Do you have a free email address from Google?

If the answer is yes, you’re already suited up to Waterski the Web.

(I’ll post a link here to send you somewhere else once it’s written.)

If the answer is no, then grab your floaties and come with me.

Google Mail, or Gmail as the hippy web hipsters like to call it, is the essential tool toward getting you up on both waterskis.  To really rock the web you’re going to want to sign up for it.  It’s free! Go get ‘em!

What’s that you say?  This is only my second blog post and the first one doesn’t really count?

Well that is true, per se.  (Okay not really a ‘per se’ situation, but it sounded cool.)

Let me give you the fat and skinny on Gmail (jee-mail) and why you should get it:

1. Google Mail is free. $00000.00
2. The email address you end up with: chuckyeager@gmail.com can be as professional looking as you’d like it to be.  May I suggest going with first/last name?  It’s actually quite acceptable on resumes.  Ditch the sexysurfer9018@hotmail.com address.
3. Google Searches are quite effective- and they give you the ability to Google Search your email.  This really comes in handy trying to find an email from Aunt Petunia sent 4 months ago!
4. Chat is built in, yup you can chat with the people you’ve already emailed.
5. It’s web based, meaning you can get it anywhere the Internet is available.
6. Pretty decent SPAM filter.  I can’t recall the last time a Spammy email got through to me.
7. It’s the Keys to the City of the Web!

Wait- what? 

You see the most important aspect of Gmail is that when you signup- that login and password can be used to access to all the other free Google tools.  This is the first wrench you’ll need in building your online Toolkit of Power.

From YouTube to Google Reader, you’ll be able to log in using your Gmail credentials.

It also makes for a great personal email that you keep with you irregardless of where you work or who your Internet Service Provider might be today.  (Wait, did I just sneak in an 8th reason? Consider it a BONUS for reading to here.)

We’re going to be talking a lot about utilizing many of the free Google tools, and Gmail will set you up to access all of them when the time comes.