Using Free Google Gmail with your Domain

I have two domains, one private and one for work. I currently host both with a cheap US based ISP: 3ix.org

They provide email and web hosting for both domains together @ 30USD/year. They are pretty unreliable. Doing large ftp uploads to update the site is enough to crash the site/server. However you can IM them when you site goes down and they are very responsive. I don't care so much about about the site, but it really bugs me when email is not available and my customers and wife heap on the grief when email is not available. The first reaction of customers when they can't email me is --- "Are you still in business ???"

So instead of opting for a more expensive ISP which can run up to 150-200USD/year I decided to do some fishing and found that Google is offering Gmail services so that you can point your domain at the Gmail servers as follows:

The only additional thing is you need to add a CNAME record to your DNS settings in order for google to verify you are the domain owner.

Now for both domains I have IMAP from Mac mail pointing them and have the full glory of Google reliability and gmail web interface if required. And it's all FREE for the first 50 users/domain and you get a full 7.5GB/user email storage.

There is paid premier edition which costs 50USD/year/email address, but I don't think that is required for most home/small businesses.

See the comparison and sign up: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/editions.html

Hopefully email woes are a thing of the past. If Google were to offer web hosting and didn't tie users into their web page creation tools then I'd see a lot of folks abandoning their current ISPs.

More Articles by Donal Whooley, Iforb

Click here to add your comments




Thu Jan 29 14:12:28 2009: Subject:   TonyLawrence


Also see http://aplawrence.com/Misc/gmail_org.html for a comparison of the paid service to in-house email.





Thu Jan 29 15:26:59 2009: Subject:   NickBarron


Been using this for a while now, good service really.



Don't miss responses! Subscribe to Comments by RSS or by Email

Click here to add your comments

If you want a picture to show with your comment, go get a Gravatar

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.