When purchasing a domain name directly through a web hosting provider, it is simple to get free email along with that domain name. If, at any point, you have a domain name you have purchased and wish to transfer it to a web hosting provider, it is usually only a matter of time before you can receive free email as a feature of your new web hosting account with that provider.

Choosing a Web Hosting Provider

Sites such as Web Hosting Geeks offer concise reviews of web hosting providers that are based on several criteria, including email features. It is now commonplace for web hosting providers to offer free email with their web hosting packages, but different services may offer you different options regarding that email. For instance, some providers may limit the number of addresses you can have, or the amount of mail you can store in your mailbox on their servers. If you have some idea of what your needs will be regarding number of email addresses and amount of storage space, you may want to use those as criteria for choosing a web hosting provider.

Transferring a Domain

If you already have a domain name, you may not wish to purchase a new one through the company you have selected to be your web hosting provider. Most web hosting companies have transfer packages available, so that you can transfer your existing domain to that hosting provider as seamlessly as possible. This transfer does include any applicable email addresses you may have set up with your previous web host. When you transfer your domain from one host to another, domain nameservers (DNS) are redirected. This is the information that tells the browsers of people looking at your website where to retrieve the data that makes up your website. Effectively, this is your true address on the Internet. The same is true of any applicable email addresses attached to that domain name. Tiger Technologies, a web hosting provider, advises that if you are transferring your domain from one web host to another to leave your hosting service active with the old host until you are certain that everything is set up correctly with the new host. That way, you can ensure you will not miss important email that ends up stored on the servers of your old web host.

Setting Up Your Email

Each web hosting provider has different procedures regarding how you go about setting up your new email account with them. Most offer some sort of web-based email service, where you can log in and read your mail on their servers from anywhere that you have an email connection. Most also offer support for email readers such as Thunderbird, Outlook and Apple's Mail so that they can access your email and pull it from your web host's servers. Whichever web hosting provider you choose will have detailed documentation available on its website that will tell you how to configure your email reader of choice to work with their email servers.

Source:

Tiger Technologies: Transferring to Tiger Technologies

Dreamhost: Web Hosting

More Information:

Web Hosting Geeks: Web Hosting Reviews