Everything you should know to create a business Gmail account

Are you a business manager, looking for the perfect email service? Then Gmail for business should definitely top your list. And while Gmail is a commonly used app for personal and corporate correspondence, many people don’t realize the full extent of it’s business functionalities.

For starters, just like having a business website, a business email makes customers perceive you as a serious and trustworthy company. It allows you to make all your communications from a single, customized domain email address.

Compared to its major competitors, Outlook, Gmail is much more affordable, making it ideal for small and medium sized businesses. Moreover, Gmail offers a user-friendly interface, better customer support and more helpful apps compared to its other counterparts.

Finally, Gmail is simple, light and powerful. You log in through your browser or mobile app and access all your emails directly from the cloud.

Creating a business Gmail account vs. free Gmail account

Free Gmail, also known as Google accounts give you access to basic Google services. They also offer minimal online storage. You may also set it up as a free business email account with minimal tools and features.

The biggest difference between the two is the email domain. A business Gmail account requires you to have a domain address where all communications are directed, which is not the case with free Gmail.

On the other hand, Gmail for business provides higher storage limits and a ton of advanced features.

Other benefits include:

Business Gmail account can be centrally managed

The other primary difference between free Gmail and Google Workspace is based on resource ownership. Google Workspace account resources are owned by the business. It has the highest control over what goes in and around the accounts through the admin console.

All data in the Google Workspace is stored in the cloud and can be centrally managed by the admin. The admin decides who can access the accounts or who cannot. If a staff member leaves the company, their access rights are shifted to their replacement and they won’t be able to access the account from outside the company.

Contrarily, free Gmail accounts are owned by the individual users. This makes them an unsuitable option for businesses because they cannot manage or control the mailboxes of each individual employee. If a worker ceases working in the company, they leave with the information in their personal accounts which can be a great risk to the company. If the individual user decides to change the login details, the company will no longer be able to access the account.

The design differs

Free Gmail and business Gmail accounts differ from the design perspective. While the two have nearly similar functions, the free version is designed with individual users in mind while Google Workspace leans more towards business and team collaboration features.

Therefore, you don’t expect to find team management features in free Gmail. Similarly, file sharing with these accounts is limited. If you wish to share a file to multiple users, you have to set the file access rights for the recipients, one by one, which can be such an inconvenience for companies.

Suppose you have a team of ten people. You must enter every member’s email address on the recipient box before sending the email.

Benefits of creating a business Gmail account

Gmail account for business is an app from Google Workspace and aims to take your emailing, team communication, collaboration, document creation and scheduling to the next level. At this point, you are aware that using personal email for business is not the best way to keep your customers hooked. It’s best to create a business Gmail account to enjoy its unlimited benefits and efficiency.

The main features to expect from Google workspace include;

Communication tools

Google Workspace applications have a ton of features to help your team act and respond in real time, and share messages to ensure everyone is on the same page. And depending on your preferred  subscription package, the email address gives you a chance to store messages and data for up to terabytes.

Google calendar is another essential communication tool from a business account. The tool helps with services scheduling and time management and lets users share schedules with their teammates. The fact that it is cloud based makes everything better. Users can highlight important dates and share them with others at the company.

The hangout feature makes things easier  and more convenient. The business Gmail account has a messaging and video chat tool that lets up to ten users join in. It’s simple and quick to hold a conference remotely.

Collaboration tools

Gmail for business integrates cloud computing to revolutionize team collaboration. It streamlines the documents creating, editing, viewing and sharing processes with it’s plethora of user-friendly templates. It facilitates real-time changes on documents and automated saving, and this minimizes chances of data loss.

Google Workspace also features Docs. It lets you edit, disseminate and alter documents fast without the fear of losing data or files. You can also share the documents in either the view only or edit mode depending on whether you want the recipient to modify the content.

Google Sheets is another collaboration tool from Google. This tool is not only easy to use but also has a robust spreadsheets service that allows you to create graphs, charts and tables to simplify the spreadsheet content.

Storage

Gmail for business lets users create, edit and renew files right from the Workspace. You may either use drive or cloud storage solutions. Drive allows you to store an array of file types, including word docs, excel spreadsheets, music, audio, slides and adobe video to mention a few.

Check out this Google drive definitive guide for more info on the same.

Create a business Gmail account: Step by Step

If you are wondering how to create a business Gmail account, check out this step by step guide.

