What Is Email Forwarding?
Email Forwarding is where we create Email Forwards using your domain name, and we set them up to forward to an external email account like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or other.
With Email Forwarding we aren't creating actual Email Accounts, and we aren't hosting any email on our servers. With Email Forwarding we essentially map an email alias to forward to another pre-existing email account.
By not hosting email on our servers we are able to offer better website performance and security, and we are also able to allocate all storage space to web hosting rather than using precious server space and processing power for serving up email.
Email Forwarding doesn't take up much server processing at all, and therefore helps us to provide better website performance.
By not offering true Email Accounts we are able to focus on our core business, which is:
BUILDING + HOSTING + MAINTAINING + SUPPORTING + PROMOTING.
There are plenty of good email services available like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, so we don't need to offer our own version of email other than Email Forwarding.
Getting Started with Email Forwarding
Once we set up a new domain for you (or point your existing domain to our server) then we can set up Email Forwarding for you. We simply set up an Email Forward for each of your email addresses that you want to use.
All we need from you is the email addresses you want set up, along with the corresponding Gmail account to forward each email address to as shown in the example below.
There is no quota limit (except the quota Gmail imposes for your Gmail inbox, which is very generous), and no limit to how many emails and forwards you can set up*.
Example of Email Forwarding
you@yourdomain.com => your-gmail@gmail.com
info@yourdomain.com => your-gmail@gmail.com
sales@yourdomain.com => your-gmail@gmail.com
another-person@yourdomain.com => another-persons@gmail.com
yet-another-person@yourdomain.com => yet-another-persons@gmail.com
Just let us know what email addresses you want forwarded, and to which email address they should forward to (like the examples above).
*See our Managed WordPress Service plans for how many Email Forwards are available with each plan. You can always add more as needed for a small one-time up-charge.
Create a Free Gmail Account
Create a free Gmail account for easy email management (send and receive email using your domain name, multiple inboxes, labels, filtering).
In the words of Google themselves...
"7+ GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access. is email that's intuitive, efficient, and useful."
Setting Up Gmail To Send and Receive Email Based On Your Domain Name
Send And Receive Email Based On Your Domain Name Using Gmail
This section describes how to set up Gmail to send and receive email from email addresses based on your website's domain name.
Send Email Based On Your Domain Name
Most likely you will also want to be able to Send (not just Receive) from each email address based on your domain name. You will be able to Send email from your new email accounts from within Gmail once you walk through the email Verification Process that Gmail requires as outlined below.
Send and receive from multiple email addresses with Gmail
CONFIGURING GMAIL TO SEND/RECEIVE FROM YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNTS BASED ON YOUR DOMAIN NAME
(setting up Gmail for Sending from email accounts that are based on your domain like yourname@yourdomain.com) Each person within your organization who is getting an email to use with your domain and wants to use Gmail to send and receive with that email account will need to login to their Gmail account and walk through the 'Send Verification' process. Send Verification
- Each individual needs to login to their Gmail account.
- Go to Gmail > Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail from another address.
- Walk through the default settings, then click Send Verification.
Example If you are setting up you@yourdomain.com to be used with Gmail you would enter you@yourdomain.com as the email to be used in the 'Send mail from another address' section. Once Email Forwarding is in place, then upon hitting 'Send Verification' Gmail will send a verification email from Gmail to you@yourdomain.com, which in turn should Forward to your Gmail inbox to confirm you are the rightful owner of that email address. Verify Each Email Account Gmail will send verification emails for each new email address that is to be verified based on the 'Send Verification' process. The verification emails should automatically go to your Gmail email address (based on the Email Forward we set up prior to this step).
- Check your Gmail inbox for the verification emails sent from Gmail.
- Click on the link within the verification email to verify you own that email account.
Here is a Tutorial Video on How To Set Up Email Accounts for Use with Gmail. Once verified, each individual should be able to send as well as receive emails from within Gmail for any email accounts based on their domain name that were set up with Email Forwarding.
Segment Your Gmail Inbox Using Filters and Labels
Gmail Filters, color coded Labels, and Multiple Inboxes give great control over the segmentation of your email accounts.
