How To Create A Custom Email Address In 3 Simple Steps
Kelly is a former Google Tech Entrepreneur and Apple Developer who has counseled businesses of all sizes and growth stages. You can find her expertise across Fit Small Business in , business website, and business trend content.
This article is part of a larger series on Business Email.
The easiest way to create a custom email address is to get your domain and email hosting directly through the same platform, such as Google Workspace. This way you wont have to buy a domain separately and manually connect it, eliminating the headache of configuring DNS servers and coming with the added benefits of top-notch email security and productivity and collaboration tools. Get started with .
Heres how to set up a custom email address in three steps:
What Is A Business Email Address
A business email address is an email address that uses your own business domain name. So youll need to create the domain first, then create the mailbox to match.
For example, is an email address linked to the domain namewpforms.com.
There are a few reasons why using your own domain is important:
- It looks more professional than a Gmail or Hotmail address
- Business domain names are easy to remember
- Having a branded email address builds trust
- Each email you send helps to promote your brand.
So when you create an email address, try to make the domain part unique to your business and easy to spell. Read these tips on how to choose a domain name if you need ideas.
One last tip. When you register your domain for your email, youll also need to choose a domain name extension. We recommend that you choose .com. This article on choosing a domain extension explains why.
Youll need to create a domain name and a hosting account to create your own email address. Lets move on and find out how to do that.
Differences Between Domain Names And Urls
While a domain name and a Universal Resource Locator share some similarities, they are different. It acts as a complete web address that can direct visitors to a specific page on a site. A domain name is just a part of it.
Also, it consists of a protocol, domain, and path. The protocol shows whether a site has an SSL certificate. Note that URLs have a path only when they direct visitors to a specific page on a site.
Theres also the fully qualified domain name . This refers to the complete version of a domain name that also consists of the hostname.
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Domain Name Registrars And Registries
We’ve gone over what domain names are, how they work, and why you should have one, but how do you actually get your own domain name? If you think of a catchy name for your personal site or business, how do you get it recorded in the DNS so that people can start using your domain name to access your website?
The truth is that having your own domain name is easier than ever before. Registration fees are only $10â$15 a year, and the registration process is quick and simple. And once you have your own domain name, you have immediate access to all the advantages that come with it.
To understand that better, let’s first go over domain name registrars and registries.
What’s The Difference Between A Domain Name And A Url
As you read this article, you might be looking up at the address bar and wondering whether that’s all part of Codecademy’s domain name. What you’re actually looking at is the uniform resource locator or URL.
The URL contains the domain name and two other important pieces of information: the transfer protocol and the path. Note that some browsers, like Google Chrome, no longer display the full URL in the address bar. If you’re using Chrome and can’t see the full URL, right-click the address bar and click “Always Show Full URLs.”
The transfer protocol is the convention used between the computer and the server on the internet .
The path name contains information about a specific page or file within a website. For example, everything you see in your address bar to the right of “Codecademy.com/” is the URL path.
Just like a file path on your computer, the URL path for this article is unique and allows you to easily access this page later on or share it with your friends on social media.
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How To Park A Domain
If you want to park a domain, either to save it for later or to utilize it as an alias, the process is similar to securing a normal domain.
First, check whether your desired domain is available to be purchased. The simplest way to do this is by entering the domain in your browser bar. If theres no website associated with the domain, the domain name might be available, or it may already be parked.
So, a good next step is to conduct a WHOIS lookup. The ICANN lookup tool will tell you if a domain is owned, who owns it, and other potentially useful information if you want to acquire the domain from someone else.
If your perfect name is taken, try variants on the name and the domain extension . If not, head to your domain registrar of choice and purchase the domain.
And thats it! If youre just holding onto the domain for now, you can keep it parked as long as you renew your ownership of the domain. When youre ready, you can link the domain to your active website.
The Dns: Phonebook Of The Internet
Now that you understand why we use domain names and the anatomy of a domain name, you might be wondering how to convert a domain name to an IP address. That’s where the Domain Name System comes in.
