How to set up and manage a professional email for free

Question: What is this tutorial about?
This tutorial introduces a practical approach to setting up a custom email address for your online business website for free.

Why go through this stress?
If you're a small business owner, freelancer, or solopreneur, you know how important it is to maintain a professional image, which includes having a custom email address for your business.
However, you might not have the budget for a dedicated email hosting service.

Who is this tutorial for?
This tutorial is for small business owners, freelancers, and solopreneurs who want to set up a professional email address without spending money on dedicated email hosting services.

So if you think it's worth the stress, LET’S DIVE IN!!!

Introduction

Setting up and managing a professional email for your business for free means getting an email address that looks like [e-mail] without paying for email hosting services. It helps your business look professional and trustworthy without extra costs.
I'm going to show you how to get it done, but before we proceed you need to understand the pros and cons of the setup.

What Are the Pros and Cons?

Pros:

• Using a custom email address associated with your domain enhances your professional image.
• Using Gmail to manage your custom domain email is cheaper than paying for a dedicated email hosting service.
• You only have to check one email account, and you can manage multiple addresses in a single inbox.
• Many people are already familiar with Gmail, so there's no learning curve.

Cons:

• Relying on Gmail for business communications can be risky if not properly secured (e.g., two-factor authentication).
• Using Gmail means you're subject to Google's terms of service and potential changes in their policies.
• Gmail offers less flexibility in terms of advanced email management and custom features compared to dedicated email hosting solutions.

Now that we understand the risks and the rewards, LETS DIVE IN!!!

Prerequisites

Here are the prerequisites for setting up a free professional email for your business:

• A Domain Name: You need to own a domain name (like yourbusiness.com). You can buy one from domain registrars like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or Google Domains.
• Gmail Account: A free Gmail account is required to set up your custom email address to receive and send emails through Gmail.
• Domain Access: You need access to your domain's DNS settings (usually through your domain registrar) to configure email forwarding or connect to Gmail.
• Basic Understanding of DNS Settings: A general knowledge of how to add or modify DNS records (like MX, TXT, and CNAME records) to ensure your domain is set up correctly for email.
• Cloudflare (Optional but Recommended): If you're using Cloudflare for your domain management, you'll need an account and access to your domain there. (for this tutorial we'll be making use of cloudflare)

These are the basic things you need to set up and manage a professional email for free!

First, get your Domain Name

A domain name (like yourbusiness.com). If you don't have one yet, you'll need to buy it from a domain registrar like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or Google Domains.

Next, sign up for Cloudflare

If you don't have one, go to Cloudflare's website and sign up for a free account.

Steps:

• Go to Cloudflare's website and create an account.
• Add your domain name to Cloudflare.
• Cloudflare will automatically provide you with new nameservers. You'll need to update these nameservers with your domain registrar.

Next, update your Domain's Nameservers

• Log in to your domain registrar's website.
• Find the DNS or Nameserver settings for your domain.
• Replace the existing nameservers with the ones provided by Cloudflare.
• Save the changes. It may take a few hours for the changes to take effect.

Next, set up Email Forwarding with Cloudflare

• Go to your Cloudflare account.
• Select your domain from the dashboard.
• Click on the "Email" tab in the Cloudflare dashboard. If you don't see this tab, ensure your domain is fully set up.
• Click "Email Routing" to start configuring email routing.

Next, create Email Routes

• Click "Create a Route".
• Enter the email address you want to route in the "Source Email" field (e.g., [e-mail]).
• Enter the destination email address where you want the emails to be forwarded (e.g., your Gmail address).
• Click "Save".

With this setup, any emails sent to your custom email address will land directly in your Gmail inbox.
But we're not done yet….
We still need to set up Gmail to send emails using your custom email address.

Next, set up Gmail (2-factor auth)

• Go to your Gmail account.
• Click your profile picture (top-right) > Select Manage your Google account.
• In the navigation panel, select Security.
• Under the "How you sign in to Google" section, select 2-Step Verification > Get started.
• Follow the onscreen steps and setup the 2-step verification

Or follow the tutorial here to set it up
 https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185839?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop

Next, generate the Gmail App Password

• Go to your Gmail account.
• Click your profile picture (top-right) > Select Manage your Google account.
• In the navigation panel, select Security.
• Under Signing in to Google, select 2-Step Verification.
• At the bottom of the page, select App Passwords. You can also access App Passwords directly by clicking this link: https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
• Enter the app name, and click the create button. A new password would be generated, copy the password, and save it in a place where you can easily copy it.

Lastly, set up your custom email address in Gmail so you can send emails from it.

• Go to your Gmail account
• Click the Settings Icon > See all settings
• Click the Accounts and Imports tab
• Look for the section "Send mail as:" and Click Add another email address. A pop-up window titled "Add another email address that you own" will appear.
• Enter the custom email address you set up for email routing in Cloudflare.
• Click the "Next Step" button.
• For the SMTP Server, enter "smtp.gmail.com".
• Set the Username field to your Gmail address.
• Paste the password generated from the Google app password section.
• Click the "Add Account" button, and your custom email will be successfully added to your Gmail account.

Test

• Open your Gmail account.
• Click the "Compose" button.
• Click the "From" field, and a drop-down menu will appear showing your custom and original email addresses.
• Select your custom email address, compose your message, and send.

Congratulations! You can now send and receive emails using your custom email address through Gmail.