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Whether you’re running a small business or a huge one, there are times when you have to reply to your customers’ queries or perhaps contact other companies to increase your market reach. And that’s when having your own business domain email can benefit more than a common email address like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and more.
If you’re wondering what a domain email address is and why you need it, then in this blog post, we’re going to discuss that thoroughly. And not only discuss, but we’re going to see how you can create your domain email for your small business.
We’ll also look at the platforms that offer domain email for free. So, you can quickly take your business to a new height without spending much on business emails.
Therefore, without any further ado, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What is a Custom Domain Email Address?
Unlike a personal email address, a business domain email represents your business website’s domain. After the at (@) symbol, it has your website’s domain or the domain you own for professional email purposes.
For instance, personal emails from different email service providers would look like these,
example@gmail.com, example@yahoo.com, example@outlook.com, etc. Whereas the custom domain email will have your domain name.
Don’t know what a domain name is? Let’s have a quick look at that.
What’s a Domain?
A domain is a value stored on the internet for a particular location where people store their information- a server which most of the time we call a website. Or location from where you can extract information – is also a website/server. In a more technical language, it’s a string of text mapping to a numeric IP address to get connected to the internet.
Computers can easily read and differentiate between IP addresses, but for humans, it gets complicated. So, in the place of IP address, we connect on the internet through Domain names which comprise its IP address and get found through DNS lookup.
A domain name is a combination of mainly two components: Label/entity and TLD.
For example, theblogmetrics.com, where theblogmetrics is the label, and .com is TLD, a top-level domain that you can get from one of the best domain name registrars like GoDaddy, Hostinger, Namecheap, etc.
Amazing Internet Fact – Over 367.3 million domain names are registered, and in July 2020, 110 thousand .com domain names were registered every day on average.
So, if you want to create a domain email under theblogmetrics.com, you have to consider the following format, which is use/username@entity.TLD.
In our case, the use or username could be support, info, or the person’s name who’s going to use it, for example, Jack. The at (@) symbol will remain as it is and at the place of the entity.TLD, we will use our domain theblogmetics.com. So, the business domain name would look like Jack@theblogmetrics.com.
Who Needs a Domain Email & Why?
Anybody who’s doing online business needs brand mail.
And not only online, but the one who’s scaling their offline business, too, needs a domain email. Because they, too, have to reach potential new & existing clients on their journey.
And with a professional email address, they can build authenticity.
If you send emails using personal email for business purposes, it won’t reflect your profession or organization.
For example, what do you think when someone sends you an email for digital marketing services under elephant@gmail.com or shark@yahoo.com?
These would completely put you in a dilemma. Neither you be able to identify the person nor the background of their organization.
You’d assume the sender is someone illegitimate or fake. Someone who’s trying to do business in the name of somebody else.
Plus, creating generic email addresses is not a great deal; anybody could do it. So, why do you trust this sender and engage with them for marketing services?
Now, assume you’ve received the email from Jack@TheBlogmetrics.com.
This time it would be easier for you to identify the person (Jack) as well as the organization (TheBlogMetrics.com ) on whose behalf they’re contacting you. You can search, read reviews, and know everything before trying their services.
Therefore, you need a business domain email to show your identity regarding the organization and present yourself as a professional. And there are more reasons why you should have a professional email, such as
- To promote your brand.
- To build business credibility.
- Avoid your emails being delivered to spam folders.
- Flexibility to assign emails per your organization’s departments.
- Enhanced security.
- And more.
If you don’t use a domain email, then your recipient might think that you’re not serious about your business; that’s why you cannot afford to have a business email.
But, in general, you don’t even have to spend anything to create your professional email address. Yes, you don’t have to, and in the following steps, we’re going to find out how you can do that.
What Do You Need to Do to Create a Custom Domain Email for Your Business?
You don’t have to follow anything complex to get a professional email address. Two straightforward ways would help you create your domain email easily.
Moreover, there’s no limitation on whether your business has to be large or good at revenue. You can get your domain email even then if you’ve started small.
Get a Domain Name
To set up a business email, you must have a domain related to your business. To do that, visit one of the domain registrars such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains.
Then, type your desired domain name to find out its availability. If the domain name isn’t available, try other combinations such as .net, .org, or .io. But, as far as possible, choose the top-level domain, and the most selected one is .com.
Moreover, avoid the following while choosing your domain name,
- Symbols or numerals like hyphens.
- Longer name.
- Trademark.
- Hard spellings.
Once registered your domain, move on to the next step.
Set Up Domain Email With Hosting Providers
If you’re going to use your domain to launch the website, you can avail of domain email service from your hosting provider for free or at minimum charges. For example, you choose one of the best-managed hosting service providers like Cloudways.
They offer domain email add-ons at minimum cost to help you achieve your professional goals immensely.