The DNS is a global database of all the registered domain names on the internet. A DNS record will typically include the domain name and an associated IP address. Through the DNS, your browser can translate a domain name in the address bar into an IP address that it can then use to send requests to the web server and receive webpage content.
What’s important to remember is that there’s no single DNS server or even a single physical location for DNS servers. Instead, the DNS comprises a group of different servers located all around the world.
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What’s A Cname Record
A DNS CNAME is sometimes called an alias record as it’s providing an alternate name for a particular server. Unlike forwarding a user from one site to another , a CNAME hides the aliased server. It should be noted that it’s trivial to look up what a CNAME record is pointed to.
This isn’t a security measure and from a technical standpoint everything works exactly the same. The only difference is that instead of a potentially confusing domain being shown to your email recipients, your nicely branded domain is shown instead.
Domains Matter Because Your Delivery Rates And Open Rates Matter To Your Sender Score
If you mail to people who don’t open your email, your sender score takes a hit. That means your email service provider might not use its ‘best’ servers for your emails, which means that domain servers might view you as less than squeaky clean, so they might divert your emails to spam. It’s a downward spiral. That’s why it’s good to segment your data, maybe send email campaigns by domain type, or by email status, so you can build the open rate on one list and keep another for your customers who don’t engage with you so well.
You can’t decide what domains your customers use, but you can consider what their domains tell you. Then you can take action to see how dealing with domains differently can improve your marketing effectiveness.
To find out more ways to improve your email deliverability, make this great little yellow book your friend. For just a few dollars you can learn all you need to know. Email Deliverability by Ken Driscoll
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How Can I Create A Free Email Domain
All the steps to create a domain are simple enough to bypass or ignore many details quickly.
What Does It Mean To Archive An Email
What happens when you archive email?
When you archive an email, it moves to a special folder where it stays indefinitely or until you move or delete it. Email clients do not delete these stored emails after a specified period, unlike mail in the trash folder that is deleted automatically after 30 days.
How do I find archived emails?
Your archived emails are found in the archive folder of your email client. This folder is usually labeled as Archive, but some email clients may use a different name. In Gmail, it’s the All Mail folder.
How do I retrieve archived emails?
Most email clients provide a way to move archived emails out of the archival folder and into your inbox folder. When you want to retrieve a message, go to the archive folder, select the message, and then find the option that unarchives the message and moves it to the inbox.
What is the best email archive solution?
The best email archiving solution is the one that makes it easy to store archived mail and manage the rest of your inbox. Clean Email can do all this and more, making your inbox organized and your work more productive.
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What Does Io Mean
One TLD has become popular recently, especially among tech and SaaS startups: .io. This TLD is assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory, the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, which is south of India, and notably contains the Diego Garcia atoll, home to a U.S. military base. This domain has become popular in recent years, but have you ever wondered why? What is the .io domain extension doing in the tech space if its a country-specific TLD?
Before we cover the specifics regarding how and why the .io domain extension became so popular among tech startups, its important to understand how the creation of 1,500+ new TLDs have reshaped the world of domain names as a whole, and how businesses are finding new creative ways to no longer rely on .com when searching for the right domain and TLD for their brand.
Creating Business Email Accounts Using Email Hosting
Nowadays, website and email hosting is often bundled together. Still, some businesses prefer dedicated premium email services.
Email hosting is a straightforward solution for businesses that want to use email exclusively or separate their email activities from their business website. Hostinger offers two types of email hosting powered by and Titan.
Google Workspace allows you to use Gmail, Googles powerful mail client, with a custom address. For $6.00/month per user, youll gain access to 30 GB of cloud storage, unlimited mail filters, and advanced security features. The plan also includes tools such as Google Meet, Docs, Slides, and more.
Titan Email Hosting, meanwhile, comes in two packages. The first one is Business Email, priced at $0.99/month per user. This plan includes 10 GB storage, advanced security features, an inbuilt calendar and contacts, and 50 email aliases.