Organizing your Gmail inbox using Multiple Inboxes, Labels and Filters
The next thing you probably want to do is separate your work email from personal email or other email within Gmail by setting up Multiple Inboxes and also Filters and Labels (within Gmail > Setup) to color code stuff within Gmail.
It's usually also a good idea to segment your emails based on different email addresses that you might be using by color coding them and adding Labels like Work, etc.
We can do this for you as an Addon Service, and we can also provide monthly Gmail Tech Support as an Addon if you need it.
Enhance Your Email Signature :: Add Social Services :: Use Multiple Signatures :: Insert Html Free
WiseStamp is a free browser extension that adds a nice signature to the bottom of your email when using Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Hotmail.
You can use the built-in editor to create and format your email, or you can also edit the HTML to dress up your email if you know how.
Here’s an example of an email signature using WiseStamp:
Jeff Kemp, Founder/Key Executive
Ph: (303) 888-5140
WiseStamp is available for Gmail and as a Google Chrome browser extension (and maybe some others).
To install a browser extension open your browser and go to the Preferences menu, then Add Extension.
Need Google Apps Configured?
If you would rather have us configure Google Apps to be your email server for your domain (rather than Email Forwarding) then just let us know and we'll configure email for your domain to point to Google Apps. In this case you would need to manage all of your own email accounts yourself within Google Apps. Here's the technical detail of how we configure Google Apps for use with your domain:
- We setup domain verification for your domain for use with Google Apps using DNS verification.
- We create a DNS TXT record pointing to the Google Verification like: google-site-verification=bCG_CPooIzRwnWB9WukeHb2ugruPkjJFZDyq0dNFlWo
- We set up a subdomain of 'gmail.domain.com' for you to use as a Custom URL for Google Apps.
- We create a CNAME record for gmail.domain.com pointing to "ghs.google.com".
Why You Maybe Should Not Use Outlook
Main benefits to using Gmail over Outlook:
- All email is hosted by Google within Gmail, so there is almost no limit to the amount of storage, and no third parties involved for hosting so no down time (with Outlook you need your email account hosted somewhere which will undoubtedly offer less storage than Gmail, and you are also limited to your local storage space on your computer since Outlook stores email locally within a PST file).
- Email is accessible via the web from anywhere in the world through the outstanding Gmail interface.
- An unlimited number of email accounts can be set up within Gmail.
- Gmail Filters, color coded Labels, and Multiple Inboxes give great control over the segmentation of your email accounts.
- Gmail has very good built-in spam filtering.
- Outlook configuration and Rules are not as easy to set up as Gmail.
If you really need to use Outlook then we have to set up an Email Hosting account (with additional cost) not Email Forwarding, which can be done but has it's limitations compared to Gmail, so Gmail is the highly preferred method. There is additional cost involved for Email Hosting. If after reading this article you still prefer Outlook then please let us know so we can set up your email accounts the way you want it.
Summary:
- We set up a new domain for you (or point your existing domain to our server).
- You send us the email addresses you want set up with Email Forwarding, along with the corresponding Gmail account to forward each email address to.
- We set up Email Forwarding for your email addresses.
- You login to Gmail and go to Gmail > Settings > Accounts and Import > Send mail from another address.
- Walk through the default settings, then click Send Verification.
- Gmail will send verification emails for each new email address that you sent a verification for.
- Check your Gmail inbox for the verification emails sent from Gmail.
- Click on the link within the verification email to verify you own that email account.
- Set up Multiple Inboxes, Filters and Labels within Gmail > Setup to manage how your emails are displayed within Gmail.
That's pretty much how we use email...we forward all emails associated to one of our website domains (like web contact form submissions) to a select Gmail inbox, then segment it with Labels and Filters for easy management. We can then send and receive from any email address we set up, and easily respond to the emails that are directly related to our business (keeping personal emails separate). It works great!
Let us know if you have trouble and need more help with any of this. We also suggest that you Google or search on YouTube for how to set up Gmail using Multiple Inboxes, Filters, and Labels if you need more information. As mentioned, as an Addon Service we can actually set up your Gmail accounts for you including Multiple Inboxes, Filters, and Labels.