How can you set up a business email address?
consider setting up an official email address
In this blog post, we break down the steps to creating an email address and a domain for a business.
Table of contents
Okay, so you've registered your business and its name. Now, consider setting up an official email address. Customers, employees, and potential partners will want to communicate with your business quickly and efficiently and solve any issues they may have.
According to a Verisign UK survey, 78 per cent of UK consumers trust a business email more if it is company-branded, as opposed to one from a generic provider. For example, [email protected] is more attractive than [email protected]. More trust leads to a higher satisfaction rate, so it's a win-win situation. Moreover, emailing with your domain name allows you to promote your own company continuously.
So, how can you get started? We'll take you through the steps behind creating a business email and how you can make it as professional as possible. Most domains will need to be paid, but depending on which hosting provider you go for, a free one may be included in the package.
Register a domain name
The address of your website is the domain name, and it forms the foundation of your business email. So, it should be as close to your company name as possible.
To register a domain name, you can use an internet domain registrar or web hosting company, such as Bluehost, HostGator or InMotion. Most web hosting companies will often offer either a free or a discounted domain in the cost of their plans. You will need to check their websites for more information to decide which is the best offer for you.
Next, you must select a hosting plan for your business website. There are three options to choose from, each at a different price:
- Shared hosting – this is good if you are just getting started with a website or blog
- VPS – if your website needs more power and control
- Dedicated – this is best suited for high-traffic sites that require the ultimate speed and performance
Then you can choose a domain name. If you select one already taken, the registrar will show you closely related alternatives.
Choose a web host
Once you have a domain name, you can start work on establishing your email address. First, you will need to choose a preferred company that is best for you.
Here are some of the best web hosts available and their pros and cons:
Bluehost
(WordPress hosting provider, best for multiple free email accounts and a free domain)
- Hosting plans: For 12 months, £2.40 for the basic plan, £4.42 for the plus plan, £4.42 for choice plus and £11.33 for the pro plan. For 36 months, £4.02 for the basic plan, £6.05 for the plus plan, £6.05 for choice plus and £15.39 for the pro plan.
- Online store: For 12 months, £8.08 for the basic plan and £10.52 for the online store and marketplace. For 36 months, £10.52 for the basic plan and £16.20 for the online store and marketplace.
- VPS hosting plans: For 12 months, £20.29 for the standard plan, £34.10 for the enhanced plan and £68.20 for the ultimate plan. For 36 months, £16.23 for the standard plan, £24.35 for the enhanced plan and £48.71 for the ultimate plan.
- Dedicated hosting plans: For 12 months, £81.19 for the standard plan, £97.43 for the enhanced plan and £113.67 for the premium plan. For 36 months, £64.95 for the standard plan, £81.19 for the enhanced plan and £97.43 for the premium plan.
Please note these are the currently reduced prices, and they may rise to their original retail price in the future. Please visit the Bluehost website for more information on the hosting plans available.
- From five to unlimited free email addresses for business use
- Free domain name and SSL certificate included
- Connect your email addresses to different providers
- Unlimited storage in all but the base plan
- No free trial or free plan
- No month-to-month billing
- Only 100MB of storage in the base tier
- Lacks integrated productivity and communication tools
HostGator
(WordPress hosting provider, best for multiple free email accounts and a free domain)
- Shared hosting plans: These come at a cheap cost. $2.75 per month for the hatchling plan, $3.50 per month for the baby plan, and $5.25 per month for the business plan.
- WordPress hosting plans: Similarly to shared hosting plans, these are pretty affordable. $5.95 per month for the starter plan, $7.95 per month for the standard plan, and $9.945 per month for the business plan.
- VPS hosting plans: $23.95 per month for the Snappy 2000 plan, $34.95 per month for the Snappy 4000 plan and $59.95 per month for the Snappy 8000 plan.
- Dedicated hosting plans: $89.98 per month for the Value Server plan, $119.89 per month for the Power Server plan and $139.99 per month for the Enterprise Server plan.
- Please note these are the currently reduced prices, and they may rise to their original retail price in the future. For more information on the hosting plans available, please visit the HostGator website
- Unlimited disk space and bandwidth
- Unlimited host domains (except Hatchling Plan)
- Free advertising credit and WordPress blog tools
- Easy-to-use control panel
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Slower customer support response times
- Not the most economical option for business hosting
- Restore from backups requires an additional fee
InMotion
(tailored towards business web hosting)
- Shared hosting plans: For 1 year, $3.49 per month for the core plan, $6.99 per month for the launch plan, $6.99 per month for power plan and $14.99 per month for pro plan. For 2 years, $2.99 per month for core plan, $5.99 per month for the launch plan, $5.99 per month for power plan and $13.99 per month for pro plan. For 3 years, $2.49 per month for core plan, $4.99 per month for the launch plan, $4.99 per month for power plan and $12.99 per month for pro plan.
- WordPress hosting plans: For 1 year, $4.49 per month for the WP core plan, $8.99 per month for the WP launch plan, $8.99 per month for the WP power plan and $16.99 per month for WP pro plan. For 2 years, $3.99 per month for the WP core plan, $7.99 per month for the WP launch plan, $7.99 per month for the WP power plan and $15.99 per month for WP pro plan.
- VPS hosting plans: For 1 month, $79.99 per month for VPS 4GB RAM, $109.99 per month for VPS 8GB RAM, $136.99 per month for VPS 12GB RAM and $146.99 per month for VPS 16GB RAM. For 6 months, $29.99 per month for VPS 4GB RAM, $59.99 per month for VPS 8GB RAM, $69.99 per month for VPS 12GB RAM and $79.99 per month for VPS 16GB RAM.
- For 1 or 2 years, $24.99 per month for VPS 4GB RAM, $39.99 per month for VPS 8GB RAM, $49.99 per month for VPS 12GB RAM and $59.99 per month for VPS 16GB RAM. For 3 years, $19.99 per month for VPS 4GB RAM, $39.99 per month for VPS 8GB RAM, $49.99 per month for VPS 12GB RAM and $59.99 per month for VPS 16GB RAM.
- Dedicated server plans, managed with cPanel: For 1 month, $109.99 per month for aspire plan, $159.99 per month for the essential plan, $229.99 per month for the advanced plan and $299.99 per month for the elite plan. For 3 months, $99.99 per month for aspire plan, $154.99 per month for the essential plan, $219.99 per month for the advanced plan and $289.99 per month for the elite plan.
- For 6 months, $99.99 per month for aspire plan, $149.99 per month for the essential plan, $209.99 per month for the advanced plan and $279.99 per month for the elite plan. For 1 year, $89.99 per month for aspire plan, $139.99 per month for the essential plan, $189.99 per month for the advanced plan and $259.99 per month for the elite plan.
- Dedicated server plans, managed with Bare Metal: For 1 month, $89.99 per month for aspire plan, $119.99 per month for the essential plan, $189.99 per month for the advanced plan and $259.99 per month for the elite plan. For 3 months, $79.99 per month for aspire plan, $114.99 per month for the essential plan, $179.99 per month for the advanced plan and $249.99 per month for the elite plan.
- For 6 months, $79.99 per month for Aspire plan, $109.99 per month for the Essential plan, $168.99 per month for the Advanced plan and $239.99 per month for the Elite plan. For 1 year, $69.99 per month for Aspire plan, $99.99 per month for the Essential plan, $149.99 per month for the Advanced plan and $229.99 per month for the Elite plan.
- Please note these are the currently reduced prices, and they may rise to their original retail price in the future. For more information on the hosting plans available, please visit the InMotion website.
- Max speed zone technology
- Premium website builder
- Unlimited disk space and data transfer
- Business class hardware
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Lite and Launch hosting plans have a fixed number of websites allowed per account (1-2)
IONOS
(free email address with domain purchase)
- Domain: Prices vary depending on the business domain you want. For .co.uk or .com, it costs £1 for the first year (and then £10 to renew annually), and .me is £2.25. Meanwhile, .net is priced at £9.60. Other URL options available include .io, .xyz and .tech.
- Web hosting: For 1 month, £6 for the standard plan, £9 for a plus plan, £16 for the premium plan and £24 for the ultimate plan. For 1 year, £2 per month for the standard plan for the first six months, then £5 per month after, £1 per month for plus plan for the first 12 months, then £8 per month after if you wish to renew, £7 per month for the premium plan for first six months than £7 per month after and £11 per month for the ultimate plan for first six months then £22 per month after.
For full details on further plans available, please visit the IONOS website.
- Cheap options for domains available with a 2GB email account and free SSL
- Free private domain registration to protect your info and prevent phishing and spam
- Intuitive webmail from any browser or easily add to other providers
- - 2GB included is less than Zoho Mail's free version, so you may have to pay to expand storage
- Still requires the purchase of a domain or site builder plan
- It costs more to have multiple email addresses in one plan
Google Workspace (most suited for a work/business email on your domain in Gmail)
The business starter plan is £4.60 per month, while the business standard plan is £9.20 per month. You will have to pay £13.80 per month for the business plus plan. An enterprise option is also available, but you will need to contact Google for pricing. If you are running a nonprofit organisation, such as a charity, Google will happily offer you an email domain for free. Otherwise, the price of one is included in the plans.
