Why Choose Workspace (Gsuite) as your Email Provider
A surprisingly complex topic that comes up over and over again with my web design clients is email. How do I create a domain-based email or should I just use gmail? Can I get a free email? How many email accounts can I have? What should my email address be?
Now, I am not an email expert. I have no desire to be an email expert. It is a messy world out there – lots of different platforms and options and sometimes complicated tech issues around getting those emails to function in the way that you need them to, in whatever platform you use to check your email.
My top recommendation for emails as a holistic business owner? Google Workspace (Gsuite).
What you need to know:
First, it is important to recognize is that Google Workspace is a paid email solution. You have to be willing to invest a small amount each month. We all depend on email, right? It’s how clients reach out to us. It’s how we are able to reach out to them, both with personalized emails and automated emails or newsletters. It allows us to answer questions, collaborate, and connect with current, past, and future clients. We can even use our email signature to further market our services and connect people to our social media.
Why Choose Gsuite?
It took me a long time to say yes to Gsuite. Mostly because I just didn’t feel like dealing with transferring all my inbox over and I was worried about losing things. What I did was instead was a free domain-based email with my hosting account on websavers. And I set that up as POP3 within my personal Gmail so that all of my business emails could run through it as well. And any time an email came in, I had to choose which account I was going to send or reply from. Frankly, it got messy, and sometimes personal or business emails simply got missed because there were so many different accounts running out of the same place.
Ultimately, I chose G suite because I think it is truly the best email provider available right now for business owners. It comes with all sorts of other features, such as enhanced Google drive storage specific to your business, Google docs, Google sheets, and of course paid support for your email through using their chat tool or phone lines. There is also a business starter version I do recommend using the Business Standard version. That way, along with email, you get a bunch of different features that help support your practice.
So why not just use a free email provider?
Yes, you could have a free domain-based email through your WebHost. Here a couple of good reasons you should consider a paid account through Gsuite.
First, to be clear I love my host Websavers. However, just like any other hosts, there are key issues with hosting your email there. It’s not a question of which host you use. It’s simply the nature of hosting email in the same place as you have your website. Basically, if something goes wrong with your hosting such as a tech issue or routine maintenance or a natural disaster impacts their servers, your email goes down along with your website. That means the only way you have to communicate with clients is now through social media until everything is working again. With Gsuite, if your website goes down temporarily, your email will keep on working.
As well, your site is most likely on a shared server – that means there are lots of different websites that live on the same server as our website. If someone else on your server should be identified as a spammer, for example, that IP address could be blacklisted for spam and it could impact your email as well making it more likely for you to end up in the spam filter instead of their inbox. With Gsuite, you get authenticated outbound emails which can help improve the rating that your email has from other email providers. So when your clients are receiving emails from you they come with an extra layer of authentication and validity.
What your GoogleWorkspace email plan includes:
The basic GoogleWorkspace plan at $6/month allows you to have email addresses using your business domain names. So for example, if you’re a business, and your domain name is https://thebestchiropractor.com, your email address could be hello@thebestchiropractor.com or info@ or alignment@, etc… Essentially Gmail is able to connect with your registered domain name to create as many specific email addresses using that name as you need. And yes, they can all come into the same inbox so you don’t get overwhelmed!
The basic account also comes with Google calendar, which lets you keep your business life fully tracked. You can also integrate it with other account personal calendars so that you can see them all reflected in the same place. The basic plans also come with a decent amount of storage within Google Drive. Plus you have access to google hangouts, google forms, slides, etc…
If you’ve been running your business for a while now, you likely have already realized how many different tools & support elements are needed to keep everything running smoothly – and to keep your life a bit simpler. Ok, that seems a bit odd to say – more tools to make my business admin simpler? Yep. The more automation, the better. The more integration, the better. Each element makes a big difference when you put them all together.
There is also a Business Standard account at $12 / month. You get 2TB of google drive storage rather than 30GB, and the ability to save recorded Google Hangout meetings to your drive storage. Most of my clients do just fine with a basic account.
Now you may be thinking, “But I already have a gmail. Why do I need a, like a business Google account as well? Isn’t that just going to make my life more complicated by having two different inboxes?” Well, they actually have it set up so that you can flip between the two accounts really easily – that way you don’t have to log in and out over and over again.
Ready to make the change to G suite?
Google Workspace does offer a free 14-day trial for you to explore what it offers.
HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
Hi there, I’m Sarah Juliusson, and yes I really am a Website Doula. I support your practice growth with creative website design, seasoned business guidance, and plenty of great resources to help you find your way. With 12 years in web design, and another 20+ years as a health & wellness pro, I believe in the value of your work as much as you do. Explore your options for a custom website today.