Guide · Setting up
How to set up business email on your own domain
An address at your own domain tells customers who they are writing to, and it stays yours if the provider changes. This guide covers what a business needs and the order to do it in.
Why an address at your own domain
A message from info@example.com says who sent it. A message from a free mailbox with the shop’s name typed into it says only that someone typed the name. A business address also belongs to the business: if the person who set it up leaves, or the provider changes, the domain and every address at it stay with the owner.
Three things are needed: a domain, a mail service that hosts mailboxes for it, and the DNS records that connect the two.
The order of the work
- Choose the domain. It must be one you control, because the DNS records are published where it is registered.
- Add the domain to the mail service. At Alcitron Mail a new domain waits for proof of control: the client area gives a token to publish as a TXT record at _alcitron-verify.example.com, and the domain becomes active once DNS carries it exactly.
- Publish the DNS records. The MX, the SPF record, the DKIM key and the DMARC policy. The client area lists each with its purpose and shows, a few minutes later, whether DNS carries it. The DNS records a mail domain needs explains each one.
- Create the mailboxes and aliases people will use. Alias or mailbox helps decide which is which.
- Connect the clients. Webmail in a browser, or a mail program with the settings in IMAP, SMTP and POP3 settings.
What every domain gets
- A DKIM key, created with the domain, so outgoing mail can be signed.
- Two role mailboxes, postmaster and abuse, which a mail domain is expected to answer. See postmaster and abuse addresses.
- A page in the client area that shows the domain’s records and whether each is in place.
Before the first real message
Send a test message to an address at another provider and read it there. It should arrive in the inbox, from your address. If it lands in spam, the deliverability checklist lists what to check.
Questions
Is a domain needed before setting up business email?
Yes. The domain is the part the business owns; the mail service hosts the mailboxes for it.
How soon does mail work after the DNS records are published?
As soon as resolvers carry the records. The client area suggests a one-hour TTL, short enough that a correction reaches resolvers the same day.
Who can add a domain?
A business signing up. By default sign-ups are reviewed, and a new domain stays inactive until DNS carries its proof token.
Sources
The documents this guide’s statements rest on. Each link opens in a new page.