The vast majority of people have their email handled by a free service like Gmail, Yahoo!, or Microsoft Outlook. These services may be fine for casual users, but for small businesses, SMEs, and large enterprises, having professional, branded email can help improve communication, increase brand recall, and boost credibility. That’s why it’s important to understand what professional email hosting is, what options are available, and how it differs from free email providers.
The basic definition of email hosting is renting space on a server to store your emails. It’s not to be confused with web hosting, which makes the files that comprise a website available for viewing online. Most of the time, a web host will offer both email and web hosting together, with different plans offering varying levels of storage and management.
Most of the time, a hosting provider will tuck a dedicated space on one of their servers away for your domain name so when you receive emails, they’ll be directed there through DNS instructions on the web. Then you can access and read them on any device, via a webmail interface or with a standard email client.
As a business, you can have your email hosted on a separate server to your website, or you can combine both by making certain entries in the DNS records for your domain (via CNAME records). It’s becoming more common for providers to offer bundled email and web hosting packages these days. Some email hosts may specialize solely in offering business email hosting, while others may only host websites, but both may offer a range of other complementary products or services.
Aside from the obvious benefits of a branded and professional looking email address, having your company’s domain name in your email address helps to build brand recall and improves credibility. It also lets you keep all of your email in a central location and provides better security, syncing across devices, and easier support for a number of other features that make email more convenient to use.
When you look at the big picture, email is a huge part of any company or organization. The most valuable and useful tool for communication, it’s important that you have a reliable, secure solution to handle all of your important messages. That way, you can be sure your email won’t go down and your critical communication will always be accessible.
There are a few different ways to find the best email hosting provider for your needs. Price, security and customer and technical support, mail protocol types, and storage and scalability will all play a role in your decision-making process. However, you should always take the time to consider your needs and how they might change in the future, so that you don’t end up with a solution that won’t be able to grow with you. With the right research and planning, you can ensure that your company’s email is a solid foundation for all of your communication needs.