# Have domain name, how do I set up email?



## TreeTiger (29 Apr 2011)

I have an email address, say treetiger@mydomain.ie but the only way I can see emails is through signing in on my host's (Blacknight) home page.

Is there some way I can see my emails using Gmail or some other (ideally free!) easy to use email programmes?


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## PaddyBloggit (29 Apr 2011)

Yes you can.

You can use cpanel to direct your mail to GMail, outlook etc.

Access CPanel and follow their help menu.

GMail access is set up through the settings panel of GMail but it needs to be directed from cpanel first.

One thing I've found about GMail and redirection is that it shows up as follows:

e.g. info@askaboutmoney.com redirects to joebloggs@gmail.com

When you click reply in gmail it shows up as follows:

joebloggs@gmail.com on behalf of info@askaboutmoney.com so everyone knows your gmail address.

By putting it through Outlook I find that this doesn't happen.

Outlook is machine based whereas GMail is cloud based and can be accessed from anywhere. It a matter of choosing which suits you best.


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## TreeTiger (29 Apr 2011)

Thanks Paddy - however Blacknight doesn't seem to use cPanel!
As I use a desktop and laptop I need cloud based email, and if I can get it forwarded to my phone that would be even better, problem is learning how to do it.


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## PaddyBloggit (29 Apr 2011)

Blacknight have an email forwarding service via their Blacknight Customer Control Panel.

I found that on their site. I've never dealt with them. I've used Let's Host and an American based hosting service.

Found their video tutorials on setting up emails on other devices etc.

[broken link removed]

Happy viewing!


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## TreeTiger (29 Apr 2011)

Thanks Paddy.
Between the video and an article I found about adding an email address to my Gmail account I think I'm sorted!


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## Satanta (1 May 2011)

Assuming you want your mail to be handled directly by gmail (and remove blacknight entirely from the mail equation there - so no redirects required), you can set this up too. With google apps, you can use this for free for up to 10 mail accounts (it used to be higher, so the exact limit will depend on when you signed up for your app account), allowing you the benefits of the more familiar interface and spam filtering of a standard gmail account. 

I assume this is actually what you wanted, but I'm not sure if it's what you've done or not (I'd guess so, but said I'd check). It depends on what tutorials you've followed. If it's not the way you're set up but would like it to be, let us know and someone will talk you through it.

Taking it a step further, for added security you should look at setting up an SPF record for your domain. It makes it far more difficult for scammers to spoof your domain addy (commonly used for phishing scams) and also helps with the deliverability of your own mail (basically a positive mark to counteract any negatives in the heuristics scoring for mail spam). 

What your basically doing is giving certain servers (in this case it will be the google mail servers, or the same could have been done using the Blacknight servers previously) permission to send mail on behalf of your domain. If I tried to send a mail from scam@yourdomain.com from a different mail server, it would then be blocked as spam (rather than causing potential security risks for users believing they're speaking with someone connected to your business). 

It's relatively simple to do, you just need to add a new TXT entry in your DNS settings along the lines of:

v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all

(the "include" there is giving authorisation to the google mail servers [if you're not set up with a google app account to handle your mail you'd need to provide the mail servers you're actually using] and the "~all" is creating a soft fail for anything coming from a different server [personally I'd go with a "-all", a hard fail, but it's six of one...])


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## cobrawco (25 Sep 2012)

Satanta,

Ive struggled to setup the gmail for small business.
Our domain is registered with blacknight. Do I need to have web hosting also or is domain ok for now?
If you have detailed instructions, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Conor


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