How To Have Your Own Email Address
Do any of you still have the email address you setup back when you where in school? Some thing like [email protected] or [email protected] these kind of email addresses are outdated and look really unprofessional on your CV - not to mention the embarrasment of having to spell them out to people when you give out your address.
Have you thought about creating a new address with Gmail but [email protected] is taken. Well, I'm going to show you how you can have your own email address, like [email protected] yet have it go through google for free. This guide will take you through registering your own domain and setting up the email address so it goes through the Gmail servers so that it has all the Google spam filtering and features (like contacts and calendars) but it won't cost you a penny.
Step One - Register A Domain
The first step (and possibly the most important) is to register a domain name. For the purposes of this article we will be using 1and1.co.uk as our host (they are very good and very cheap) and our domain will be jingaling.co.uk.
So, head over to www.1and1.co.uk and enter the domain you want to register and click the continue button.
Now, you should see that the domain is available - sometimes the domain will be registered, especially if you have a common name like John Smith. Of course you don't need to register the domain as your name. You could register js-mail.co.uk or js-mail.me.uk etc this way you could have [email protected] and also setup accounts for your friends in the same way! At the time of writing this post js-mail.co.uk is actually available if anyone wants it :)
So, 1&1 now tells us that our domain is available (beware - some domains like .com, .net & .eu cost more than others like .co.uk & .me.uk). If your domain isn't available 1&1 will recommend some domains that have a similar name and are available. If none of the recommended ones float your boat then click the back button on your browser and try to search for something else. Once you've picked a domain, select it by putting a tick in the box and click continue.
Next, select 1&1 Instant Domain package (£0 per month - this way you will only pay for your domain) by clicking the Sign Up button. Now 1&1 will usually offer you some more domains of a similar name. Make sure you de-select them and click Continue. Check your basket for the charged involved. For a .co.uk domain its £2.99 per year, you will need to pay for 2 years initially after which you will only pay £2.99 per year (.com are £8.99 and all prices are correct at the time of this article being published). If everything is correct, click continue...again.
Enter all of your personal details, then your payment details and click finish. Make sure you make a note of the password you have chosen (you will need this to manage you email addresses). Once you have ordered the domain, it takes around 24 hours for the order to complete so whilst your waiting, register for a free Gmail account (by going to mail.google.com and clicking the Create Account button). This address can be anything you want as it won't get used except for logging in to your gmail account.
Step Two - Setup Google Mail
Ok, so we now have our new domain and free gmail account. We need to login to 1&1 admin to create an email forward. An email forward is an email address that seamlessly forwards from one email address to another. Here [email protected] will forward to [email protected]. Go to admin.1and1.co.uk and log in to your 1&1 account using your domain name and password.
Click on the arrow next to the start button and select email administration:
Once in, click on the New button and select forward. You then need to fill in the email address and forwarding address as below:
That is our new forward setup, so anytime anyone emails [email protected] I will get it into my free gmail inbox. What we need to do now is set it up so that we can send from [email protected] in gmail. So head over to mail.google.com and log in with your free gmail account settings (you will always need to log in with these details). Once in, click on the cog in the very top right hand corner then click mail settings.
Now click on the Accounts and Import button and click on the Send mail from another address button. Now fill in your name and email address and click next step.
Next you will need to select Send through jingaling.co.uk SMTP server (or whatever your domain is called) Then set the settings EXACTLY the same as below, replacing the username with your free gmail account details and the password with your account password. Then click finish.
Finally you will need to authorise the account. Gmail will send you a verification code, because of your forward, this will come into your gmail inbox. Copy the code and paste it into the verification window. Now you will see your [email protected] address listed in your send from addresses. To the right of your new address, click on the make default link - this will make this address the address all new mail is set from.
That's it! You now have you very own, customised email account that benefits from all the spam filtering and tools that Google have. As I said earlier, you can even set emails up for your friends. Here is my new account in action:
