Create a .Com Email Address

Creating your own .com email address is a great way to leave a professional and lasting impression on your clients. Though using Gmail and Outlook are great, having your own domain name after the "@" symbol is both empowering and prominent. People who see your privately owned account will be more likely to take you serious as a business. Here are some tips for creating your own .com email address.

Steps

Registering your Domain Name

1. Brainstorm creative business domain names. The domain name is everything that follows the "@" symbol and will be representative of your business.
   • Think of names that pertain to your business. For example, if your business is titled "Angel's Hawaiian Shirts," choose a domain name like "angelhawaiianT.com," or "hawaiianshirts.com."
   • Be creative but have some restraint as well. You want your domain name to be catchy and short enough that people will remember your email address easily in case they wish to contact you.
   • For example, instead of a long domain name like "angelsqualityhawaiiantshirts.com," use a slightly shorter but unique domain name like "angelichawaiianT.com."
   • Be sure to think of more than 1 possible domain name. Often times people will have similar businesses selling similar goods and will have selected the name you have come up with. To avoid this, customize your domain name using clever wordplay. This not only makes your domain name more memorable, it will increase the chances of you being able to register it.
   • For example, if your business is titled "Heavenly Pies" and sells various baked goods, use a domain name like "sliceofheaven.com."
2. Register and purchase your domain name on a hosting service website. Hosting the email address itself can be free if using a free service, but registering domains will always require payment.
   • Reputable hosting services include GoDaddy.com, Register.com, and eNom.com. These services all work with the ICANN database, which is in charge of keeping track of all domain names. They should all deliver the same information (such as domain name availability).
3. Consider whether you would like to use paid hosting or free hosting. Paid and free hosting services each have their benefits and downfalls.
   • Paid services often provide more control over your email address in terms of capabilities. For example, you'll be able to create many different emails and pick up your email directly from the web host. You'll also be able to add auto-responders (automated email responses), aliases, and even mailing lists.
   • Another added bonus of paid hosting is that you'll be able to add a website in the future, even if it is just a holding website with your contact details.
   • Free hosting is not only easier on the wallet, it also tends to be easier to use than paid hosting.

Paid Email Hosting

1. Browse the hosting website to find different package options. Like buying phone or cable television services, there are specific packages that are offered based on your preferences and budget.
   • For example, some GoDaddy packages are specifically tailored for smaller businesses and offer up to 5 email accounts. This will cost less money than the premium business package, or "business plus," which may offer more features and more email accounts.
2. Purchase a web hosting account on the hosting website. Web hosting is a paid service that also comes with email hosting. You can do this on sites like GoDaddy, UserMail, FuseMail, or EasyDNS.
   • Be prepared with your billing information. You will be prompted to fill out multiple forms before you are able to log into your account.
   • Before you buy your email hosting account, you can ask the provider questions that will be crucial to your decision. Ask things like, "How many accounts can I create?" or "Does your website offer 24 hour technical support?" These are questions that will be especially important while running your business.
3. Log into your account on the hosting website and click the control panel. This is where you will begin creating an email address.
   • The control panel may be titled many things but should revolve around the words "control" or "account." For instance, it may be called "account manager," "control panel," "account settings," etc. Once you navigate to the control panel, find an option that involves the word "email." This can be titled various things such as "email users," "email accounts, etc." Click this option and follow the prompts for creating an email address.
   • The procedure for creating an address closely resembles the procedure for creating accounts on public sites like Gmail or Yahoo. Simply input your real name, username, and password.
4. Designate how much disk space you will require for your email account. Public sites like Gmail have set disk space for emails, but your private domain's storage capacity will vary depending on the package you have purchased.
   • For instance, if you purchased the basic business hosting package on GoDaddy, you may only have access to 10 GB available. You will then need to allocate how much of that space is dedicated to email.
5. Access your email through the hosting website. If you signed up on GoDaddy, use the web mail feature that comes with the service.

Using Outlook When your Hosting Interface Doesn't Support Email Login

1. Open Outlook if your hosting site does not have its own web mail feature. Sites like FuseMail and EasyDNS use external programs like Outlook to host email.
2. Input the username and password that you registered with the hosting site. Your username will reflect your registered domain even though it is being accessed through Outlook.
3. Specify your ingoing and outgoing server type. The server type will either be "POP" or "IMAP." These are protocols that mail programs use to access mail stored on remote computers.
   • If they have not yet been provided, ask your hosting company for the ingoing and outgoing server type.
   • POP stands for "Post Office Protocol" and works by downloading mail to your computer. IMAP stands for "Internet Message Access Protocol" and works by keeping mail on the server.
4. Type the ingoing and outgoing server address next to their respective fields. The address will vary depending on if you use POP or IMAP.
   • If you use IMAP, type "imap.[Your Service Provider].net" into the incoming mail server field. For example, if you use FuseMail, type "imap.fusemail.net." Do the same for POP, except substitute "pop" for "imap." For example, "pop.fusemail.net."
   • For outgoing mail server, type in "smtp.[Your Service Provider].net." This is the same for both POP and IMAP. For example, "smtp.fusemail.net."
5. Select More Settings → Outgoing Server. Select "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" and check the box next to "use same settings as my incoming server."
6. Click the Advanced tab. Set the incoming server and outgoing server encrypted connection to "None."
7. Set the incoming server port to 143 and outgoing server to 2500 for an IMAP setup. For a POP setup, set the incoming to 110 and outgoing to 2500 and check "Leave a copy of messages on the server." Click "OK" after setting the server ports.
8. Select Next and then Finish to save the changes. You should now be able to access your mail from Outlook.

Free Email Hosting

1. Go to www.zoho.com/mail/ and click the "Get Started" button. Zoho Mail is a hosting service that offers both paid hosting and a limited free hosting package.
   • The "Get Started" button is a red rectangular button. It is located under the large header that says "Take Control of Your Inbox" in the upper center portion of the page.
2. Select the "Free & Ad-Free" option on the far right of the page. You will notice that the storage space (5 GB) and Docs Storage (5 GB) are significantly lower than the paid hosting packages.
3. Verify your domain name in the address bar provided. Type in the URL exactly as it appears on your purchase receipt.
   • For example, www.angelshawaiianshirts.com.
4. Log into mail.zoho.com as Super Admin. Go to Control Panel>Mail Accounts and select the account "username@zoho.com."
5. Provide the username part in the text box. Your domain name should already be selected if you only have one registered.
   • If you have multiple domains, click the drop box and select the domain for which you would like an email account.
6. Input a password for the username. Like other email accounts, this is the initial password and can always be changed later if you wish.
7. Log into your domain registrar's website. You will now need to change the MX records in order to begin receiving mail on Zoho. The MX records of your domain point to which servers will be receiving your mail. By directing them to Zoho, you will be able to begin receiving mail on your newly made account.
8. Launch the DNS control panel for your account. This lists all the domains you have registered.
   • Registrar websites often have different names for the domain control panel. Look for similar names like "DNS manager" or "Domain Management Page." You are basically looking for the control panel for all your domain settings.
9. Click the option that specifies MX records/Email servers/Email settings. Again, this tab will be titled differently based on the registrar website but should revolve around email or MX settings.
10. Locate the option to add a new record and select that. This will be your first email account attached to the domain. To add accounts in the future, you will need to revisit this tab.
11. Type mx.zohomail.com into the address field. You have now redirected mail to your Zoho account.
12. Set the priority level to any value if you only have one email account. Priority levels determine which domain account will receive email. The account with the highest priority is the one which will receive the email.
    • If you have multiple accounts, choose which one you want to receive email. Registrar websites will either ask for a numerical value or offer settings of "High," "Medium," or "Low" priority. Select High for your preferred account. If you are inputting a numerical value, give your preferred account a lower number than your other accounts. The lowest number means highest priority.
    • Numerical values typically use 10 as the lowest numerical value. Thus, if you have another account which you do not wish to receive email, you would input 20 for that account.
13. Select "Save Zone File" or "Save" or "Add Records" to save the changes. The changes may not immediately be reflected but have been saved and will be implemented.
    • If you want the changes to be reflected as soon as possible, change the TTL field to the lowest possible value before saving changes. This will decrease the time it takes for the changes to take effect. Know that the TTL may not be editable for some registrar sites.

Tips

• Create a long password with a mix of characters so your account cannot be hacked.
• If you live in the U.K. it is possible to end your address in .co.uk and for the other countries there should be a national address ending.

Things You'll Need

• Internet Connection
• A Computer

Sources and Citations

See also

• Ask for a Letter of Recommendation Through Email
• Send a Google Hangouts Invite
• Email Teachers
• Trace an Email
• Email a Professor
• Email Audio Files
• Set Up a Disposable Email Address
• Write an Email to a Friend
• Create an Online Portfolio
• Know if Someone Is Invisible to You on Yahoo! Messenger

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