Own domain questions.

KnightStalker · 25 Feb 2009 at 09:02

Hey guys, im wanting my own domain, so i can have my own personal email address, but im totally unsure how to go about this, i understand i need to buy the domain name ie. mydomain.co.uk but what do i need to do after that, i wont be making a website for a while yet but in the future i will, just emails at the moment. any advice or help is much appreciated.

Balls noticed this is probably in the wrong section, could a passing don move it if so.

Daegan · 25 Feb 2009 at 09:11

Most registrars will give you some basic options for how to handle email on your domain, for instance catch all and forward to a different email address. That's probably the cheapest and simplest way.

Beyond that you can pay an extra quid or so per month to have your email hosted, i.e. POP3/IMAP, an SMTP server to relay via and probably a webmail interface.

Confused · 25 Feb 2009 at 09:14

You could buy the domain through a registrar (such as 123reg.co.uk) , and you could get GMail to handle all your email

malef!c · 25 Feb 2009 at 16:04

If you buy a domain from somewhere like Namecheap, they will give you 5 pop addresses in their control panel.

When you start building a site you will need hosting so you can host your own email as well then!

Snapshot · 25 Feb 2009 at 18:42

See what services your current ISP offers. Mine (Plus) charges me £1 per month for everything to do with my domain which I registered through them in the first place.

Wiggins · 25 Feb 2009 at 19:16

Give these guys a lookup.

£18 for the first year (£8 for the domain for 2 years and £10 per year for the small package), 10 email adresses, a Cpanel for admin stuff and webspace.

I have used them for 2 years with no downtime, great support and their servers are based in the Netherlands and the UK.

You can even pay with Paypal.

Here is the website I origionally got my domain and hosting from. A basic website it looks but they do the job.

Skeeter · 25 Feb 2009 at 19:44

Ive used a Gmail account in the past. Setup a domain and then put an email forward on specific emails or a 'catch all' to direct all incomming mail to the Gmail account. You can then configure the Gmail account to send messages out as that same email address, so effectively your Gmail account becomes [email protected]. All the benifits of a Gmail accout, but with your own email address.

You can even setup multiple. I have numerous accounts (info@, support@, webmaster@, etc) that can all forward to the Gmail account, and Gmail then labels them up and can even move to folders, and then is set to send as each of them, automatically replying as the address the email was originally sent to. Its a great way to do it if your after just email, and most places will offer a forward for free

joey1211 · 25 Feb 2009 at 20:00

Avoid fasthosts as they don't have proper advanced DNS. Which I only found out after buying the domain.

But if I you want a serious lesson in how DNS, Nameservers etc work, get fasthosts. :-)

and why am I not Joe Pesci (see left avatar)

KnightStalker · 26 Feb 2009 at 09:07

wow i didnt realise that it was that confusing, ok so, from what i gathered to have my own email address such as "[email protected]" and for that to be used all the time i would i need to have hosting, or some complex (to me anyway) way of forwarding to something like gmail. As i stated the website wont be needed for a while yet just the email with my domainname in it.

Skeeter, you seem to have it like i want it, but way to complex for me at this stage to understand.

Daegan · 26 Feb 2009 at 09:24

KnightStalker said:
wow i didnt realise that it was that confusing

It's really not. This shows the options at 123-reg. Add names in the first box to forward mail for individual addresses, otherwise they get handled by the catch-all rules set below.

dodgem · 26 Feb 2009 at 09:33

Yeah, it's not confusing at all... it may seem it if you know nothing about it, but in easy steps:

1) select a hosting company from google or recomendations

2) go to their website and click a link to buy a package

3) enter the domain you want (and repeat until you find one that is not already in use)

4) enter payment details

5) use the graphical control panel on what is now your hosted webspace to tell it "any email that arrives for 'jeffrey@big_giraffes.co.uk' send onto '[email protected]' - it'll be dead obvious how to do this, just look for the wording "Email forwarding"

6) any problems? Ask here or at support for your hosting provider

The only major issue really is deciding who to go with

KnightStalker · 26 Feb 2009 at 09:44

ahh that makes it superdooper clear, right ill go ahead and do this today.

joey1211 · 26 Feb 2009 at 10:01

You don't need hosting just to have "[email protected]" as an email address. But you get a free domain name (at fasthosts) when you also purchase hosting at the same time.

daz · 26 Feb 2009 at 10:10

Skeeter said:
Ive used a Gmail account in the past. Setup a domain and then put an email forward on specific emails or a 'catch all' to direct all incomming mail to the Gmail account. You can then configure the Gmail account to send messages out as that same email address, so effectively your Gmail account becomes [email protected]. All the benifits of a Gmail accout, but with your own email address.

You can even setup multiple. I have numerous accounts (info@, support@, webmaster@, etc) that can all forward to the Gmail account, and Gmail then labels them up and can even move to folders, and then is set to send as each of them, automatically replying as the address the email was originally sent to. Its a great way to do it if your after just email, and most places will offer a forward for free

You're better off setting up Gmail/Google apps properly, and setting your MX records on the domain to use Google's servers than using email forwarding.

gumbald · 26 Feb 2009 at 21:58

Yes, use Google Apps, it rocks. £3 for the domain a year, GMail being free.

Sorted.