1. Visit Google Workspace
2. Fill in the requested information
3. Connect your domain

Visit Google Workspace

The first requirement for creating a business Gmail account is to create a Google Workspace or G Suite account. You should visit the Google Workspace website to get started.

At this point, you will have access to the google workspace setup wizard.

Fill in the requested information

Click on get started to launch the page. You will be required to fill in some basic information about your business account.

For instance, how many employees will be using the business Gmail account, or is it just you? You will be required to enter information for your admin account. But if you already have an email set up through your host, you should use that email address to save.

Connect your domain

You should also indicate if your business has a domain name.

If you already have a site that you wish to use with Google Workspace, then the answer to this section is that you have a domain name you can use, then enter the name in the required area, before clicking next to continue. And if you don’t have, it will help to come up with a domain name first before getting started. Click this link for a comprehensive guide on how to create a Google Workspace account before getting started with your Google business email set up.

First steps after you create a business Gmail account

Now that you have already set up a Google Workspace and added the people you wish to add to the workspace, it is time to set up a Gmail business account. It is a few steps process as follows;

1. Verify your domain name
2. Create an account
3. Migrate emails from another account
4. Create aliases
5. Create another account for team member
6. Get extensions

Verify your domain name

Remember that you already filled your domain name during the Google Workspace set up. You will be required to verify the ownership of that domain name by adding a TXT record.

To verify that the domain belongs to you, Google detects where the domain is hosted and then gives you a go-ahead or instructions through the verification process.

If Google instructions are not enough, you can use cPanel especially if you use an on-budget web host for easier verification.

Create an Account

The next step is to create your email address. This step is much similar to creating a personal account as you only need to select an email address and secure password that you will remember. Note that the email address you choose will also be your Google username that you will use across different Google Workspace services.

Don’t rush to choose an email address without considering if you and everyone in the team can remember it. You may choose to use your first name, last name or a combination then your domain.com. Whichever way you choose to follow, ensure you are consistent across your enterprise.

Again, be careful when selecting a password. Choose one that you can remember, without compromising security. Your business account carries a lot of valuable information and you cannot afford to use an easy-to-guess password. Use digits and special symbols to add to the security of the password.

You will also need to pay for a Workspace license to open an account. However, Gmail gives a 14-days free trial period which allows you to try out the interface and tools before paying for subscription. If you decide that you don’t want to go on with your subscription before the trial period ends, you can simply cancel your license at no extra charge.

While at this, check the available business Google business email pricing and then pay for the plan that fits in your budget and suits your business needs.

Migrate emails from another account

Although this step is optional, it is advisable to move the existing emails and contacts into Gmail. Go to admin.google.com, and then click on Apps. Head to the Setup menu and navigate to the User email uploads box then click save.

Return to Gmail, navigate to settings and launch the import process to migrate the emails and contacts. The process is essential for accessibility.

Create aliases

Did you know that you can get extra addresses for your Gmail account? You only need to create aliases or nicknames to your email addresses. With this, any email sent to the alias will also be delivered to you.

The trick helps you save money as you don’t have to pay for another Google Workspace for each email address you wish to create. To open an alias, go to your Google Workspace admin panel and sign in using your admin account. Then click the Users icon and choose the email username that you wish to create aliases.

Navigate to the User Information panel, then go to Add an alias and click. You can create up to 30 aliases per user.

Go back to your Gmail site, navigate to Settings, select Accounts and then click on Add another email address on your own. Type your nickname, verify the code and you are good to go.

Create another account for team member

If you want, you can create business Gmail accounts for your employees. You can simply add new users by going to Google Domains, then choose Email and click on Add New.

Get extensions

Among the features that make Gmail for business accounts more powerful than the free email is the extensive list of add-ons and extensions. The best part is that they come at no extra cost.

You have a range to choose from including video conferencing tools, Grammarly, Boomerang, you name them. The best ones depend on your niche and the kind of content you wish to share.

Take away

Gmail for business is a booming email hosting platform that suits businesses of all sizes. The platform offers companies with professional email with unlimited storage and complete access to collaboration tools.

Now that you know how to create a business Gmail account, you can add on its efficiency with third party tools like Drag to boost time management, communication and collaboration with its amazing features and Chrome extension.

Sign up today to enjoy the unmatched benefit of Drag and how Good Drop Wine Cellars was able to meet more deadlines with this amazing collaborative tool.