Two quotes land in a customer's inbox. One is from [email protected], the other from [email protected]. The second one gets the job more often, and it costs less than a lunch a month. Here is how to set it up.

Step 1 — Register the domain

A .lk domain is registered through the official registry (domains.lk, run by LK Domain Registry) — about Rs. 4,000–7,000 per year depending on the type. A .com costs around USD 10–15 a year from any registrar (Namecheap, Cloudflare). If your business is local, .lk signals that instantly; if you work with foreign clients, .com is the safer choice. Register the domain in your name, with your email as the contact — not the web designer's.

Step 2 — Choose where the email lives

Option A — Google Workspace (the easy one)

Gmail's interface, your domain. About USD 7 per user per month on the Starter plan. You get 30 GB, Google Drive, Meet, and shared calendars. For a business of 1–10 people this is what I recommend nine times out of ten: it just works, and it is what your staff already know.

Option B — Zoho Mail (the cheap one)

Zoho's free plan gives up to five users with 5 GB each and your own domain; paid plans start around USD 1 per user. Less polished than Gmail, but perfectly good, and free is free.

Option C — Email from your web hosting (the free-but-risky one)

Most hosting packages include email at your domain for no extra cost. It works, but shared hosting servers often end up on spam blacklists because of other customers, and there is rarely a good spam filter. Fine for a start; move to A or B once email matters to you.

Step 3 — The DNS records that keep you out of spam

Whichever you choose, the provider gives you a few records to add at your domain registrar. Do not skip these — without them, your mail lands in Junk:

  • MX — tells the world where your mail is delivered
  • SPF — says which servers may send mail as your domain
  • DKIM — signs your mail so it cannot be forged
  • DMARC — tells receivers what to do with mail that fails the above

The provider's setup wizard walks you through them; it takes ten minutes and then you test by emailing a Gmail address and checking the message does not say "unverified".

Step 4 — Addresses that make sense

Keep it simple: firstname@ for people, plus hello@ or info@ for the public and accounts@ for invoices. Set info@ to forward to whoever actually reads it. Add a signature with your name, role, phone and website — the same on every device.

Step 5 — Move without losing the old inbox

Keep the Gmail address alive for a year with an auto-reply: "This address has moved — please use [email protected]." Google Workspace can import the old Gmail's mail and contacts in one click, so nothing is lost.

The mistake that costs businesses their domain

Every year I meet a business whose domain — and therefore email and website — expired because the person who registered it left, or the renewal notice went to an old address. Put the renewal on auto-pay, put a reminder in your own calendar, and make sure the registrar account is yours.

Want the domain, email, and a proper website set up together and handed over with everything in your name? That is a standard part of my web development service.