Many people are asking why I am using a custom domain email address instead of a Gmail or an Outlook email - I have tried many email accounts from various providers, however, having an email address with my own domain is much cooler than with a Google’s or Microsoft’s.

Firstly, let us introduce the basic concepts of a domain email. A domain email address is an email address that uses a custom domain name, such as yourname@yourdomain.com, instead of a generic domain like gmail.com, yahoo.com, or outlook.com. The domain part of the email address is typically the same as your business or personal website domain, providing a more professional appearance and branding.

Apart from the professional appearance and personal branding purpose, there are many more benifits when using a domain email address. A domain email address usually provides more control, as you have complete control over the email accounts. You can create, manage, and delete email addresses as needed without relying on a third-party provider. Think about how cumbersome when you are trying to change the name of your Google account. Furthermore, domain email address often comes wiht enhanced security if properly configured. With domain email, you can implement advanced security measures and policies to protect your data and communications. And you can customize your email addresses to suit different purposes, such as info@yourdomain.com, support@yourdomain.com, or even yourdomain@yourdomain.com if you want.

There are many advantages of a custom domain email comparing to the big name providers, but choosing a personalised domain email does not means you are away from the services by those providers! You can combine the professionalism of domain email with the user-friendly interface of providers like Gmail. For instance

Google Workspace: Offers business email using your domain name with the familiar Gmail interface, along with additional productivity tools like Google Drive, Calendar, and Meet. Microsoft 365: Provides business email with your domain name using Outlook and includes Office apps like Word, Excel, and Teams.

Firstly, you need to register a domain name.There are many domain providers, for example, OVH, GoDaddy. It is recommended to check the prices of domains through TLD-list.

Then, connect the domain to an email provider, for exmaple, Gmail. Simply go to the Google Workspace website and choose a plan. Follow the steps to verify your domain ownership by adding a TXT record to your domain’s DNS settings. There might be other methods accepted by Google for ownership verification. To add a TXT record to your domain’s DNS, simply go back to your domain provider to make the modification. After verification passed, sse the Google Admin console to set up email addresses with your domain. To enable mailing functions, you need to further configure your domain’s MX records to direct email to Google’s servers. After that, start to use Gmail to send and receive emails using your domain address just as you work with Gmail before!

The configuration of connecting your domain to providers such as Google is straightforward, however, there is usually a monthly fee associated with it. If you would like to pay less or even zero, you can explore open source and self-hosted solutions.

For instance, it is also popular to use Mail-in-a-Box. All you need to have is a VPS with an Ubuntu 22.04 x64. Although it might be possible to install and run Mail-in-a-Box on other versions of Linux, it is advisable to proceed with an Ubuntu 22.04 x64. Then follow the Setup and you are done. If you want more advanced functionalities or enhanced privacy, you can also checkout iRedMail or Modoboa.

However, self-hosting email server can sometimes be blocked by other email servers because of anti junk email policies. To avoid this, you need to be aware of the IP address provided by your VPS vendor. Before self-hosting the email service, you can check the IP address through MXtoolbox. After successful deployment, you can further check the email quality from mail-tester.

If you want to have a self-hosted email server but you cannot handle the technical details, you can also purchase a web hosting from Namecheap. Their web hosting plans provide mailboxes that are nearly the same with your self-hosted ones.

Now, it is time to have a domain email and play!