the server you use is so important?? Isn't all this industry about your work and not what email adress you have? You are telling me you would turn down the best artists because they use AOL or yahoo etc..?
That seem very shallow to me and you might lose opportunities to work with very talented peoples  , Sorry!

When it comes to running a professional business, having an AOL or other extention type email other than one from your own website, it just kinda looks a little off. If you have your own website you have access to tons of email addresses of your own which would go to "@yourcompanyname.com", so why not use that. AOL, for many reasons, has a bad rep in the business world, especially from those who have not used AOL since  it was just 2-3 years old and it was really lousy and you had to pay by the minute to use it. AOL has improved greatly, but the damage of "first impression" is already done and those with that impression do not understand how it has improved.

joe duerr wrote:
I haven't read the entire post but "Ignorance is bliss" anyone with an AOL account deserves it. Hi speed DSL costs less than AOL dial up. When anyone gives me an AOL email address I know how to deal with them. YES your own website for less than $10. a month is a reality. I have had my site for a lot of years with more than one host and never paid over $9.95 a month with all the bells and whistles.

Why are you slamming AOL?  I have Comcast high speed Internet service and I use AOL for my e-mail and browser because I've had it for many years and the name "Bellaimages" is of great value to me.  Not only do I have "Bellaimages" on AOL, but on comcast, msn, yahoo, as well as many other services and forums ... if I can buy the .com, I'll trademark my name.  I pay less than $10 a month for my AOL service.  I pay a whole lot more for the comcast cable connection!  The few times when the cable connection has gone down, I've plugged into the phone system.  Plus I travel and enjoy the ease of dropping into places to easily access my AOL account from anywhere. 

Then I have about 100 domain names I've bought through godaddy.com ... many for LESS than $8.95 a year.  I have dedicated servers and provide billing and hosting for my sites as well as for other website owners.  I charge $25 a month on average to those who host with me.  My service provides you with more space for downloads of video or other uses that are heavy on the bandwidth. 

Cheap template  websites are NOT impressive! For example; If you think that nice website like ModelMayhem costs $10 a month to host? You've lost your mind! LOL 

Show me a website that is professional and ONLY cost $10 a month to host.  I'd like a good laugh!

fitnessforyoutoo wrote:
It is a lot more convenient to use AOL because it is always on instead of say opening my email program for my training company then logging on to read mail. Also I can get on AOL anywhere even on my phone.

If you use an email program such as Eudora, which I use, once you log in it is logged in until you close the program. You can also set it to check your email as often as you want, from every minute to once a day, once a week,etc.
and you can also set up your email so that it is saved onto the server so you can check it anywhere. We travel often, and we can check the email from any computer in the world.

Sita Mae Edwards wrote:

It depends on who you get it through, Patrick.  Mine is less than $4 a month, and has gobs of features I'll never use. 

I looked at your website.  You get what you pay for! 

Patrick Walberg wrote:
Websites cost more than $8.95 a month!  Heck, it cost more than that if you want a decent profile on OMP!  Recently I've paid more just for my custom billing software than it cost to get your talent agency license in California with money to spare to open the office! It takes time and money to build a strong presence on the Internet.  No agency benefits from a cheap website!  (IMHO)

My hosting is as cheap as 6 bucks a month. And that is for an entire website, not just a little page on OMP.As for custom billing software, that is included in our hosting packages.You can have a store on your site within minutes.

Glamour Boulevard wrote:
Well the main ones I wonder about are the ones who have really nice looking websites and a really professional look and attitude and the models they have seem to be doing fairly well even though the agency might be small. If you have a website,the hosting packages usually offer some sort of email package. If not , Eudora email works just fine and can be used for free. I just think  "@youragencyname.com" is so much nicer and more professional sounding than "@aol.com" . I have had AOL for years. The only reason I even leave my AOL mail open to accept email is because there are people I have lost contact with, and old friends who are just too stubborn to send email to my normal website email,lol.

