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Create Professional Email and Use it with Gmail (Step by Step)

Having a professional email address can give your business more credibility and help establish your brand. By creating an email that uses your domain name, you come across as more legitimate to customers. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you through how to easily set up a professional email with Gmail using Hostgator hosting.

Why You Should Use a Professional Email

Using a generic email address like [email protected] or [email protected] for business purposes doesn‘t inspire much confidence in potential clients and customers. It makes you come across as unprofessional and less established.

With so many free email providers now, it has become effortless to create a professional email address using your own domain name. For example, [email protected] looks far more credible.

Here are some of the key reasons to use a professional email:

  • Increases Trust – Customers will take you more seriously when you have an email aligned with your brand. It builds legitimacy and makes you look like an established business.
  • Memorable – A custom email address featuring your brand will be easier for people to remember.
  • Versatile – You can create unlimited professional email accounts for all your staff once you own the domain.
  • Cost Effective – Hosting and professional email capabilities are very affordable these days.

If you run any type of business, using professional emails should be standard practice. The good news is Gmail makes the process of setting it up simple.

How to Get a Professional Email

There are a few different routes you can take to securing a professional email for your business.

Using a Free Service

Some free services like Zoho Mail and Yandex Mail allow you to create a custom email without needing to purchase hosting. The downside is the address usually ends in something like @zohomail.com or @yandex.com rather than your own domain.

Registering a Domain

A better option is to register your own domain name with a hosting company like Hostgator, Bluehost or Namecheap. This domain can then be used for both your website and professional emails.

The process involves:

  1. Choose a domain registrar and check domain availability
  2. Purchase hosting plan
  3. Create professional email accounts
  4. Set up emails with Gmail

This does involve some up front costs for registration and hosting, but works out to be very affordable at around $4-$8 per month on average.

Using G Suite

Google‘s G Suite is another good choice as it ties in seamlessly with Gmail. By signing up for the premium G Suite plans, you can then create professional emails for your domain. The downside versus going through a regular host is higher monthly costs.

In this guide, we‘ll be focusing specifically on setting up professional email with Hostgator and Gmail.

Why Use Hostgator for Email

Hostgator is one of the largest web hosting providers worldwide. The company has been operating since 2002 and hosts over 8 million domains currently.

Some of the advantages of using Hostgator include:

  • Affordable pricing – Domain registration and hosting starts from just $2.75 per month.
  • Easy cPanel access – Hostgator provides cPanel with all plans making it simple to manage emails and domains.
  • Gmail integration – Support for forwarding emails to Gmail allowing you to manage everything there.
  • Email marketing – Integrates with Mailchimp and other ESPs to easily send bulk emails.
  • 24/7 support – As one of the biggest hosts, phone and live chat support is always available.

With robust email functionality and Gmail compatibility, Hostgator is a smart choice for creating and managing professional addresses.

Step 1: Register Domain with Hostgator

The first step is to purchase hosting and register your domain name with Hostgator. This will enable full control over your domain‘s DNS records and email accounts.

Visit the Hostgator website and follow these steps:

  1. Select Domain Name – Type in your preferred domain under "Find Your Domain" and click search to check availability. Choose another if unavailable.

  2. Pick Hosting Plan – The choice of Hostgator plan will determine number of websites, storage space, bandwidth and other specs. For starting out, the cheapest Hatchling plan works fine.

  3. Enter personal details – Fill in your name, address, phone number and payment information.

  4. Add any extras – Decide if you want to include extras like dedicated IPs or SiteLock security.

  5. Checkout – The 1-click checkout process makes registering your domain and hosting fast and easy.

The complete domain registration and setup shouldn‘t take more than 10 minutes typically.

Step 2: Login to Hostgator cPanel

With your Hostagtor account created and hosting active, you can now login to cPanel. This is where emails are managed from directly.

  • Visit hostgator.com and click "Login"
  • Enter your Hostgator username and password
  • You will then access cPanel dashboard for your hosting account

Within cPanel you have access to all your domains, files, databases, backups and email tools. This is where you can create and configure unlimited professional email addresses.

