Last updated on February 22nd, 2024 at 10:03 am
Summary: Email hosting means managing your emails on private or rented servers rather than using third-party services like Gmail or Yahoo. If you already have a website, you can use the same hosting service for your emails. If not, you first need to buy a domain, which is your online “address”. Then, rent some cloud space on email hosting servers and configure a few simple settings. It’s easy if you work with managed hosting service providers like Truehost or HostGator.
There’s nothing wrong with using third-party email hosting from providers like Gmail, Yahoo, or Ymail. But sending important business emails from an address like [email protected] is highly unprofessional and can hurt your reputation.
If you’re running a business in Canada, using a professional email address with a customized domain name is a must-have for building trust and credibility. It projects a professional image and reduces spam flagging, which is great for building a powerful brand image. It also significantly increases email delivery rates, open rates, and conversion, a surefire way to grow your revenue.
But, even when you have the perfect professional email, your email hosting and setup will have a big impact on your email performance. Let’s go through the basics of email hosting and how you can get started for as little as $1 a month.
Introduction to Domains and Custom Email Addresses
If you already have a domain and website set up, skip this part and go straight to email hosting providers.
If you’re a complete beginner, let’s start with finding you a domain name for your business and a reliable hosting service. A domain name is the unique phrase that points to your website, like google.com or mywebsite.com. It’s like your online address that helps people find you online.
Computers translate the domain into a unique IP address through a complex DNS routing system, which is outside of our scope for now. What’s important is that when they click your website link in Google search results, it leads them to your website.
That’s why the domain name you choose should be unique and memorable. That sounds easy, but a lot of the good domain names are already bought and registered to other people. Here are some tips and tricks to help you find your own:
- Domains ending with .com are more commonly accepted, but they can be expensive and hard to get. Use less competitive extensions like .biz, .org, .net, or.edu.
- Even better, use descriptive extensions like .travel, .fashion, or .finance, or add a country subdomain like .ca, (Canada), .de (Germany), .uk, (United Kingdom) or .it (Italy); these are cheaper and can help with SEO.
- Get creative with unique languages and concepts, including numbers where possible. Think Latin, Greek, or Mandarin which can sound cool and sophisticated in addition to being unique. Truehost.ca will help you find affordable and available domain names.
- Keep your domain short, simple, memorable, and easy to pronounce. Avoid double letters, hyphens, or other special characters.
- Once you find the perfect domain, buy it through a domain registration service of your choice. Typically, the easiest way to do this is through hosting service providers like Truehost or Namecheap, where you can bundle the cost of the domain with hosting fees in one convenient package.
Now you have a domain, great! You can go directly to hosting your emails; however, we highly recommend that you first create a website for your business. For beginners, a free drag-and-drop website builder tool like Olitt.com is perfect.
Plus, website hosting services come with custom emails included to make things even easier for you.
What Is Email Hosting?
Email hosting refers to setting up a server to send, receive, store, and manage email communication. It’s usually on the same server as your website, though it’s possible to have a dedicated email server.
In fact, you can technically host your emails on your home computer, but it’s incredibly unsafe and requires a lot of technical expertise.
Using Truehost managed email hosting is one of the best ways to host your emails. You won’t ever have to worry about managing the servers, maintaining backups, or keeping up with cybersecurity.
Email hosting services are usually quite affordable, and some companies even offer them for free if you host your website with them.
There are three types of hosting for websites and emails:
- Shared hosting – multiple websites share a single physical server. This is the most affordable option, but it presents significant security and reliability issues. For example, if one site on the server is hacked or overwhelmed with traffic, the rest of the sites may be taken down as well.
- Virtual Private Servers (VPS) – multiple sites share one physical server, but the hardware resources are partitioned using virtualization software. This way, each site is assigned a specific portion of CPU, memory, and RAM and stays virtually separate from the others. It offers the best balance of affordability, security, and reliability.
- Dedicated servers – you get your own physical servers dedicated to hosting your website or email. This is usually the most expensive option but it offers the ultimate reliability and security.