- 14-day free trial
- Access to a business productivity suite featuring services such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Meet etc.
- Send and receive payments with Google Pay
- Strong cloud security features
- Minimum cost of £4.60 per user per month
- Domain isn't included
- Expensive for a large volume of email accounts if you don't need the office software
Microsoft 365
(most suited for a work/business email on your domain in Outlook)
- Microsoft 365 Personal:Monthly; £5.99 per month, or yearly; £59.99 a year.
- Microsoft 365 Family:Monthly; £7.99 per month, or yearly; £79.99 a year.
You can still buy an email domain separately for now. However, starting on November 30 2023, you will no longer be able to make a custom domain attached to an Outlook mailbox with Office 365. See here for more information.
- 30-day free trial
- Complete office software suite (Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams etc.)
- Far higher storage and video conference participant limits in lower limits
- Business-class email security and advanced security in higher tiers
- No free domain name
- Costs at least £5.99 per user per month for Microsoft 365 personal or £7.99 a month for Microsoft 365 Family
- Users can't collaborate on documents simultaneously, like in Google Workspace
- Not the cheapest company for a large number of email accounts
DreamHost
(for unlimited free addresses and a free domain)
- Domain: .xyz and .online domains start at $1.99, while .co is $6.99. .com is priced at $7.99, and .tv is $9.99. For a more expensive option, .io is $34.99.
- Please note for the following host plans that these are the starting price points if you wish to sign up. At some point in your subscription, the price will increase to the annual fair. Please check the DreamHost website for further information.
- Website hosting: Monthly; $4.95 per month for a shared starter plan and $8.95 per month for a shared unlimited starter plan. Yearly; $2.95 per month for both the shared starter plan and the shared unlimited starter plan. 3 years, $2.59 per month for a shared starter plan and $3.95 per month for an unlimited starter plan.
- WordPress hosting, seeking value: Monthly; $4.95 per month for the shared starter plan and $8.95 per month for the shared unlimited plan. Prepaid; $2.59 per month for a shared starter plan and £3.95 per month for a shared unlimited plan.
- WordPress hosting, for seeking value: Monthly; $4.95 per month for the shared starter plan and $8.95 per month for the shared unlimited plan. Prepaid; $2.59 per month for the shared starter plan and $3.95 per month for the shared unlimited plan.
- WordPress hosting, for performance: Monthly; $19.95 per month for DreamPress, $29.95 per month for DreamPress Plus and $79.95 per month for DreamPress Pro. Prepaid; $16.95 per month for DreamPress, $24.95 per month for DreamPress Plus and $71.95 per month for DreamPress Pro.
- VPS Hosting: Monthly; $15 per month for VPS Basic, $30 per month for VPS Business, $60 per month for VPS Professional and $120 per month for VPS Enterprise. Yearly; $13.75 per month for VPS Basic, $27.50 per month for VPS Business, $55 per month for VPS Professional and $110 per month for VPS Enterprise. 3 years, $10 per month for VPS Basic, $20 per month for VPS Business, $40 per month for VPS Professional and $80 per month for VPS Enterprise.
- Dedicated server hosting with Intel Xeon 4-core: Monthly; $169 per month for 4GB, $209 per month for 8GB and $249 per month for 16GB, all available with 1 TB HDD storage. Yearly; $149 per month for 4GB, $189 per month for 8GB and $229 per month for 16GB, all available with 1 TB HDD storage.
- Dedicated server hosting with Intel Xeon 12-core: Monthly; $299 per month for 16GB, $349 per month for 32 GB and $399 per month for 64GB, with a choice of either 2TB HDD or 240 GB SSD storage. Yearly; $279 per month for 16GB, $329 per month for 32GB and $379 per month for 64GB, with a choice of either 2TB HDD or 240 GB SSD storage.
- Free email addresses with 25GB each
- Free domain name and SSL certificate included
- Connect your email addresses to different providers
- No free trial or free plan
- The cost of the Shared Unlimited plan increases after a year
- Lacks integrated productivity and communications tools you get with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
Domain.com
(gives you the ability to register any domain of your choice, with web hosting also available)
- Domain: For the first year of purchase, a .me email domain is $3.99,.store is $4.99. and .blog costs $6.99. Moreover, .com is on the pricier side at $9.99 while .net costs $12.99.