Hostgator cPanel interface

Step 3: Create Professional Email

From within the Hostgator cPanel, visit the "Email Accounts" section under "Email Tools". Here you can add new addresses and manage existing inboxes.

To create your professional email, follow these steps:

  1. Click Create
  2. Enter the username (no @ symbol)
  3. Pick your registered domain
  4. Create a secure password
  5. Choose mailbox quota
  6. Enable auto-responder if required
  7. Click Create Account

Repeat this process to add more professional emails for your domain by changing the usernames.

There are no limits on the number that can be added through cPanel with most Hostgator shared hosting plans.

Step 4: Configure Email Clients

At this point the new professional email accounts are fully set up on your Hostgator server. However to access and start using them, they need configuring on an email program.

Hostgator emails support all the most popular email clients including:

  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Apple Mail
  • Mozilla Thunderbird

For this guide, we will show you how to connect your new professional email to Gmail specifically.

Access Email Details

To enable connection to Gmail, you need to gather some key details from cPanel first:

  1. Login to Hostgator cPanel
  2. Go to Email Accounts
  3. Click Manage next to the new email
  4. Switch to Mailbox Features tab

On this page you‘ll find all requisite details needed for Gmail setup:

  • Full Email Address – e.g. [email protected]
  • Username – The part before @ symbol
  • Password – The password you set during creation
  • POP Server – e.g. mail.yourdomain.com

Note these details down to use when adding the account to Gmail.

Connect Email to Gmail

With the email credentials gathered, you can now easily add it to Gmail:

  1. Go to Gmail Settings (gear icon)
  2. Click See all settings
  3. Go to Accounts and Import tab
  4. Click Add Account
  5. Choose IMAP/POP Account
  6. Enter Hostgator email credentials
  7. Click Continue and follow prompts

It will first validate the details before allowing you to send/receive emails through Gmail. You may need to enter a verification code sent to complete setup.

Once activated, you can access the new professional email seamlessly alongside your normal Gmail accounts. Replying to emails will show the custom address helping present a professional image.

Advanced: Configure Gmail Sync

By default, the connection to Hostgator emails is via POP which requires manually sending/receiving messages. For automatic syncing similar to normal Gmail, IMAP should be enabled instead.

Here is how to configure IMAP sync:

  1. Visit Hostgator Email Accounts in cPanel
  2. Click Manage on the email
  3. Go to the Mailbox Features tab
  4. Enable IMAP toggle switch
  5. Save Changes at bottom
  6. In Gmail, change account type to IMAP
  7. Configure Gmail to always keep messages on server
  8. Set sync period to As items arrive

With IMAP syncing enabled, any emails sent or received on the Hostgator address will automatically sync across to the connected Gmail account. This keeps everything perfectly unified in one place for management and responses.

Step 5: Start Using Your Email

You have now successfully created and integrated a professional email account with Gmail. Here are some tips on using it effectively:

  • Send professional email signatures including your custom email
  • Link to the email address from your website and other brand assets
  • Add it to business cards to build credibility
  • Ensure email security is enabled in cPanel
  • Set up an auto-responder for when on holidays
  • Enable email forwards to send copies to other addresses
  • Configure SMTP details in form plugins to enable sending
  • Export and backup email data periodically

As you build out your brand and online presence, the professional email will lend legitimacy and trust with every customer interaction. Integrating hosting, domains and email under Hostgator streamlines setup allowing you to focus on business growth.

Fast Professional Email Setup with Hostgator

Creating a custom professional email address with Hostgator takes under 30 minutes from start to finish. The guided process makes establishing a credible branded inbox simple, even for those without much technical expertise.

Linking domains, websites and email together builds recognition and positions your business as a reputable and professional brand that customers can rely on.

For further assistance with setup or leveraging your new professional email, refer to Hostgator‘s responsive customer support team.