Despite being easy to use, Gmail — Google’s email service — is not always intuitive to set up. The steps for creating a business email for your company are relatively straightforward. But what if you have an existing personal Gmail account that you wish to connect to your business account? Here are the steps for bringing all your emails into one business Gmail inbox.
[Read more: Grow with Google: How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Organized to Grow Their Business]
Step 1: Get started with Google Workspace
Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is a full slate of products from Google designed to help your business collaborate and communicate. Google Workspace includes products such as Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and, most importantly, Gmail.
If you’re new to Google Workspace, you can try it free for 14 days. Personal and professional users who don’t need a custom domain can use it for free indefinitely.
However, if you want to use a custom email or any of the platform's more advanced features, pricing starts at $6 per month per user. The most expensive tier, Business Plus, is $18 per user per month. For businesses with more than 300 employees, you’ll need to contact sales to learn more about Google Workspace for enterprises.
When you select Get Started on your pricing tier of choice, Google Workspace will lead you through the sign-up process. Fill in your basic information, including your company name, how many employees you have, and your desired email address.
[Read more: 5 Productivity Apps That Will Keep You Organized]
Step 2: Add your domain name
Next, Google Workspace will ask if you want to own a domain name. If you already have a website, then you will want your email domain to match the website domain. For instance, if your website is www.yourbusiness.com, then you will likely want your email domain to be @yourbusiness.com.
If you don’t have a domain yet, choose the option, "No, I need one." Google Workspace will lead you through the process of setting up your domain or connecting your domain to your new Google Workspace account. During this step:
- If you do not have a domain name, you will need to register your choice with Google Domains (a Google Workspace product).
- If you do have a domain name, enter it when prompted. Google will walk you through the process of verifying your domain using your MX (mail exchange) records from your host, e.g., GoDaddy, Enom, Ionos, DreamHost, or another domain registrar.
Once you’ve selected or connected your domain, it’s time to register your email.
Step 3: Create your email address
Next, choose an email address. This address will also be your Google username that is used across your Google Workspace apps and services.
Establish a naming convention that you will use consistently across your business. For instance, you could choose your first name and last initial, or you could choose your first name and full last name @yourcompany.com. Whichever combination you select, make it easy to understand and memorable for customers who want to get in touch.
Step 4: Pay for Google Workspace, and open your account
Now, you can either select your free 14-day trial or share your payment information with Google to get started. Once you’ve completed the check-out process, you can begin to migrate information from your personal account to your business account.
If you’re new to Google Workspace, you can try it free for 14 days. Personal and professional users who don’t need a custom domain can use it for free indefinitely.
Step 5: Connect your personal account
You can skip the steps below if you’ve never had a Gmail account. But if you have a personal account with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail (e.g., yourname@gmail.com), or another webmail provider, here’s how to migrate your data to Google Workspace.
First, set up your old email address to start forwarding mail to your new Google Workspace business inbox. Here are the instructions for setting up automatic forwarding:
- Open Gmail using the account from which you want to forward messages. You can only forward messages for a single Gmail address, not an email group or alias.
- In the top right, click Settings, then See all settings.
- Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
- In the Forwarding section, click Add a forwarding address.
- Enter the email address you want to forward messages to.
- Click Next, Proceed, OK.
- A verification message will be sent to that address. Click the verification link in that message.
- Go back to the settings page for the Gmail account from which you want to forward messages and refresh your browser.
- Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
- In the Forwarding section, select Forward a copy of incoming mail to.
- Choose what you want to happen with the Gmail copy of your emails. Google recommends Keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox.
- At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.
Google offers a data migration service to migrate your email from your Gmail inbox to your business inbox. Not only can this service move your emails, but it can also carry over your contacts and calendar. Note that there’s a separate process for migrating information from Microsoft Outlook, but like the data migration service, it’s relatively easy to follow the prompts.
How to manage multiple inboxes efficiently
Some people have multiple email accounts for different clients or for security and privacy reasons. Managing email traffic to and from multiple email addresses can quickly get complicated.
The simplest solution is to create one inbox for all your email addresses.
“You can choose one account that will be the primary and set up all emails to be forwarded here from different accounts (they don't have to be from the same provider),” reported Mailbird. “This also means you can use the primary account to send emails from different addresses (you can choose which email to send from when composing a new email).”
The drawback of this solution is that you will still need to pay careful attention to make sure you select the right address when sending messages from different email accounts. You will also have to be vigilant about managing your inbox if your account has limited storage.
Some professionals use a desktop client that supports multiple email addresses. Tools like Thunderbird or eM Client combine multiple email accounts into one view. Other tools, such as Trimbox or Clean Email, can help keep your emails organized and sorted based on priority, client, or operational role.
It’s also worth exploring the native organizational tools available in Gmail, such as filters and labels.
“Most email clients offer a filtering or rules feature that allows you to automate the labeling process,” wrote Hiver. “Create Gmail filters or rules that match specific criteria you’ve defined and then apply the corresponding label or move the email to the appropriate folder.”
Security best practices for business Gmail
Google offers a security checklist for small businesses that’s worth completing. It includes best practices such as maintaining secure passwords, setting up two-factor authentication, and implementing Gmail’s advanced phishing prevention tools.
Many people don’t realize that using Gmail to log into external websites can increase risk.
“[When] employees utilize their corporate Google accounts to log into external services, they grant the app the same level of access as they have, often without even knowing that. For instance, an application might request write access to the user’s Google Drive, which from a business perspective, poses a significant risk,” wrote the experts at UnderDefense Cybersecurity.
Google has a more advanced checklist for medium and large enterprises. If your company works in a tightly regulated industry, this checklist offers additional steps to secure your business Gmail.
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