Email hosting companies

There are many possible places to host your email account for your painting or carpet cleaning business. Website hosting companies sometimes offer email hosting too. But it is better to go with company that specializes in email hosting. The two big players are Google with G-Suite and Microsoft with Office 365. They also offer free, personal solutions in the form of Gmail and Outlook.

To get started, you sign up for an account and the process will ask a series of questions. The hardest thing is setting up Internet Domain Name Server (DNS) records to link your business domain name to your email hosting account. But the email hosting companies walk you through the steps and you only need to do it once.

Costs

The costs could change but at time of this writing they are around $5 to $6 per email account per month.  Their pricing model is to charge per user not an email address.  A single user account means access to one mailbox.  But, that mailbox may have more then one email address associated with it.

There is also the concept of distribution lists or resource mailboxes.  These typically don’t cost any additional.

Recommendations

The features of Google G-Suite and Microsoft Office 365 are similar.  The biggest reason to pick one over the other is if you have previous experience using the free products like Gmail.  If you personally use Gmail, then Google G-Suite is a good choice because you will be used to the interface to check your email on a computer or smartphone.  If you have previous experience with Microsoft Outlook on your computer, then Microsoft Office 365 is a good choice.

A related factor could be what you use for office productivity software.  If you use Google Docs or Microsoft Office, then it might be easier to host your email with that company.  The productivity software and email clients usually work better together.

Summary on email hosting companies

Email hosting companies are specialized companies that just focus on hosting your email.  They allow you to link your business domain name so you can use that as part of your email address.  The cost is a few dollars a month, but you get a robust email system and support for your painting or carpet cleaning business.

Need website hosting?

WP Engine is a great WordPress-managed website hosting company for the following reasons:

  • WP Engine take care of all the installation and upgrading of WordPress.
  • WP Engine automatically backup WordPress daily.
  • WP Engine provide security and performance optimization for your website.