How to Use Gmail with Your Custom Domain

A few years ago, when we first created our online educational platform, we weren’t really aware of all the benefits project management tools can offer. Regarding our professional email accounts, in particular, we used to manage them through the email client provided by our email hosting.

We were oblivious that other tools existed, so we kept torturing ourselves with a service that had a primitive design and was generally very underwhelming. But, we were so used to something way better for managing our private email accounts (Gmail), that we simply couldn’t ignore how awful the service we used was.

Luckily, a few months after our business launched, we discovered there’s a simple and successful way to use Gmail with our custom domain email address.

The revelation was so life-changing that we decided to share it with you. We wrote this article to help you set up a Gmail account and use it with your custom domain email address. In our experience, there are two different ways to achieve this and we’ll present them here with step-by-step instructions.

The first method, and our personal choice, is G Suite (now rebranded as Google Workspace). It’s our soft spot – we not only use it to access Gmail with our professional email addresses but also for its tons of other fantastic features that make managing our projects child’s play.

The second method is free and slightly more intricate. It basically involves email forwarding and it doesn’t include additional assets like G Suite does.

Why Use Gmail With Your Custom Domain?

We’ve been using Gmail to send and receive private emails and we adore the service. You know Gmail – beautiful interface, constant uptime, two-factor authentication, smart replies, and we can go on and on, but we bet you’re already familiar with all of it.

That being said, there’re many other email clients on the market that you can use. And trust us, we’ve tried so many – none came even close to the superiority of Gmail. Problems like connection failures, slow loading times, and poor UX were some of the many reasons why we always went back to Gmail.

Here are some of the possibilities Gmail opened for us:

1. Gmail ensures to always stay on top of the game. The service enhances its features constantly to be faster, more reliable, and safer. It updates its malware scanners on a regular basis – something other clients don’t even support.
2. It lets us maintain professionalism. Keeping consistency with your brand is key to gaining confidence with your customers. We’re using [email protected] instead of [email protected] to make sure we’re promoting our brand, not Gmail’s.
3. We were able to get rid of our original email client. At the risk of overgeneralizing, with a design that hasn’t changed since the ‘90s, these email services generally offer a really poor experience. That’s not the case with Gmail – it’s constantly improving to be more and more intuitive.

Why Did We Choose G Suite to Manage Our Domain?

Our initial motive to use Gmail so we could manage our professional email accounts got a much wider perspective when we discovered Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite). With all the amazing services it features, it makes managing our business a lot easier and way more efficient.

G Suite is a paid solution of cloud services meant for project management and productivity developed by Google in 2006. Although not free, it’s much simpler to set up with a domain than the other free method.

Here are some of the reasons why we heavily rely on G Suite:

1. Gmail was the first service that got us acquainted with G Suite. Other email clients on the market cannot match the Gmail experience. And it’s exceptionally easy to use with a custom email address.
2. As we developed our online platform, we had to engage a team of contractors to help us grow. And we needed a management tool to organize everything. G Suite jumped right in with its plethora of services such as Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, Calendar, etc. All of these allow our team to collaborate online, communicate, share files, organize tasks, schedule events, and much more.
3. Unlike the free method, with G Suite, you can add and manage multiple custom email accounts instead of only one.
4. G Suite also allowed us to assign each of our team members a dedicated email account with our domain name on it so we could maintain our brand image.
5. Whenever we need to terminate a contract or replace someone on our team, G Suite allows us to disable a member’s account. That way we make sure we keep everything secure.

G Suite Pricing

In our opinion, G Suite offers affordable options suitable for everyone’s needs. For $6/month you get the “Business Starter” edition, for $12/month the “Business Standard” edition, and you’ll need to pay $18/month for the “Business Plus” edition. You can contact G Suite to acquire pricing information about their new “Enterprise” edition. If you’re a nonprofit organization, you can get it for free with Google for Nonprofits.

Remember that by signing up through our link you’ll get 20% off of your first year with G Suite.

Now, onto the step-by-step instructions on how to set up Gmail with your domain email address.

Method 1: How to Get Gmail with a Custom Email Address with G Suite

We’ll describe this method first as it’s the one we personally use and recommend. We chose it mainly because it’s easier to set up and includes all the amazing tools we talked about earlier. Let’s begin:

1. Click Get Started on the G Suite (Google Workspace) homepage;
2. Type in the required information about your business;
3. On the next screen, provide your domain name, assuming you already have one. If you don’t, purchase yours from your preferred domain registrar;
4. Next, you’ll add your payment details;
5. After you’re done, Google will ask you to verify ownership of the domain you provided. Depending on your domain registrar, you’ll receive instructions on how to complete your verification process;
6. Next, click Verify and Set up Email;
7. On the following screen, you’ll add your custom email address;
8. That’s it! Enjoy your 14-day free trial of G Suite.
   

Method 2: How to Use Gmail with Your Custom Domain for Free

If you’re interested in hooking up your custom domain email account with Gmail for free, you’re in the right place. We’ll make sure to cover every necessary step to show you how it’s done.

What we’ll go through in the following sections is known as email forwarding. It’s a process where an email sent to a recipient configured on a certain email client is routed to end up on another email client.

Please note that, unlike G Suite, with this method, you can only set up one email account to forward to Gmail. Also, the free part is the email forwarding, you still need to have a registered domain and email hosting (these are paid services).

To kick things off, we’ll begin with:

1. Creating a Gmail Account

If you’ve never had one of these, you must have been living under a rock. Just kidding! For this tutorial, we suggest creating a new account because we’re talking business here, and it’s best to keep personal email accounts separate from your work. Simply fill in your name, choose a username (something like [email protected]), and a password. You might need to provide your phone number as well, for extra security.

2. Create a Custom Domain Email Account

In this step, we’ll teach you how to create a custom domain email account, provided you don’t already have one. For this you’ll need to meet two preconditions: you need to own a registered domain and purchase an email hosting. If you already have these configured then you’re good to go. If not, purchase your domain name and email hosting and make sure the domain points to your hosting. You can do so by replacing the domain’s default nameservers with the hosting nameservers.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll cover the settings of four popular hosting services – Hostinger, Bluehost, Hostmonster, and HostGator. If your email is configured on a different hosting service, the steps you need to follow will be pretty much the same as these four, especially HostGator’s.

All you need to do is access the email section on your hosting’s cPanel and create a new email with your domain name. Simply choose your username ([email protected]) and a password, just like in the following examples:

3. Set Up Email Forwarding

Your goal is to receive every email message in the Gmail platform and for that, you need to set up email forwarding. With the procedure below you’ll be able to configure Gmail to be the recipient of all of your future emails, instead of the email client provided by your email hosting.

Here, we’ll cover every necessary step for the hosting providers that we mentioned above. Please note that there’s a slight chance you won’t be able to set up email forwarding if you’re using a low-grade email hosting that doesn’t support this option.

Let’s see how it’s done:

• Hostinger

1. Go to hPanel;
2. Access the Emails section;
3. Click on Email Forwarders;
4. You’ll be taken to the Create an Email Forwarder screen;
5. In the Custom Email address field, type in the desired name ([email protected]);
6. In the Forward to email field, type in your newly created Gmail email address;
7. Click on the Create button.

• Bluehost

1. Go to cPanel;
2. Access the hosting section;
3. Access the email section;
4. Next, click on forwarding;
5. Click add email forwarder;
6. In the address to forward field, type in your desired name for the email address;
7. From the destination options, choose Forward to this address and type in your newly created Gmail email address;
8. Click on the Submit button.

• Hostmonster

1. Go to the cPanel;
2. Access the Advanced section;
3. Under the Email section choose Forwarders;
4. Click on Add Forwarder;
5. Type in the address you want to forward in the Address to Forward field;
6. Type in your newly created Gmail email address in the Forward to Email Address field;
7. Click on the Add Forwarder button.

• HostGator

1. Go to the cPanel;
2. Access the Mail section;
3. Click on Forwarders;
4. Next, click on Add Forwarder;
5. Type in the address you want to forward in the Address to Forward field;
6. Type in your newly created Gmail email address in the Forward to Email Address field;
7. Click on the Add Forwarder button.

Sweet! Now you’re getting your professional emails in Gmail.

4. Set Up Sending Emails From Gmail

If you want to maintain a high-level brand reputation, replying-to and sending new emails from your professional email account is a must. And with this configuration, we’ll show you how to do so without leaving the Gmail tab.

1. 1. Go to this link and enable “Less secure app access;”
   2. If your account has 2-factor verification enabled, this isn’t going to work. You’re going to have to access this link and create an app-specific password;
   3. After you’re done with that, return to your Gmail;
   4. Click on Settings;
   5. There, access the Accounts and Import section;
   6. Find the Send mail as section and click Add another email address;
   7. In the pop-up window type in your name and custom email address and tick the Treat as an alias box;
   8. On the next screen, input the following:
      • SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com;
      • Username: this is the username that you chose when you created your Gmail account, the one that comes before the “@gmail.com” part;
      • Password: your Gmail or app-specific password;
      • Port: 465 or 587;
      • Secure connection using: SSL for 465, TLS for 587.

5. Verify Your Custom Email Address in Gmail

Congratulations! You’ve completed every step in this tutorial. All it takes now is to verify the newly added email in Gmail – the link for verification should be in your inbox.

A last piece of advice from us would be to make your new email address the default one, so you don’t have to choose it manually every time you compose a new email. Simply return to the Send mail as section in the settings and mark your new email address as the default one.

Have fun using Gmail with your custom domain address and good luck!

A Few Words Before You Go…

We’re happy to say that Gmail and G Suite (Google Workspace) have become inseparable companions on our business journey and we hope you’ll soon realize their true power too. In this article, we shared the instructions on how to set them up with your professional email addresses so you can have a better experience, save time, and maintain brand consistency.

The first method explained how to configure the G Suite solution for project management. The second one enables you to get your custom domain emails on Gmail for free. Whichever you choose, you’re one step closer to a more productive future.

Bonus: If you decided to go for the G Suite option, remember to sign up through this link and receive 20% off of your first year.