Email on your own domain — info@yourcompany.com instead of yourcompany@gmail.com — is one of the cheapest things a business can do for its credibility. Customers immediately see who is writing, the address stays with the company when an employee leaves, and a properly configured domain is more likely to reach the inbox. Below is everything you need to set it up correctly.
Short answer
You need a registered domain (for example .ba or .com) and a mail service. The simplest option is email included with your hosting; the most reliable is Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Either way, configure MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records — without them, messages often end up in spam.
What you need
- A domain registered to your company. If you don’t have one yet, see the guide how to register a .ba domain.
- A mail service — a hosting plan with email, or a dedicated service such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
- Access to your domain’s DNS settings — this is where you add the records that connect the domain to the mail service. If only your former developer has that access, sort it out first.
Three options and how to choose
| Option | Best for | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email with hosting | Sole traders and small firms with a few addresses | Often included in the hosting price, quick to set up | Weaker spam filtering, less storage, depends on the host |
| Google Workspace | Companies already using Gmail and Google tools | Excellent deliverability, Gmail interface, calendar, Drive | Paid per user per month |
| Microsoft 365 | Companies working in Outlook, Word and Excel | Outlook, Teams and Office apps in one package | Paid per user per month, more settings to manage |
My rule of thumb: if you need up to three addresses and email isn’t critical to the business, email with hosting is fine. If enquiries, quotes and orders arrive by email, pay for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 — the difference in reliability is noticeable. Both services change their prices from time to time, so check the current per-user price on their websites before deciding.
Setting it up step by step
- Decide which addresses you need. Usually one general address (info@ or contact@) and personal addresses for staff (name@ or name.surname@). Use aliases or shared mailboxes for general addresses instead of separate paid users.
- Sign up and verify the domain. Google and Microsoft ask you to prove ownership by adding a TXT record to DNS.
- Add the MX records. An MX record tells the world which server should receive mail for your domain. Remove the old MX records, otherwise mail arrives in two places.
- Add SPF, DKIM and DMARC (explained below).
- Connect phones and computers — the Gmail or Outlook app, or IMAP settings for other programs.
- Test. Send a message to a Gmail and an Outlook address and check that it arrives in the inbox, not in spam.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC: why they are essential
These three records let the recipient verify that a message really comes from your domain and not from someone impersonating you. Gmail and Yahoo have required email authentication since February 2024, and Microsoft introduced similar requirements for high-volume senders in 2025. The rules are lighter for businesses that send little email, but in practice messages without these records land in spam more often.
| Record | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| SPF | Lists the servers allowed to send mail for the domain | v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all |
| DKIM | Digitally signs every message; the key comes from your mail service | A TXT or CNAME record generated by the service |
| DMARC | Tells receivers what to do with messages that fail the checks and sends you reports | v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@company.com |
Start DMARC with the policy p=none and watch the reports for a few weeks. Once all legitimate messages pass, tighten it to quarantine and then reject — so fraudsters cannot send mail in your company’s name either.
Common mistake
A domain may have only one SPF record. If you send through both your host and a newsletter service, both go into the same SPF record — two separate records cancel each other out.
The contact form on your website
Contact form messages often fail because the server sends them “from” the visitor or without authentication. The right way is for the form to send from an address on your domain (for example web@company.com) through a server listed in your SPF record, with the visitor’s address in the Reply-To field. You reply with one click, and the message doesn’t end up in spam.
The most common mistakes
- Domain and DNS on someone else’s account — if the developer leaves, you can’t even change your email. The domain must belong to the company and the logins must be with you.
- Paying for a user for every general address — info@, sales@ and invoices@ can be aliases or a shared mailbox.
- Switching without a plan — changing MX records in the middle of a working day without preparation means lost messages.
- Passwords without two-factor authentication — a hijacked mailbox is the most common start of fake-invoice fraud. Turn on 2FA for every user.
What it costs
Email with hosting usually costs nothing extra beyond yearly hosting and the domain (see the overview in how much a website costs). Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are billed per user per month, with a discount for annual plans. For a company with three to five employees, that’s roughly the cost of one monthly phone plan — and you get reliable email, calendars and shared documents.
Need help with email on your domain?
I set up email, MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and your contact form so messages reach the inbox. Tell me your domain and how many addresses you need.
Engimotive · Published October 28, 2026