As a freelance web developer I get a lot of questions about the back-end of setting up websites. One of the most common questions I hear is, “How do I create an email at my domain?” And then, once that’s done, “How do I actually use it without one of those weird web mail things?” Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. In this post I will explain exactly how to create an email at your domain and then how to integrate your domain email into Gmail.
If you haven’t launched your site yet and need help getting started, read my 6-step guide first.
Trust me, you can do this email thing. It’s not as hard or overwhelming as it sounds. Put on your learning hat and let’s go!
The overall process for creating an email at your domain is the same no matter which hosting company you are using, but the exact steps will differ since each hosts’ control panel is a bit different. Siteground and Bluehost are the two most common hosts, and the ones I personally recommend, so this tutorial will focus specifically on how to create an email at your domain in Siteground and Bluehost. I’ll walk you through the exact steps separately per host below.
HOW TO CREATE AN EMAIL AT YOUR DOMAIN IN SITEGROUND
- First, login to your Siteground account
- Once your dashboard opens, click on the My Accounts tab, and then the Go to Cpanel button.
- On the Cpanel page, scroll down to the Mail section. If you’re like me and hate searching a page for something, just do a quick Ctrl+F (or Command+F on a Mac) and type in the word Email then press Enter. This will jump you down to the Mail section, exactly where you need to be. From here, click on the Email Accounts link.
- There is where the magic happens. In the first box, enter your desired email. For example, I am creating info@onmoxieandmotherhood.com, so I put “info” in the box and make sure the onmoxieandmotherhood.com domain is selected (you only have to worry about which domain is selected if you have more than one domain). Create your password and note it somewhere because you know you’ll forget in 3 seconds. I also recommend increasing your mailbox quota to the max so you don’t have to worry about adjusting that in the future.
- Hit that Create Account button and bam, you have just created an email account at your domain, you smarty pants! Scroll down to the instructions you’ll need to integrate your domain email into Gmail.
HOW TO CREATE AN EMAIL AT YOUR DOMAIN IN BLUEHOST
- First, login to your Bluehost account.
- From here, scroll down to the Email section or do a quick Ctrl+F (Command+F on a Mac) and type in the word Email then press Enter. Click on Email Manager.
- Click the Create an Email Account Button.
- Enter your desired email. For example, I am creating admin@jessicalebrun.com so I enter admin and make sure jessicalebrun.com is the selected domain (if you only have one domain you won’t have to select a domain). Create your password and note it somewhere because you know you’ll forget in 3 seconds. I recommend selected Unlimited mailbox size so you don’t have to worry about adjusting this later.
- Hit that Create Account button and bam, you have just created an email account at your domain, you smarty pants! Scroll down to the instructions you’ll need to integrate your domain email into Gmail.
HOW TO INTEGRATE YOUR DOMAIN EMAIL INTO GMAIL (so you can actually use it)
Now that you have your new fancy email setup, you’ll want to be able to actually use it! Yes, you could use a webmail service like Horde or Roundcude, but that is a total pain. The best option, in my opinion, is to integrate your domain email into Gmail, so you can send and receive right from your existing inbox! Here’s how to do it:
- In Gmail, click on the little Gear icon towards the upper-right, and then click Settings.
- Under Settings, click on the Accounts and Import tab and then the Add Another Email Address link.
- From here, a window will pop-up. Enter your new domain email into the first box. Click Next.
- Leave the selection “Import emails from my other account (POP3)” and click Next. Curious what POP3 is? POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol revision 3. It is used to fetch delivered email messages from your mail server.
- For the next step, you’ll need some info from your host. If you use Siteground, go back to your email manager in your Control Panel (Control Panel -> Email Accounts). Beside your domain email, click the More button and then Configure Email Client. In the grey box you will find the information you need to populate into Gmail.
- If you use Bluehost, go to the Email Configuration tab (Control Panel -> Email Manager -> Email Configuration). Select your email from the drop-down, and then you’ll see the information you need.
- For this step, use the Incoming Server information, and be sure to select the Port number for POP3.
- Select Yes on the next step.
- Now you will need the Outgoing server information from your host. Refer back to the same area within your hosting account for this info, and populate into Gmail.
- Gmail will send a confirmation email to you with a code in it. This will come into your Gmail inbox and it will take a few minutes. Don’t panic and think you’ve done something wrong, just give it a few minutes. When you receive it, copy the code (Ctrl + C) and paste into Gmail (Ctrl + V). And once you submit, your little yellow window will disappear and you can celebrate! You, my friend, just integrated your domain email into Gmail!
- You can Compose a new message in Gmail and see that you now have the option to send email from your Gmail account or your new fancy dancy branded email address! Go ahead and type jessica@onmoxieandmotherhood.com into that To field and send me a note to say hi and let me know this worked for you!
If at any point during that process it asks you if you would like to “Treat as an alias”, the answer is yes. When you add another address to your Gmail account, Gmail typically treats it the same as your original Gmail address (as an alias for that address). This is what you want. However, if you’re sending emails on behalf of another user, you might want to uncheck the “Treat as an alias” box.
Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have questions or let me know if this was helpful! If you ever have any questions that you would like me to write about, send them my way! Happy emailing!
Hi, I’m Jessica! I am wife to Chris, and mom to Kaiper, Alana and our silver lab pup, Maui. We are expecting baby #3 right now, and excited to become a family of 5! I am a freelance website & blog developer, Co-Founder of Moxie Girl Fit Club, and aspiring author. I share about everything from parenting, how to make money from home, tutorials for my fellow bloggers, fitness and being a new homeschool family. Learn more about me here.
