Email hosting is the service that looks after receiving, sending, and storing your emails.
However, not all email hosting plans are created equal. How do you choose the right plan for your business? Here are some things you need to consider.
Email aliases
Dedicated email hosting enables you to use your custom domain name in your email address, e.g., yourname@yourdomainname.co.nz. That’s great because it helps to reinforce your brand identity and makes your emails look professional. However, you might want more than one email account, or alias, for your business. For example, you might want to use help@yourdomainname.co.nz for general customer enquiries, sales@yourdomainname.co.nz for online sales receipts, and accounts@yourdomainname.co.nz for customer account correspondence. Some entry-tier email hosting plans allow only one email address, so if you’re keen on having several, be sure to check that out before you sign up.
Email storage
When an email hosting plan talks about storage, it means the amount of email (including attached files) that you can store on the host’s email server. If you’re not sending or receiving a large volume of mail, or a lot of it is text-only, then you may only need a small amount of storage. Ideally, you want a minimum of 2GB. If you are dealing with documents, images or video, you’ll want to opt for a more generous allowance.
To give you an idea of how much storage you might need, 5GB equals approximately 50,000 text emails, 10,450 JPG images, 730 MP3 files, or 34 video files.
Webmail and client capability
You’ll need a way to send and receive your emails. Most email hosts offer webmail, where you can log into a website page from any browser to access all the necessary functions (Gmail is an example of a webmail interface). Webmail is great when you need to access your emails from somewhere other than your normal computer or mobile device.
The other way to access your emails is via a client, such as Outlook or Apple Mail. A client is a third-party programme that downloads your email from the host and enables you to organise and store it on your computer or device. It does this using email protocols like SMTP, POP, or IMAP. It’s a good idea to check that your chosen email hosting plan supports the protocols that are compatible with your email client and will allow you to sync your email across all your devices.
Extra features
Many web hosting plans also come with additional features, such as cloud storage, virus and spam protection, and catch-all (which captures any emails sent to your domain even if the exact address does not exist). For example, Moreweb’s email hosting plans come with a range of complementary apps to assist you with your business productivity.
If you register your domain with Moreweb, you’ll get our basic email hosting plan for free, including 5GB of storage, webmail, unlimited aliases, catch-all, and OX contacts, calendar and tasks. You can upgrade to our affordable advanced or professional hosting plans at any time to get extra storage and more OX productivity apps.
