The Enormous Benefits of Google Apps Email

Practically every web hosting company we’ve reviewed on WhoIsHostingThis provides email as part of the package.

You might wonder why you’d bother receiving email through Google Apps.

The truth is, Google Apps is a powerhouse of fantastic, free features. Email is perhaps one of the most compelling.

With Apps, Google hosts your email, replacing your hosting company’s mail system completely. This means all mail sent to your domain goes straight to Google’s servers.

But why bother setting it up? Surely email is email?

The Problem With Your Host’s Email Account

Hosting companies provide email facilities, but they may not be the best on the market. Here are a few reasons why.

• If your web server goes down, your email doesn’t work. How do you retrieve important support ticket responses when you can’t receive email? Sure, there’s sometimes a web portal, but what if you’ve forgotten your password? Having no website and no email is incredibly inconvenient: why risk it?
• You most likely have a limited amount of storage space on your server. Your email account eats it up quickly. Your site may only take up a few megabytes, yet your email account could hog your entire disk allocation.
• With a VPS or dedicated server, your email server could be a major drag on performance. Offloading email saves considerable resources.
• Although hosts provide webmail, it’s usually extremely basic. With Google Apps, you get most of the features of Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive, all branded with your domain.

How to Set Up Google Apps

If you are interested in setting up Google Apps for your domain, this article on MakeUseOf explains the process in detail.

In short, it involves creating an administrator account for your domain, verifying ownership and setting up your users and services.

Verification is pretty simple; normally, you can simply upload a HTML file or making a change to your DNS records. Google Apps will walk you through either of those options.

Finally, you need to update your MX records. Don’t worry: it’s easy. Google will provide you with about half a dozen records to add, and it offers help guides for the whole process.

Is it Worth It?

If you like Gmail, you’ll love Google Apps’ email functionality. Most web hosting users should skip their host’s email provision and get Google Apps set up right away.

Claire Broadley

Claire is a freelance writer. She works with us through Red Robot Media, which she runs along with her associate Mathew Dixon. In addition, Claire is an accomplished musician who has toured the world with her band Printed Circuit. She lives in the United Kingdom.