Email hosting is an online hosting service that rents out and operates email servers. Signing up for an email hosting service isn’t the same as signing up for a free email account like Gmail or Yahoo. While similar, email hosting provides a more premium product.
Further, signing up for email hosting is also not the same as signing up for web hosting – although you often can get both services from one provider.
Confused yet? We know, it can be tricky.
Below, we’ll cover exactly what email hosting is, how it both differs from and is linked to web hosting, and some details you may need to know.
- What is Email Hosting?
- What are the Benefits of Using Email Hosting Services?
- What if you Still Need Third-Party Hosting?
What is Email Hosting?
As a website owner, you likely already know what web hosting is–after all, if you have a website, you have web hosting. You may not know how web hosting differs from email hosting, though, or you may have assumed that they are the same exact thing.
Here’s how they differ:
- Website hosting is a service that provides the physical computer space (a server) necessary for your website to ‘live’ on the internet. It involves website files being stored on one or more servers and making those files available to web browsers. Content that will be stored on the server includes everything from software and apps to text and images.
- Email hosting is also a service in which a hosting provider rents out server space—only these servers are used exclusively for email data.
Email hosting can be:
- On the same server that hosts your website data
- With the same company that hosts your website, but on a different server
- With a completely different company that exclusively handles email hosting
All of InMotion Hosting’s Shared hosting, WordPress hosting, Reseller hosting, and VPS hosting plans come with email hosting already set up and ready to go on the same server as your hosting account! You can start creating new emails as soon as you access your account, and can even migrate emails from a previous hosting plan over to InMotion.
What are the Benefits of Using Email Hosting Services?
A personal email address ending in ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@yahoo.com’ is fine for keeping in touch and paying your bills. When you set up a web presence for your business, however, you need something more serious — you need a business email. Ideally, it should be a professional email that uses your domain name–for example, [email protected].
Using a professional email address is vital, for several reasons:
- A professional email address adds credibility and lets your customers know that you are a legitimate business
- An email address using your domain name is unique and memorable
- A separate business email helps you stay organized and avoid mixing up your personal and business tasks
- A business email lets you easily activate emails for new employees and deactivate emails (and access!) for former employees
What if you Still Need Third-Party Hosting?
If you are already using an established third-party email hosting service, you may be reluctant to change your workflow. Don’t worry, we understand! At InMotion Hosting, we make it easy to combine your web hosting with third-party email hosting services like Office365 or Google Workspace. That way, you always have the right option available for you and your business.
If you want to learn about configuring your email at InMotion, take a look at our list of email related resources!