The type and quality of email hosting you have is determined by the type of website hosting you purchase.
Types of Email Hosting (Server Protocols)
If you send and receive a large number of emails and files, you’ll need to worry about storage and security. You can choose email server protocols to help improve performance, with the three main protocols being:
- POP3 (Post Office Protocol) – once you download an email from the server, the email is stored in your local computer and deleted from the server. This means you can access your emails offline and the server will almost never run out of space. However, the cons of this protocol is that you can’t access emails from multiple devices (no email synchronization) and it has issues with loading attachments.
- IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) – emails are stored on the server and copied to the local machine. This allows multiple devices to access the emails through two-way sync, but storage can run out as emails accumulate. You must also have an internet connection to access emails.
- SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) – often used for bulk emails on a dedicated email server. It’s affordable and provides excellent delivery rates and email tracking options.
Regardless of the type of email hosting you choose, it’s important to look for features that maximize your brand’s reputation and authority. That means picking an email hosting provider with the best email authentication, anti-spamming, and scalability features.
How to Choose the Best Email Hosting Company in Canada
Just like your website, your email requires good hosting to ensure responsiveness, accessibility, and security. Issues with up-times, poor customer support, spamming, and downtimes are common among some hosting companies, so finding a reliable email hosting partner is paramount.
Did you know that most hosting companies use the same data centers? The common ones are AWS, Azure, OVHCloud, and Iron Mountain.
The problem is almost never with the email servers themselves, but with the way the hosting company approaches customer satisfaction, security, and disaster recovery.
The best email hosting companies design their services to offer multiple redundancies and disaster recovery options to reduce the chances of failure.
When problems do arise, it’s critical to have 24/7 live support to troubleshoot problems and restore services. In addition to these, look out for:
- Cost – email hosting is quite affordable, but some providers tack on a bunch of useless addons to inflate the price. Look for providers that offer straightforward monthly or annual subscription plans with no hidden costs.
- Scalable bandwidth and storage – as your business grows, you’ll need to handle more emails and files. Look for a service that offers seamless scalability, such as Truehost Cloud hosting services.
- Spam filtering and email authentication – your email can quickly get blacklisted if web hosts think you’re spamming people with suspicious mail. It’s critical to secure your email to prevent hacking, spamming, and spoofing. Look for providers with inbuilt privacy, security, and anti-phishing features.
Our advice is, take your time to research email hosting providers, find out what security protocols they have in place, and check out their customer care options. Call them and speak to support to satisfy yourself that they’re the right company to host your email and website to prevent headaches down the road.
Why Invest in Premium Email Hosting? The Pros and Cons
Professional customized email addresses are trendy right now despite their added cost. Business owners realize the advantages of using a bespoke email address to reach high-powered audiences, especially when it comes to maximizing conversions in email marketing and building strong networks.
There are many advantages of using professional email hosting services, but here are the main ones:
- Build your brand reputation – a personalized, branded email sends a clear signal that you take your business seriously. It creates a unified and consistent image of who you are as a company that inspires trust.
- En masse outreach – If you want to send out bulk emails, a custom email with a dedicated server is the best and most affordable way to do it. It also provides more tracking features and data for your marketing campaigns.
- Multiple email accounts with the same domain – you can create as many email accounts as you want for multiple people in your company. This makes email management, customization, and control much more granular.
- Access to the right people – the right custom email commands respect and attention, especially when you’re targeting senior leaders in large organizations for B2B sales.
If you’re trying to increase email open rates and conversions from email marketing campaigns, work with the best managed email hosting providers for a special boost.
Get Premium Email Hosting Today
Whether you’re running an online business or you’re a senior executive looking for enterprise-level email hosting solutions, Truehost Canada has the right package for you.
As one of the most affordable email hosting providers in Canada, we offer unparalleled security, convenience, and reliability thanks to our data centers based in Europe and North America. Talk to us today to get started.