In this blog post, I’m going to walk you through setting up your business email using Yahoo. There are a bunch of different companies that provide business email services, Yahoo is just the one that I picked for this particular blog post. The sign-up process is pretty much the same no matter what company you decide to use.

If you aren’t familiar with the difference between a business email address and a regular email address, here’s a quick example:

Regular: writtenwithdesign@gmail.com

Business: rachel@writtenwithdesign.com 

Why Should I Have a Business Email

Having a business email is just one more step to people recognizing you as a professional. I was honestly a little hesitant about writing this blog post because, as you might have noticed, I don’t have a business email. My clients either contact me via my phone, or my Gmail account: writtenwithdesign@gmail.com

The truth is that you don’t necessarily have to have a business email if you’re a small business or dealing with local clients (like me). If I were to try and score some larger-scale projects from large companies, I would need to get a professional email (which I plan on doing eventually). 

Another reason I haven’t switched emails is that all my promotional materials, accounts, and other things are connected to Written With Design’s current email. That’s why I suggest my clients use a business email right off the bat instead of waiting like I did. That way, they don’t confuse their customers when they find a business email.

Setting up your business Email

When you go to set up your business email, there are a few steps involved.

• Choose a provider

• Choose a plan

• Connect your domain to email

• Start using your new business email

Choose a Provider

If your hosting service comes with a pre-installed email option, it’s easiest to just go with that. For example, Squarespace is set up for Google Workspace and you can set up a professional Gmail account in a few minutes. 

If you have your heart set on an email registrar that’s not automatically a part of your hosting package, you have nothing to worry about. You can connect your domain name to a third-party email provider by going to the DNS (Domain Name Service) records and adding your email’s MX (Mail Exchanger) records.

Since I’m specifically talking about using Yahoo I won’t go into detail on everything Gmail, Outlook, and other large email providers offer. Maybe I’ll talk about the pros and cons of different service providers in my next blog post, but for now, let’s move on to the next step.

Choose a Plan

You’ll pick your email plan based on how many emails you need. Let’s say that Amber wants to set up a business email for her car detailing business. She has two other people that work with her and all three of them specialize in different areas of car detailing, so they all need different emails. Plus, Amber wants a general email that new customers can use to ask questions about prices, schedules, etc. Because of that, Amber's plan needs to offer at least four emails:

amber@example.com

spencer@example.com

chuck@example.com

info@example.com

Connect Your Domain to Your Email

A professional email will not work properly unless you’ve pointed your domain to your email provider. You’ll have to do this by going into your Domain Name System (DNS) records. When connecting Yahoo to a domain, you’ll have to go through the following steps...

• Log into your yahoo business account

• Find the MX records

• Copy and Paste the MX records into your Domain Name’s DNS records

When using Yahoo as a business email provider, I logged into the account I had set up and then went to the section called “Control Panel” and clicked “Domain”. That took me to a page with several types of records, and at the very bottom was the “MX records” section. I clicked the edit icon so that I could see the data. The Data will look similar to a domain name, and you’ll also need the priority number that’s in the MX records. 

Once you have that information you’ll have to go to your domain registrar and go to your domain settings. Click on the section for managing your DNS records. Once you’re there, you’ll want to create a blank MX record and add the data, priority number, and possibly the alias of your email provider if it’s required. After you’ve added all the information from your Yahoo MX records, make sure you press “Save”. 

You may be able to create your new professional email address immediately after this, or it could take an entire day before your domain is properly pointed to your email provider.

Start Using your Domain

Now that you have a business email you can log into your account and start creating email addresses for yourself and your employees. Logging into these emails will be the same as logging into a free email account and you can explore the different features.

Regardless of what email provider you choose, the steps for pointing your domain to your provider will be the same apart from any small differences unique to certain companies. Well, I hope that helps in your quest to secure your own professional email. And If you need help setting up your business email or website, contact me, I’d be happy to work with you.