Best Email Service for Small Business
After years of managing domain emails on website servers, we’re pleased to share about our experience with the best email service for small business, G Suite!
UPDATE 2022: Once again Google has changed the name of G Suites to Google Workspace. Setting up the email service for our own domains and the email service still works fine, just like it always has.
UPDATE 2019: Back around 2017 the Google Apps was renamed as G Suite and now it appears to be a part of Google Cloud, but regardless of the name they choose to call it, Google’s email service is still by far, the best choice for any small business to manage their company wide email.
We’ve all heard our favorite online marketing guru say, “to have a professional front for our business, we must avoid using email providers such as [email protected].” Instead, we should be using our website domains for all our small business email. Being good little aspiring online marketers, we followed the experts advice and quickly set up our domain emails for our business. The “quickly” is my attempt at humor. See below the example:
Right Email Address [email protected]
Wrong Email Address [email protected]
Though it’s simple to add a domain email account on most web servers, setting up email to work on our devices is a pain in the wazoo! First, you need the correct IMAP settings. Problem is, when you go to enter those settings into your phone or computer, you discover they don’t correspond with your email client. It usually results in a support request to your web server to find out exactly which imap settings to use.
We soon discovered, using our web server for our domain email is a poor solution for our business. It might look good, but most of us were lucky to configure it ourselves without paying an IT person! Then, once it’s all set up we find our inboxes swamped with spam. Oh, and don’t forget continual email glitches.
Thankfully, with the development of Google Workspace, we can now have the best email service currently available!
Best Email Service
Once Google Workspace email is set up the first time, it’s simple to manage. Yes, there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve to get up to speed with Google’s Workspace admin. The best part though is, once the initial setup of Google Workspace is complete, it’s super simple to add and remove users, no matter the device. If you know how to create your own Yahoo or Gmail email account, you can create your own domain email account.
Google Workspace is about so much more than just email. They offer some of the best cloud based storage, applications and business tools available. All the apps work well on just about all devices.
As an example, say you share a Google Drive file or calendar with a client. Each can be automatically branded with your logo. There are some companies that have said goodbye to MS Office and now using G Suite exclusively.
Google Apps Set Up and Email Management
Comparing Old Domain Server Managed Email and Using the New Google Apps
Old Domain Email
- Set up on multiple devices a nightmare (support needed)
- Receive tons of unwanted mail
- Users must be added directly on the server
- No email services if website server is down
- Email can overload website server resources
- Email management requires IT person to access server
- Requires IT person & server support to resolve problems
- Server managed email is clunky and unreliable
Best Email Service – Google Apps
- Super simple set up on all devices.
- No more SPAM
- Once initial set up is complete, adding users is a snap
- Google has amazing servers, far beyond your website’s server
- Google provides 30 Gig Storage per user. More is available
- Simple to manage users at Google Admin
- Each employee may contact Google Support 24/7 for support
- Simply put, Google is the best email service solution available
Is this Another Gmail Account?
This is NOT another gmail account, but your domain email will function like any other gmail account.
You might be thinking “all I need is another Gmail account!” As a web guy, I can assure you this is different! For business, it truly is the best email service option available today. Once set up, your email will be displayed exactly as needed, [email protected].
This is not another typical gmail account! Once the new MX records are set up at your server, your domain mail will be directed to Google and they will enable you to manage it in your new Google inbox. This is not a forwarding type email system. Google will administer, send and display all your email perfectly!
Ask yourself this. Do you want your business email served from your unreliable cheap shared website server or Google’s servers? I don’t think so!
The advantages expressed in this post represent only a portion of the features. The bottom line is, if you want the best email service for your business, Google Wordspace works nearly flawlessly. The cost $6 per month per user, but as of this writing each user gets 30 gig of Google Drive space and access to a nice bundle of apps.
How To Set Up Google Apps and Email for Business
If you want the best email service for your business, here’s how to get started. We’re not going to include a full tutorial here, but we’ll give you some important tips to consider in advance. Google provides plenty of help, but as with any new apps set up, there are some pitfalls.
If you are just starting up with a new domain email, this will be perfect! You don’t have to worry about how to migrate your old email over to google’s server. Right out of the gates, your business will have the very best email service available.
If your existing domain email is being handled via your website server, be sure to research if you can migrate your old email to the new Google email account. You can always save your old emails to a file you can reference later. No worries though! Your previous email will remain on your old client and/or server. You may not be able to access old mail via your new Google account, but as long as you don’t delete your old email on your desktop client or server, just move forward!
Setting up the account for business is a little tricky! You’ll need your IT guy or perhaps outsource this to a qualified freelancer. This is only a problem for the initial set up. I’ve set up the service for a number of clients and depending on you circumstances, it could take from two to eight hours. I suggest doing this after work hours, or choose a time when email usage is at the lowest point. Don’t let the process stop you from your goal.
Google must verify you are the owner of the domain. In order to do this you’ll need to add the mx records Google provides to your DNS settings. Once the site is verified, continue moving through the guided setup process.
At some point, you will be instructed you to add their Google MX Records to your DNS settings. It’s not as hard as it sounds, but you should know your way around your server’s DNS to get this done.
Once Google verifies your MX Records are installed, the rest of the process is a breeze. You’ll need a credit card but as of this writing, the first month is free. Just follow the guided wizard instructions and you’ll be all set.
By the way, you will adding each employee’s or user’s account, but each user will individually be setting up their email login. Google will send them an invitation email and guide them through the simple steps. For your users, it will be exactly like setting up their own gmail account. Google handles all of this for you. They will also provide support for each user.
Guess what? What makes the email service even better, from now on the troubleshooting of any employee email problems is no longer your responsibility! Google’s trained experts will handle it all for you!
That’s it! Just go through some of the simple tutorials provided and have fun with it. You now have the best email service for your small business! Also, it will work better and faster than ever! It’s likely you will rarely think about it again!
We hope you found our share to be helpful and look forward to your comments.