Set up professional email with your domain

Overview

Professional email (you@yourdomain.com) builds trust with clients and partners. This guide covers creating accounts, configuring email clients, and setting up authentication records.

Step 1: Create email accounts in cPanel

1. Log in to cPanel
2. Go to Email → Email Accounts
3. Click Create
4. Fill in:

• Username: info, contact, admin, etc.
• Domain: yourdomain.com
• Password: Use a strong password
• Storage: Set quota (1 GB minimum recommended)

1. Click Create Account

Repeat for each email address you need.

Step 2: Configure SPF record

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) tells receiving servers which IPs can send email for your domain:

1. In cPanel, go to Domains → Zone Editor
2. Find or create a TXT record:

Or if using cPanel's default:

v=spf1 +a +mx include:_spf.baires.host ~all

Step 3: Configure DKIM

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to your emails:

1. In cPanel, go to Email → Email Deliverability
2. Click Manage next to your domain
3. If DKIM is not set up, click Install the suggested record
4. cPanel will automatically generate and install the DKIM key

Verify it's working:

dig TXT default._domainkey.yourdomain.com +short

Step 4: Configure DMARC

DMARC ties SPF and DKIM together and tells receivers what to do with failed messages:

1. In Zone Editor, add a TXT record:

DMARC policies:

• p=none - Monitor only (start here)
• p=quarantine - Send failures to spam
• p=reject - Reject failed messages entirely

Step 5: Configure email clients

Connection settings

Outlook configuration

1. Go to File → Add Account
2. Enter your email address
3. Select Advanced options → Let me set up my account manually
4. Choose IMAP
5. Enter the server settings from the table above
6. Enter your full email as username and your password

Gmail (read external email)

1. In Gmail, go to Settings → Accounts and Import
2. Under Check mail from other accounts, click Add a mail account
3. Enter your professional email address
4. Select Import emails from my other account (POP3)
5. Enter POP3 settings from the table above
6. Optionally set up "Send mail as" with SMTP settings

Mobile (iOS/Android)

1. Go to Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add Account
2. Select Other (not Gmail/Outlook)
3. Enter name, email, password
4. Configure IMAP incoming and SMTP outgoing with settings above

Step 6: Test email deliverability

After configuration, test your setup:

1. Send a test email to a Gmail address
2. Check the email headers (Show Original in Gmail)
3. Verify SPF: PASS
4. Verify DKIM: PASS
5. Verify DMARC: PASS

You can also use online tools like mail-tester.com to get a deliverability score.

Best practices

• Use strong, unique passwords for each email account
• Enable 2FA on your cPanel account
• Set up email forwarding for catch-all addresses
• Monitor your email queue in cPanel → Email → Track Delivery
• Keep SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records updated if you add third-party senders