The Google Apps has now become very popular for many businesses and bloggers. This service from Google providing independently customizable versions of several Google products under a custom domain name. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites and Gmail is one of them.
You can send and receive email from your own mapped domain using Google Apps. With just a few clicks, you can configure your DNS records to use this service to provide your email. A free Google apps account includes several gigabytes of space and the ability to set up multiple mailboxes.
This means you can have your own blog and email addresses on your own domain.
To set this up:
Map a top-level domain (e.g. example.com) you already own (not a subdomain, such as blog.example.com), or register a new one.
Go to Google Apps site and sign up.
You can choose the plan that fits your email needs best. There is also a free plan which allows you to create upto 50 email addresses.
Google Apps (Free) – up to 50 email addresses
On the next page after clicking a signup link or button, enter your domain name that you already own and have mapped to your own parked domain.
Enter domain
Fill out the signup form with your information. Do not enter the email address you’re trying to set up with your custom domain. The “Email address” here has to be a valid address you can currently receive email with.
On the next page, create a username and password for the domain’s administrator account on Google Apps.
Once the account is set up, you will receive an email from Google and you’ll be taken to a login page for your new Google Apps account. Login with the information you just set up.
When Google asks you to verify domain ownership, you can choose to use a DNS record and select “Other” from the Instructions pull-down menu. You’ll be provided with a TXT record that starts with “google-site-verification.” Copy this code, and keep this window open.
On your hosting site dashboard, find your mapped domain, and click Edit DNS.
In the large text area, enter TXT, followed by a space, then the record provided by Google in step 7 as seen in the screenshot below. Click Save DNS records.
Return to your Google Apps control panel and select the “Active” link under Email.
You’ll see a list of MX Server addresses. Return to the Edit DNS screen from step 9 and enter MX, followed by a space, followed by the priority number, followed by the MX Server address as seen in the screenshot below. Click Save DNS records.
Go back to your Google Apps control panel (where you copied the verification code at the above), make sure you have selected the DNS record option, and click the Verify button to complete the verification process. You will see a message like this:
You’re done! As the message suggests, it can take up to 48 hours for all the DNS changes to filter through the Internet. Don’t panic if it doesn’t work right away.
You can now set up your email accounts in the Google Apps control panel.
By default, your can access your webmail at http://mail.google.com/a/example.com (the last part is your actual custom domain) to send and receive all email with your domain.
Your inbox will be protected by Google’s excellent spam filters. You can access your mail using the Gmail web interface for your domain, forward it to another mailbox, set up POP, IMAP, and SMTP access, or even use smart filters to manage your mailbox.
See my email UI integrated with the Google apps:
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