Now that I understand!      After years of using AOL, I've got my addresses in it, my favorites list, plus I enjoy the AOL radio.  Why knock it?  Especially since it's a cheap addition to my high speed connection.

Brian Diaz wrote:
Honestly, I find that a little creepy (I find it creepy here, too).  And when one can edit what one has said after the fact, one tends not to carefully consider what one says.

I completely agree.Having a non AOL email address without the "back pedal" feature I have become much more careful and preffesional in how I write emails. The only reason I boo-boo here now and then is usually my brain is fried after doing a bunch of editing,lol.

Glamour Boulevard wrote:

I am mainly talking about the agencies with AOL addresses but have really nice websites and such. If you have a nice website, you have access to normal company name email addresses "@agencyname.com".

Oh.

My bad.

(shuffles out door)

Brian Diaz wrote:

I also use and love Thunderbird and Sunbird (though that one seems like it's much farther on the back burner...)

Yea they are. Not many sites are geared toward those. Heck, some dont even work properly on Mozilla, but theyre comin around and more and more new sites are being made geared more towards Mozilla than IE.

Patrick Walberg wrote:

Now that I understand!      After years of using AOL, I've got my addresses in it, my favorites list, plus I enjoy the AOL radio.  Why knock it?  Especially since it's a cheap addition to my high speed connection.

Im not knocking AOL itself. My initial post was about the companies who use AOL for email. You can easily import your website favorites from AOL into any browser, same with your email address collection, and if you have a high speed connection such as comcast or yahoo DSL or whatever,those come with an internet radio as well. But yea, it is nice to get AOL for half price because you already have your own net access.

Glamour Boulevard wrote:

When it comes to running a professional business, having an AOL or other extention type email other than one from your own website, it just kinda looks a little off. If you have your own website you have access to tons of email addresses of your own which would go to "@yourcompanyname.com", so why not use that. AOL, for many reasons, has a bad rep in the business world, especially from those who have not used AOL since  it was just 2-3 years old and it was really lousy and you had to pay by the minute to use it. AOL has improved greatly, but the damage of "first impression" is already done and those with that impression do not understand how it has improved.

The fact is you are right that any business that cares about their "image" online should use an address connected to their website. However an address that says "@yourcompanyname.com", is most likely going to another address then dropped into an Outlook Express somewhere.  People who want to get a hold of me the fastest are best doing so with my AOL address.  Although I will eventually get everything dropped into my Outlook!

Glamour Boulevard wrote:

Yea they are. Not many sites are geared toward those. Heck, some dont even work properly on Mozilla, but theyre comin around and more and more new sites are being made geared more towards Mozilla than IE.

I just like getting things that are both free AND legal.  Even if they are slightly less convenient.  Ever work with OpenOffice?  It's 95% of what Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access are, and all without the damn cartoon paper clip.

Glamour Boulevard wrote:

My hosting is as cheap as 6 bucks a month. And that is for an entire website, not just a little page on OMP.As for custom billing software, that is included in our hosting packages.You can have a store on your site within minutes.

Well I'm hosting models paysites, so it's a lot more than a few pages of content!  I'm also working on building a ModelMayhem type website for musicians.  Nobody is going to host a site that has a ton of bandwidth being used for downloads and sales for $6 a month!

Brian Diaz wrote:

I just like getting things that are both free AND legal.  Even if they are slightly less convenient.  Ever work with OpenOffice?  It's 95% of what Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access are, and all without the damn cartoon paper clip.

Now that is a great tip!  I've heard good things about OpenOffice!

Brian Diaz wrote:
I just saw something kinda disturbing on www.modelagencylist.com

Several US agencies listed use AOL addresses, including Ford Los Angeles and Ford Miami.  Is it just me or is that really strange?

(Ford NYC uses a real address at least...)

That is strange since I have contacts at Ford Miami and they have ford modeling addresses.

Moraxian wrote:
..Truth is, that is the only reason I still use AOL for anything.

You really believe that?

...running off to study AOL marketing tactics.