𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Creating a personalised email address is an important step for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to communicate with customers. Rather than relying on generic email providers, a custom domain can also reduce the chance of your messages ending up in someone’s spam folder.

As outlined by Seb Brantigan, co-founder at DBSS Digital: “Creating an email domain allows you to build your brand and look professional when sending or receiving business-related emails.”

Keep reading for what you need to know about setting up an email domain for your business.

How do I set up my own email domain?

The first step is to purchase a domain or website name from a registrar like Hostinger, GoDaddy, Ionos or Spaceship to associate your new email with. The registrar will tell you what is available and once secured, you will need to select an email hosting service such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

Experts recommend creating an email address with a first name to make it more personable.

Brantigan shares: “Email addresses that start with info@ or hello@ are more likely to land in junk, spam or be labelled as promotions.”

How much does an email domain cost?

Email domain prices can vary, especially if you want more in-demand extensions such as .com or .co.uk. In general, the cost typically ranges from £10 to £20 per year and there may be special offers and short-term discounts for new users.

Paul Ryazanov, chief executive of ecommerce brand Magecloud, explains: “Costs depend on the number of users and features required. Basic setups can be free or low cost, while professional solutions are typically charged per user.

“A common approach is to host your website in one place and manage email through a separate, specialised provider.”

What happens if my domain is taken down?

An email domain going down can be serious, as it means your messaging services will stop and you won’t be able to send or receive anything to or from customers and clients.

Your email domain could be taken down for a range of reasons. Some reasons are within your control, such as making sure you are up to date with payments and monitoring when your subscription ends. But there may be issues outside of your control. For example, if the provider you are using has a fault.

Everything you need to build, launch and grow online

LEARN MORE

ADVERTISEMENT

Everything you need to build, launch and grow online

LEARN MORE

ADVERTISEMENT

Dos and don’ts to be aware of

There are a few dos and don’ts to be aware of when creating a custom email domain. It may be tempting to save money by hosting your own email, but this can be risky.

Jerzy Zawadzki, chief technology officer at Polcode, says: “You can host email on your own infrastructure. This gives you full control, but it requires ongoing maintenance, security management, backups, and proper configuration. In practice, this is rarely efficient unless you have in-house development capabilities.

“The recommended approach is to use a professional email provider such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. It’s more reliable, secure, and easier to scale.”

Authentication is also important when configuring your email domain. Brantigan recommends configuring your SPF, DMARC, DKIM and BIMI domain settings, which essentially helps stop spammers, phishers, and other unauthorised people from sending emails on your behalf.

Lloyd Cobb, director of web hosting provider 20i, agrees that account security is important, adding: “Do use strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication to protect your brand’s reputation.”

“Don’t use these standard inboxes for high-volume bulk marketing, as this can damage your domain’s sender score and cause your regular business emails to be blocked.”

Read more: I want to build my own business website – where do I start?