Once your domain, server and website are created, there’s another step in the process: setting up your email. You’ll want to have both the outgoing and incoming mail servers functioning to handle communication to and from the domain.
Our hosting service Divi Space Hosting is a top-notch managed WordPress host, and while we offer our customers more than the typical premium features included in managed hosting, we don’t offer mail. While some standard hosts offer mail services with their hosting, most managed WordPress hosts do not. There may be standard authentication for basic email, but all managed WordPress hosting companies encourage their customers to get their own mail services.
In the following post, we’ll discuss why Divi Space Hosting doesn’t offer mail services. We’ll also share our recommendations for the best email providers that you can sign up with today.
Why Divi Space Hosting Doesn’t Offer Email Services
The short answer is site hosting and email hosting are very different. Even though we could create a Mail extension for our hosting service it would not be specialized or the quality of a dedicated email provider. So we’ve chosen to, like other managed hosting companies, keep our focus on hosting to make sure this is, and always will be, the best hosting for Divi websites.
The long answer brings the following reasons into account:
1. Creating an email service is a complex feat
Creating a fully functioning mail server is an intricate and complex job. There are a lot of software components, each with a specific purpose. These components can include:
- Mail Transfer Agent (MTA): This component handles Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) traffic and is responsible for sending mail from one mailbox to another, as well as receiving mail from an external mailbox.
- Mail Delivery Agent (MDA): This component is responsible for retrieving mail from the mail transfer agent and making sure it arrives in the correct mailbox.
- Webmail: As well as installing a mail server to Outlook or Mac Mail, Webmail allows a user to access their mail via a browser. This functionality requires an entire web server like Nginx or Apache.
- IMAP and/or POP3: Protocols used for mail retrieval. Either one of these must be set up for a mail server to function.
- AntiVirus: A key component, AntiVirus is used to detect and neutralize malware, viruses, and other threats that may arise in both incoming and outgoing mail.
- Spam Filter: Finally, the SpamFilter is used to prevent spam or junk mail from arriving in and being sent from a customer’s mail account.
All of these components must be configured individually to work together in unison. There are a lot of moving parts that need to be tended to making mail servers difficult to set up and manage.
Beyond the installation, set up and configuration of the mail server, the maintenance of it is also an ongoing challenge. From constantly monitoring the spam filter and antivirus rules to making sure each of the mail server components is up to date, offering a mail service is a full-time profession on its own.
2. A mail server is often prone to abuse
It is easy for a customer’s receiving end to abuse a mail server, and for the Divi Space Hosting team, this can be difficult to avoid.
3. Blacklisting is a constant threat
Sometimes, a mail server can find itself blacklisted. If this happens, at any point in time, one of our Divi Space Hosting customers will be left without a working mail service, which could be totally detrimental to their business.
It is possible to have the blacklisting removed. As the mail server, we’re given a chance to prove we’re not a spammer and resolve the issue. Getting a mail server unlisted is a lengthy process, and will result in downtime for our customers. Too long a time away from a mailbox could cost the business missed opportunities, missed sales, missed customer queries and more.
Our Email Recommendations
Even though we don’t offer mail services, we’ve made it easy to use your favorite email provider with Divi Space Hosting. If you’re wondering how to set up an email account to accompany your website, some of the most popular options for independent email services include Google Workspace and Zoho Mail.
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail is a safe and reliable email service provider that puts security and privacy at the forefront of its operations. The mail feature itself comes with several complex functions like filters, rules and advanced search. You can create signatures, set out-of-office notices and more. As well as integrating with the Zoho CRM, there are also a number of productivity and processing apps that Zoho Mail integrates with including calendar app, task manager, notes app and more. If you’re an automation wiz, Zoho Mail integrates with Zapier too.
With Zoho Mail, you can get a custom domain-based email address for yourself and any employee in your organization, starting as low as $1.00 per month. If your emails are already set up with another provider, there’s a great migration tool that’ll help you transfer emails from your old provider to Zoho Mail.
Zoho Mail also has a great email app for mobile, so you can take your emails everywhere you go.
Google Workspace
Google Workspace is cost-effective and a very popular option. When you join Google Workspace, you can set up a Gmail account for business and run your emails through their servers. Not only do you get to start using Gmail for business, but you also get access to their other apps and tools for building your business. From using Google Drive for storage of your files to using Google Calendar to plan your day and schedule your meetings, you’ll also get access to Docs, Sheets, Slides for general work task processing, as well as plenty of other services.
Creating a Google Workplace account and configuring the Google mail servers settings takes mere minutes. After pointing the DNS to your domain (a few seconds to complete), you’ll have a website and email service up and running, with extra business tools at your disposal.
Ending Thoughts
Email built into your hosting may be convenient, but it is not the safest or best option for your business. As we’ve illustrated above, creating a mail service is no easy task and we wouldn’t want to be responsible for any downtime to our clients’ businesses.
Our goal with Divi Space Hosting is to make sure our clients get the best hosting for their WordPress and Divi websites. Zoho Mail and Google Workplace are great options for email or we’ve made it easy to connect your favorite email hosting solution.
We want to hear from you!
Where do you host your emails for your business? Have you used Zoho Mail before? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
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