What Is Email Hosting?

What is email hosting?

Web hosting stores your website. Email hosting stores your email. The company that hosts your email keeps a server running all day and night. That server receives your mail, keeps it safe and sends your replies. It is like renting a post office box with your own name on it.

Why not just use a free address?

Free addresses like Gmail are fine for personal use. But for a business, an address on your own domain looks more professional. People trust sales@yourbusiness.com more than a random free address. You also control who has an address, and you can make as many as your plan allows.

What does an email host give you?

• Mailboxes. A mailbox is the space where each person's mail is kept.
• Webmail. This lets you read mail in a web browser.
• Support for mail programs like Outlook and Thunderbird, and for phones.
• Tools that fight spam and viruses.
• Extras like forwarders, aliases and mailing lists. Which ones you get depends on your plan.

How does it work?

1. You send a message to a friend.
2. Your mail server sends it using SMTP, the system for sending email.
3. Their server accepts it and stores it.
4. They read it using IMAP or POP. IMAP shows the mail while it stays on the server. POP downloads it to one device.

The internet finds your mail server using MX records. These are lines in your domain's DNS, which works like a phone book for the internet. They tell senders where to deliver mail for your domain.

How to get started

1. Log in to your client area.
2. Open your hosting service and go to the control panel.
3. Find the Email Accounts option.
4. Create an address and a strong password.
5. Open webmail, or set up the account in your mail program.

Quick recap

• Email hosting runs mail for your own domain.
• It gives mailboxes, webmail and spam protection.
• MX records point the internet to your mail server.
• Create mailboxes from your control panel.