Own Your Own Email Address

At least once a week I receive an email from someone on the net telling me that they have changed their email address.

Sometimes their ISP has been bought. Sometimes they moved. Sometimes they found a better deal.

When the write me about that, I would write them back to tell them that there is a way that they can have their "own" email address that they can take with them wherever they go.

Since I was writing about this so much, I decided to make a web page to explain it to everyone.

Domain Names

Most people know that you can have your own domain name. For example, this website uses the domain name JamesSHuggins.com.

But many people have some misconceptions about domain names. There are three big misconceptions:

1. Domain names are expensive;
    
2. You have to use your domain name on a website for it to work; and
    
3. Registering a domain name is complicated

Domain Names Are Not Expensive

Domain names are not expensive. You can own your own domain name for  less than 3 cents per day, for less than 75 cents per month, for less than $9.00 per year.

NameCheap (www.NameCheap.com) will register your domain name for $8.88 per year (as of 15.Jan.2002).

You Do Not Need a Website

You do not need to have a website to have a domain name. If you register with most registrars today (and NameCheap is a good example) they will "park" your domain name at their system. If someone tries to go to your domain name on the web, it will just pop up a page on their system saying that the domain name is reserved.

So, you ask, why have a domain name if you do not have a website?

Two reasons:

1. You might want to register the domain name now because you think you would like to use it someday and you don't want someone else to register it, and
    
2. You can use it for your email even if you don't have a website.

Registrars like NameCheap provide free email forwarding.

Email Forwarding

Suppose that your name is Gaspar Aluzo. And suppose that you are currently using Home.net as your ISP and your email address is GAluzo@Home.net.

You are going to switch over to Earthlink and your new email address will be GAluzo@Earthlink.net.

You are tired of always changing email addresses.

So, you go to NameCheap (or someone like them) and register your own domain name: GasparAluzo.com.

Then you tell NameCheap (or whoever you used) to forward all mail that is addressed to GAluzo@GasparAluzo.com over to GAluzo@Earthlink.net.

Voila. You have your own independent email address.

Now, in 6 months when AT&T calls you with a great internet deal and you want to change ISPs and your "real" address becomes GALuzo@ATT.net, no one needs to know. You just go to NameCheap (or whoever you used) and tell it to forward your mail addressed to GAluzo@GasparAluzo.com over to GAluzo@ATT.net. No one even needs to know that you changed ISPs.

Using Your Domain Name

Depending on the day, the weather and the mood of the gods, it can take 24-72 hours for your new domain name to propagate across the net to the various Domain Name Servers so that your forwarding address will work.

Be sure to wait until it actually works before beginning to use it.

(In the future, when you need to change it, changes will become effective in minutes or maybe hours. The reason is that changes do not require any propagation of the domain name, only a change to the forwarding address.)

Your Reply Address

In order for this technique of email forwarding to work you also need to change the "reply address" in your email program.

If you are using either Outlook or Outlook Express, I have a page on my site that explains how to change your reply address so that when you send an email it will show your "forwarding" email address instead of your "real" email address.

For example, Gaspar, in our example above, would change his email reply address to show "GAluzo@GasparAluzo.com" instead of "GAluzo@Earthlink.net".

Just click here to open that page in a new window.

Registration Is Not Complicated

Registering a domain name is not complicated.

If you have a MasterCard or Visa, you can register a domain name on the web using one of many registrars in less than 10 minutes.

If you would like to use NameCheap to register your domain name, I have a page on my site that will assist you with the set up. Just click here to open that page in a new window.

Many other domain name registrars provide similar services.

A Note About NameCheap

Note: I use NameCheap for all my domain name registrations. And I use them for my email forwarding and also URL forwarding. I receive no commissions or fees if you use them. I recommend them only because I use them and find their services to be excellent.

Other Related Pages On My Site

Changing Your Email Reply Address: How to change your email reply address in Outlook or Outlook Express to make the best use of email forwarding services. This page provides click by click instructions.  ««»»

Creating Another Email Address:  How to create a second (or third or fourth . . .) email address in Outlook or Outlook Express. This page explains why you might need to and provides click by click instructions.  ««»»

Registration With NameCheap: Because I recommend NameCheap for domain registration, URL forwarding and email forwarding, I was emailing people over and over answering simple questions. I wrote this page to provide a central help point.  ««»»

Last updated:
16:48, Fri, 27.Jun.2008