To avail of your business domain email service, you need to first select your suitable hosting plan. Cloudways has multiple options to start with. For example, you can choose the hosting server of Digital Ocean, AWS, and Google Cloud.
And not only servers, but you can also select the servers that are the best fit for your application like WordPress, Drupal, Magento, and more. With that, it gives you the ability to easily pick your server size.
In addition, Cloudways’ managed hosting is popular for,
- Its speed.
- Flexibility.
- Simplicity.
- Reliability.
- Built-in CDN.
- Automated Backups.
- 24/7/365 Support
- And more.
With them, you won’t face any downtime, and your website will be able to perform at its best.
Setting Up Domain Email With Cloudways
Once your server has been created, go to Cloudways Apps → click Add-ons.
They offer a business email service from Rackspace Email.
Rackspace Email offers a business email service at the cost of $1/month for one email account. With that, you get options to create Aliases, Forwarding Mail, and Catch-All. To enable it on your server, simply click the edit icon and provide information for your professional email in the popup.
Once you’re done with details, click Save Changes. Your domain email will be ready to send and receive business emails.
Sign Up With a Business Email Service Provider
If you’re not planning to avail your domain email from your hosting provider, then another method is dedicated email services. Brands or products like Microsoft 365 are an excellent addition to your professional email goals.
To get your business domain email from Microsoft 365, you need to first subscribe to one of the business plans. The starting plan is available at $5/month providing a 50 GB mailbox as well as Microsoft Office Suite tools: Word, Office, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
In addition to the tools, you get 1 TB of cloud storage and other features of Microsoft 365. To subscribe, visit the Microsoft 365 Business page, then click Buy Now on your suitable plan.
It will open a new page asking for different details to complete the signup process. Simply complete each of them one by one.
Once you’ve subscribed to the Microsoft 365 Business, sign in to Microsoft 365 administration (admin center.)
Under the “Top actions for you” heading, click on the Setup email with a custom domain.
A popup will appear asking you to set up an email with your already-owned domain or buy a new one. If you haven’t purchased the domain, you can go with the latter option. Otherwise, begin the process with the first one.
Another page will open with a process timeline to set up your custom domain email.
Simply complete each of the steps one by one, which include defining the domain name, adding TXT record and MX record, setting email addresses, and connecting them.
If you find verifying or connecting the domain a bit complex, you can follow the step-by-step instructions provided by Microsoft.
Once you’re done with the setup, you’ll be able to use your custom domain email for professional use.
Some of the Paid & Free Domain Email Service Providers
Apart from Cloudways and Microsoft 365, you’d like to try other multiple-domain email service providers. Some offer their services for free, so others allow you to take the benefits on a premium basis.
Let’s take a look at those as well.
Zoho Mail
Under Zoho Mail’s business domain services, you can avail of your custom domain email starting from $1/user per month which will be billed annually. Under this plan, you get the following benefits,
- Email hosting for multiple domains.
- 5GB storage/user.
- Offline access.
- Shared calendars, grouped calendars, and more options.
Other Plans:
- Mail Premium – $4 /User /Month billed annually 50 GB per user.
- Workplace – Starts From $3 /User /Month billed annually.
Hostinger
With Hostinger, you can avail yourself of both free and premium domain email services. However, for free business email, you need to purchase their hosting plan which starts from $1.99/month offering 1 email account.
Under premium email service, you get 10 to 30 GB of email storage per mailbox with multi-device support starting from $0.99/month to $6.00/month.
Google Workspace
Formerly known as G Suite, Google Workspace offers multiple services to provide custom domain email under its single package. Starting from $6/user/month, you get 30 GB storage, 100 participants video meetings, Calendar, Docs, Sheet, Slides, and other tools.
The Business plan starts at $12 per month per user and offers 2 TB pooled storage per user.
The 3rd plan known as Business Plus starts at $18 per user with a 5 TB pooled storage per user that is shared across the organization.
Like Microsoft 365, it’s another best solution if you’re not planning to avail custom domain email service with your hosting provider and want to use a separate email hosting. Read my comprehensive review of Google Workspace.
Conclusion
Above, we’ve looked at how you can create your professional business email, why it’s essential, and what platforms you can utilize for that purpose. Each platform provides unique features and functionalities to make the most out of them.
However, when you decide which one you should choose, it should be done keeping your requirements in mind. For example, Cloudways and Hostinger’s services are preferable when you’re also considering purchasing hosting and taking your website live.
On the other hand, if you need cloud storage, access to documents online, and share your files with the team, then Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace is what you should look for. And if you’re only going to utilize professional email for your business, then Zoho Mail would turn out good for you. It’s secure, easy, and likely fits your small business budget.
That’s it. I hope this blog post helped you learn why you need a custom domain email for your business and what are some of the perfect ways to do that.