The other plan is Enterprise Email and costs $2.49/month per user. In addition to all the features included with the Business Email plan, Enterprise Email offers 30 GB of storage and unlimited mail filters.
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Register Domain Name Variations
Even if your domain name is catchy and easy to remember, typos happen. The last thing you want is for a hiring manager or potential client to get an error message because they missed a letter when typing in your web address.
That’s why you should consider registering domain name variations that redirect people to your website, even if they’ve mistyped something. For example, a lot of people misread or mishear Codecademy as “Code Academy.” But, when they type in CodeAcademy.com, they’re automatically redirected to the correct domain, Codecademy.com.
Similarly, say your domain ends in “.org,” “.edu,” or “.net.” You might want to consider registering the “.com” variant as well to prevent competitors from doing the same.
How To Configure Your Email Address With An Email Client
Last, youll need some software so you can actually use your personalized email address. Many email hosts will provide an email client to use, but you can choose other programs if you prefer.
The exact steps youll need to take will vary depending on the specific email client and hosting service youre using, but will look something like this:
If youre ready to register domain email, start by searching for a domain name from Hover!
Already have a domain name? Learn more about our email hosting.
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Why Your Email Address Should Match Your Domain Name
That wolf shirt you love to wear is pretty cool, isnt it? Fits like a glove, too.
That said, your wolf shirt has no place in an interview or meetings with your customers and clients.
In the business world, presentation matters. You wouldnt want to lose potential high-value customers just because they didnt take your shirt seriously, would you?
The same thing holds true for email addresses.
If your customers and clients cant physically see you to size you up, theyre going to make their assumptions and decisions based on the things they do see like your email address. Your email address is one of the first impressions people will have of you as it has a prominent spot in their inbox. You want that email address to represent you well and show that you mean business.
Choosing A Domain Provider
To buy a domain email address, youll need to select a domain provider. Here are things to look for:
- No unexpected renewal costs: Many registrars will advertise a very cheap initial registration of your domain but then set the renewal cost for additional years much higher. Make sure you check renewal fees.
- Helpful customer support: To assist with setting up your domain and email address and troubleshoot any issues.
- Included WHOIS Privacy: This keeps your contact information hidden from online databases for spammers and hackers to find.
- Full control over your domain name: Avoid registrars that only let you use your domain name with their own services and/or make it challenging to get set up with another email hosting service.
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What Is A Top
Every address that is resolved with the help of the domain name system , which is the foundation of the world wide web, can be broken down into several components. These individual components always follow a clear, hierarchical structure. The highest, visible hierarchical level is called the top-level domain, or TLD for short. Since this level is always found on the far right of the address, it is also known as the domain ending. In the case of the web address www.example.org, for example, the org represents the top-level domain.
With IONOS you can register your domain today. Simply use the domain finder to check whether your desired address is available! You can also benefit from additional services such as a personal email address and a free SSL/TLS wildcard certificate.
The allocation of the more than 1,500 available TLDs is regulated by ICANN , a division of the non-profit organization IANA. In principle, a distinction must be made between two different types of domain extensions: Generic top-level domains such as .beauty or .blog with a topic-specific background and country-specific ccTLDs such as .us or the .io extension discussed here.
$1 Domain Names
Standardized Emails For Everyone In Your Company
This is another feature of domain or branded emails that will help to build professionalism, credibility, and trust with your customers. When you use domain or branded email addresses you can make sure that everyone in your company has similar looking email addresses. By doing this, it shows that your business possesses a high level of professionalism and will build credibility and trust with your customers.
Using standardized emails in your business also helps your IT department be more organized when assigning new employees email addresses. Many companies have email addresses for their employees that look like with first initial, last name, and then the domain name or with full name and then the domain name. Whatever formula your business comes up with, keep it as consistent as possible as this will be noticed by customers and aid them in deciding whether your email is authentic or not.
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