Using Gmail for YourDomainName.com

Did you know that Google makes it possible for you to use Gmail on a personal or business domain name? It’s called Google Apps for Your Domain, and if you already have a domain name, it’s completely free for up to 50 e-mail addresses!

It’s a little bit technical, but I wanted to share the steps here for you to set this up for yourself!

1. Buy your domain name. There are a variety of domain name providers out there, some cheaper than $10/year, depending on the services you want and whether you’re comfortable with managing the domain yourself.
2. Get access to your “DNS” settings. DNS is a little bit like a giant phone book. It translates friendly names like “aaronklein.com” into the numbers that represent the particular servers that host my web site. It also establishes where the e-mail sent to that domain name will be routed to. You’ll need access to edit your DNS settings to tell your mail to go to Google’s servers.
3. Establish your Google Apps account. You can sign up for Google Apps Basic (the free version limited to 50 e-mail boxes) completely free.
4. Update your “MX” records. In your Google Apps account, they’ll give you a list of “MX” records to put into your “DNS” (MX stands for “mail exchange” and that’s how the internet knows to send your mail to Google’s servers). You put in more than one so if one of Google’s servers are down, your mail keeps flowing.
5. Verify your domain with a “CNAME” record. Google Apps will ask you to verify your domain name to ensure you actually own it. They’ll give you a special code to create what is called a “CNAME” record. You do this in the same place you put your “MX” records…by editing your DNS settings.
6. Create your Google mailboxes. In the Google Apps administrator app, you can create up to 50 different user accounts (which double as e-mail boxes). You can also create “aliases” (for example, if you want jim@jim.com and j-dude@jim.com to come to the same mailbox, you can create a mailbox called jim and an alias for that mailbox called j-dude).

That’s it! You’ve now got Gmail for your own domain name. Enjoy.