Do you think gmail is professional? or should i use the email that I can get from my website name instead?
I think most people don't care for the free account emails. They don't look as professional. I would go with the website one if I were you.
I think some people prefer to use Gmail for their marketing purposes because it will be easy to check your mails from another location. With a website email, you can only check your emails with an email client like Outlook, Thunderbird or Eudora. But anyway, there's always email forwarding if you need it.... So it totally depends on you....
Google apps - good idea. I use my domain name email address and just have it forwarded to my gmail account. Email forwarding is usually extremely easy to set up, depending n your host. (I use iNet7.)Its such a common thing that I'd think all isps would be receiving inquiries like this all day and night.