- Website hosting: $3.75 per month for the basic plan, $6.75 per month for the deluxe plan and $13.75 per month for the ultra plan. All are available for either 12, 24 or 36 months.
- WordPress hosting: $3.75 per month for WP Starter and $6.95 per month for WP Essential. All are available for either 12, 24 or 36 months.
- For further details on other plans available, please visit the Domain.com website.
- Unlimited disk storage
- Scalable bandwidth
- WordPress hosting
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- Automated domain renewal server (ADRS)
- No monthly plan options
- Domain privacy and protection is at an additional cost of $8.99 per domain
- No reseller options
Namecheap
(has domain, hosting and security options)
- Domain: Again, this depends on which email domain you choose. For example, .com is only £5.78, while .net is £9.10. Others available for purchase include .co, .tv, .org and .icu. The most expensive is .inc, which costs £909.68 a year.
- Please note that for the yearly plans, these are the starting price points for the shared hosting plans, with you paying this amount for a certain period of time. After that, the price will increase. Please visit the Namecheap website for more information.
- Shared hosting plans: Monthly; £4.54 per month for Stellar, £6.20 per month for Stellar Plus and £8.68 per month for Stellar Business. Yearly; £2.47 per month for Stellar, £3.30 per month for Stellar Plus and £4.95 per month for Stellar Business. 2 years; £2.14 per month for Stellar, £2.72 per month for Stellar Plus and £4.54 per month for Stellar Business.
- WordPress hosting plans: Free 30-day trial. Then after that: monthly; £5.70 per month for EasyWP Starter, £10.67 per month for EasyWP Turbo and £16.47 per month for EasyWP Supersonic. Yearly; £28.90 per month for EasyWP Starter, £48.78 per month for EasyWP Turbo and £57.07 per month for EasyWP Supersonic.
- Reseller hosting plans: Monthly; £16.7 per month for Nebula, £33.04 per month for Galaxy Expert and £48.78 per month for Universe Pro. Quarterly; £15.64 per month for Nebula, £31.38 per month for Galaxy Expert and £47.95 per month for Universe Pro. Yearly; £14.81 per month for Nebula, £30.55 per month for Galaxy Expert and £46.30 per month for Universe Pro.
- VPS hosting plans: Monthly; £8.19 per month for Pulsar, £13.16 per month for Quasar, £23.93 per month for Magnetar. Quarterly; £7.36 per month for Pulsar, £12.33 per month for Quasar and £22.27 per month for Magnetar. Yearly; £5.70 per month for Pulsar, £10.67 per month for Quasar and £20.61 per month for Magnetar.
- Competitive pricing plans
- Easy-to-use interface
- 99.9% uptime for reseller and VPS
- No customer service via telephone
- Limited hosting plans
- Low storage for basic/cheaper plans
Choose an email provider
Depending on which service provider hosts your domain, you may opt for a different email provider. It is entirely up to you as to which one you select, but you may not be sure which one to select. We have outlined 10 of the best options for businesses to use and their pros and cons:
Gmail
Free if using regular Gmail and a Gmail email address (e.g. [email protected]). If using Google Workspace, see above for pricing points.
- 15GB of storage
- Beginner friendly
- Integrates well with other Google services
- Spam and malware protection
- Manually connecting your domain is difficult if you do not purchase a Google Workspace Plan
- No end-to-end email encryption
- Not the best for businesses that need multiple email addresses
- Targeted advertising
Titan
It costs $2 per month for Titan Business Pro or $2.45 per month for Titan Business Premium.
- Cost-effective small solution
- Users can get an email address that matches their business domain
- Multi-account support allows you to access all accounts in a single view
- Can import emails and contacts from other providers
- Does not provide email marketing services
Zoho Mail
The basic plan, mail lite, is priced at just 8p per month for 5GB per user, or £1 per month for 10GB. Otherwise, you will have to pay £3.20 per month for mail premium or £2.40 for the workplace plan - both of which give up to 50GB per user. All three plans give you your own email domain.
- Up to five free business email addresses
- User-friendly
- Password protection and expiry date with SecurePass
- Integrated with Zoho's office suite
- Must purchase a separate domain
- Only 5GB of storage per user
- 25MB attachment limit
- The free version does not support internet messaging access protocol or post office protocol
Outlook.com
It is free if you use Outlook on the web. If you wish to use the Outlook programming application, you will have to pay £149. If you buy the Microsoft Office plan (which includes Outlook alongside Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneDrive), it will start at £5.99 a month for up to six people. If you want a domain of your own, it might be best to invest in Microsoft 365 (see above). The basic plan, mail lite, is priced at just 8p per month for 5GB per user, or £1 per month for 10GB. Otherwise, you will have to pay £3.20 per month for mail premium or £2.40 for the workplace plan - both of which give up to 50GB per user. All three plans give you your own email domain.
