Instantly Look More Professional: Create Your Own Domain Email!

What is the best way to make your online presence look more professional, instantly?

Have a branded domain email! This means that your email address looks like '[yourname]@[yourdomain].com' instead of the standard '@gmail.com' address.

If you were to research online, you might find posts that make this seem confusing or difficult to set up. Or worse, they might make you think that you have to shell out bucks to some third party company to do this for you. Not so! You have all the tools you need to set up a custom domain email right here, included with your WA Premium account.

All you have to do is set up an email forward with your Gmail account, and you can make it so that the email integrates completely. When you reply to the message, it will automatically reply using the same address. Seamless!

Why didn't I know about this ages ago?

Up until about a week ago, I was using my Gmail address and I didn't have it set up right. I would receive messages to my branded email, but when I responded it would show my '@gmail' address. Rookie mistake! I began searching for a way to change it.

I started to think I would have to pay a subscription to Google Apps in order to get my domain as my reply email. Thank goodness I decided to check WA first before I did that, because it would have been a waste of money.

The secret lies in hooking up your SMTP settings with your email forward. You can do this in the settings within your account. It sounds a bit intimidating, but once you know the steps to take it's actually easy peasy!

Now the reason this is just a blog post and not a tutorial is because there is already a wonderful tutorial on how to set this up by our very own Edu. There was nothing I could think to add that would make the training better than it already is. Find that gem right here: How to Set Up Email Forwarding in WA Hosting (Gmail)

(However, if you would like a screencast tutorial of this process, let me know in the comments and I can work on it!)

Note: If you are using another email provider like Outlook, you can also set up a forwarding with WA. The steps will be similar and Edu most likely has a training for it, too! Just follow the links inside of the training above to find the one that most applies to you.

Why do I use Gmail?

Gmail is my email provider of choice for a few key reasons. With Gmail, you can:

• Segment out what emails go where using folders, labels, and stars.
• Organize your inbox so nothing important gets lost ever again.
• Sort your inbox so emails coming to your 'work' address are always at the tippy top of the stack so you can answer them right away!

This is the secret to good inbox management -- have a simple organization system in place that ensures you can prioritize. Take action on the most important things right away, and archive the rest. Don't leave a cluttered inbox, or you will soon find yourself overwhelmed in a mountain of unnecessary email!

There should be no reason for you to make the mistake of having an unbranded email like I did. Be sure to set up your email right and you will look super professional. Your audience will never know that you are operating your business from a regular Gmail account!

So go ahead and create your own domain email today, and look like an old pro at this internet stuff. Go you!