When starting a business, one of the very first things we do is get business cards with our contact information on it. But how unprofessional would it be if our business cards said JaneLovesCats24@gmail? So, we snag up our first professional email on our custom domain because it usually comes free with our webhost, and we quickly realize that the email system they’ve provided looks straight out of the 90s dial-up era. It’s hard to navigate, difficult to organize, and looks like it wants to scream “You’ve Got Mail.” (By the way, I loved AOL back then so I wouldn’t even be mad at that!)
Setting up a professional email with Gmail on your own custom domain is easier than expected. I’ve had to set up a few professional accounts this year using Google’s G-Suite for myself and my clients. It was literally a few clicks and a verification, and it’s done. I wrote all about the additional benefits here but the main reason I personally went with G-Suite and Gmail for my professional email account is below.
Why choose Gmail for your professional email accounts:
- Gmail is the G.O.A.T. I might be a little biased but I tried most of the other email providers and I hated them. Gmail is the greatest of all time – okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. But it’s hands down the best when it comes to user interface, spam protection, security, and its what I’m used to. So, it only makes sense to use Gmail for my professional email as well.
- Look the part. Build customer trust by giving everyone in your company a professional email address at your domain, like jane@myawesomecompany or joe@myawesomecompany … even if they are your virtual assistants.
- Aliases for everyone. If you’re a one man/woman shop but would like to have a professional email like billing@myawesomecompany or sales@myawesomecompany, you can have multiple email addresses by creating email aliases. You can add up to 30 email aliases for each user!
- It’s not just Gmail. You also get 30GB of space on Google Drive to store and share files in the cloud, and you can easily work on documents, spreadsheets, and slides across your devices, with or without internet.
Impressed yet?
Here’s how to create a professional email address with Gmail:
- Purchase your business domain name. I purchase all of mine from Namecheap.
Find a domain starting at $0.48
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- Get a hosting plan (I use Siteground btw) and set up your business’ self-hosted WordPress site.
- Visit the G-Suite site here.
- Click “Get Started” on the plan you like best and then enter your basic information in the steps that follow in order to create your account.
- You’ll have the option to set up your account the “Express” or “Custom” way. I recommend Express — it’s really quick!
- Now you’ll need to “verify” your domain name. The easiest way in my opinion, is to “insert an HTML tag into your site’s home page.” Trust me, it’s easier than it sounds.
The simplest way to do this is by installing a plugin (like this one here) that provides an easy-to-edit <head> section. Then, just copy the code that Google provides in that section. - Click “verify.”
- Once you’re done, login to your G-Suite account and click “Users.” There, you’ll see the option to add new users (i.e. custom email addresses!). Adding new users is $5 per user, per month or $50 for the year. This is totally worth it to me!
- That’s it! You’re done! YAY!
If you have any questions about using Gmail to set up your professional email, feel free to leave a question in the comments!
I also have an unlimited amount of coupons to share for 20% off G-Suite!
If you want to receive one, just email me or click the button below to send a request. A coupon code will be sent to you within 24 hours. Woohoo!
