It’s often the very simple things that have the biggest impact. And over the years, one of the biggest traffic drivers I’ve seen is email address.

Why? When people get an email from you, or anyone in your business, they will assume you also are available at the Web site attached to it. For example, if my email address is mary@acmerealty.com, they will assume they can learn more about my business at acmerealty.com. But if I’m using marybaker@gmail.com, even though this email service is free from Google, I’m not helping people find more about my business. Google, for that matter, offers their email services via your own domain.

This can sometimes be a scary step, especially if you’ve been associated with a particular email address for some time. But the sooner you make the leap to the “right” email address, the better you’ll be.

What’s more, most email services today offer a “forwarding” program that makes the transfer easy. It will not only forward emails sent to the old email address to your new email address, but will also send a notification back to the sender, telling them where to best contact you moving forward.

Getting a custom email address is also easier than you think. If you register your new Web site address with GoDaddy.com, for example, your account comes with a basic email services that automatically gives you up to five email addresses attached to your new URL. It’s a package deal that gives you a great one-two punch.

Other Web hosting companies are also dying to give you email services with your Web site, and it’s often beneficial to shop around for the best deals, and the email features that best match your business.

But no matter who you work with, make sure that your email address matches your business Web address. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how much business comes back to your Web site, and quickly, as a result. It also gives you a more professional image.