- 15 GB of storage for users on the free plan
- Office 365 integration
- Microsoft's security and privacy service, with spam and phishing filters
- Integrates well with Microsoft software like Word and PowerPoint
- Intuitive and advanced features for email management
- Paid plan required to use your own domain
- Not as beginner-friendly as some email providers
- Free plan has a column for adverts
- Sensitive spam filter
Yahoo! Mail
Free, otherwise you can pay £4.99 a month for Yahoo! Mail Plus, which also offers a free trial. See here for more information
- Easy to navigate with the website optimised for smartphones and tablets
- Attachments view option lets you easily find emails attached with photos and documents
- Useful extras such as disposable email addresses, calendars, and instant messaging
- 1TB of storage
- Lets users send free SMS messages
- Doesn't catch spam and phishing as well as other providers
- 25MB attachment limit
- No IMAP access
- Yahoo! scans users' emails for data to sell to advertisers (however, you can opt out of this)
ProtonMail
- Individual use: Normally free, or you can pay for Proton Unlimited (€11.99 for one month, €9.99 for 12 months or €7.99 for 24 months).
- For business use: €6.99 per month for the mail essentials plan or €10.99 for the business plan. An enterprise plan is also available, but you will need to contact ProtonMail for pricing. See here for more information.
- Advanced security and privacy, including end-to-end encryption
- Encrypted calendar
- Self-destructing emails
- Password-protect feature
- Automation tools
- Can't connect a domain without upgrading to a paid plan
- 150 messages send limit per day in the free version
- Free plan storage is limited to 1GB
AOL Mail
Free. Otherwise, you can pay $4.99 a month for an ad-free experience. However, if multiple users are using your email, they will each have to pay for this separately. See here for more information.
- You can unsend an email sent to other AOL addresses
- Provides virus protection
- Unlimited storage space
- Spell-check provided
- Spam and malware protection
- POP3, SMTP and IMAP support
- Many ads if using the free version
- It does not support attaching a file from online storage
- You can't create email aliases
Mail.com
Free, otherwise premium versions are available. It costs $9.99 for three months and $29.99 for 12 months. You can also pay $47.87 for the premium version alongside a 110 MB cloud. See here for more information.
- Free to use
- Unlimited and online storage
- Ability to select a custom domain name from a list of 200 options
- Mail Collector allows you to transfer emails from other accounts
- Import and export data in ics and CVS formats
- Reliable virus protection and a spam blocker
- No two-factor authentication is provided
- No support for encrypted email
- Many ads
It is important to outweigh the advantages and disadvantages of these email providers in order to decide the most suitable one for your business.
Create your email address
Once you have selected a provider, you are ready to create your email address. But first, think about what the username will be. Using your first name would be impossible if you owned a large corporate company, but it would be perfectly acceptable if you ran a smaller business. The longer and more complex your address is, the harder it will be for people to remember.
When you have decided on a username, you must log in to your hosting account and find the option to create an email address. Next, fill in the appropriate box with your chosen address. Then create a password using the password generator, preferably a strong one that uses a combination of both upper and lower case letters, as well as numbers and special characters.
You will need to choose if you want a maximum storage limit or unlimited storage, although this may come at an additional cost. Once you've filled in the signup form, you're pretty much done
Access your new email account
Next, you will need to access your email account and ensure everything is set up correctly and you can send and receive emails. You will also need to set up your account for mobile use on your phone's mail app, should you wish to do this
Should you publish your new email address?
In your email account, you can create more users using the same business email extension. You may want to do this if you have several employees working for you. You can also create shared email accounts for teams and departments. This includes addresses for general inquiries, customer service, public relations, media and marketing etc.
If upgrading to a paid plan, you will need to pay for each additional user at the same rate as your current plan. Group email aliases do not count as additional emails.
Should you publish your new email address?
Once you have your email address set up, you may wonder whether or not to make it public. However, many businesses do have their contact details, including email addresses, listed on their website should customers have any queries.
However, if you publicly share your address, you could get spam and phishing emails. You could also be added to marketing lists you do not wish to be a part of. Consider using a generic address, such as "[email protected]", to help reduce suspicious emails.
If you want to keep your email address private, consider putting a contact form on your website instead. This will still send the messages submitted directly to your address without third parties being aware.
Conclusion
And that's it for creating an email address. After you've set up your business email, consider continuing to build your company's website.
