There are several benefits to having your own domain email address. The main reason for anyone who uses the web to sell services or any kind of product is simple: it looks more professional. And yet many freelancers and business owners still use free email providers as their main contact details, even if they have their own website. These can range from the businesslike (yourname@gmail.com) to the downright ridiculous (hotchick05@hotmail.com.) Your email address can say more about you than you might imagine, just like your real-world address. It affects how people see you, your business, and the level of quality that they can expect from your work or product. If you were selling something face to face, you wouldn't admit to a potential client that you were homeless unless you were selling empties. But having a free email account is the online equivalent of homelessness.

There are a plethora of free email providers, but the King is Gmail. With available storage that is far beyond anything that the vast majority of users could ever need, (this is also the reason that they can offer this amount of storage - most people won't use it) a free Gmail account comes with over 7 GB (and climbing) of space. The service is reliable and highly functional, and Google Labs provide increasing extensions. Gmail's praises have been sung at length elsewhere.

So it would seem that a second-level domain owner is stuck with two choices: either forfeit the massive functionality of Gmail in favour of the increased professionalism of a personal domain email address, or use Gmail and be technologically homeless. Every domain you can buy comes with email addresses, but these are generally only accessible via POP, or a clunky, buggy, non-intuitive webmail interface. This is fine if you aren't really looking to get the most out of your email, but with any kind of volume this can start to seriously affect your productivity.

Fortunately, there is a third option that combines the best of both worlds: Google Apps For Your Domain. It takes a small level of savvy to set up, but is easily do-able if you can follow instructions. Not only does this mean you have all the functionality of Gmail with the benefit of a yourdomain address, but it also allows you to use a couple of Google's other most helpful apps: Calendar and Docs. You can also set up Sites, although for anyone who has their own domain and hosting this isn't likely to be a priority. NB: Setting this up does not mean that Google will become your webhost, just your email provider. Here's how to set it up:

1. Go to the Google Apps - Compare Editions page. Click Get Started under the Standard Edition (there is also a Premier edition with more space etc which costs a fee.
2. Select Administrator and enter your domain name. Click Get Started.
3. Enter your information. Click Continue
4. Enter your desired email address (username) and a password. Click I Accept.
5. Click Verify domain ownership.
6. You have a choice of two ways you can verify that you own the domain in question. By far the easiest is the html file method. Select this from the dropdown. Create a HTML file in your favourite text editor called googlehostedservice.html and copy the text specified into it. Save the file and upload it to your root html directory. Click Verify. You are returned to the Dashboard and a message says that it may tale up to 48 hours to complete. Chances are that it will actually happen almost instantaneously.
7. You're nearly there. The last part is the hardest. You need to alter the MX records in your domain name control panel. Sign into your domain control panel and go to the MX record page. This could be in DNS management, Mail Server configuration or Name Server management. (The Google Apps Help page gives specific instructions for different Web Hosts if you need them.) Change the mail server listed to aspmx.l.google.com and save your changes. Set any TTL values to 1 hour (3600). The help page also lists other mail servers you should use if you can assign priorities. Save your settings.
   
8. Go to the Google Apps Dashboard and click Activate email. Scroll to the bottom of the next page and click 'I have completed these steps'.
9. You're done! It might take a while for the changes you've made to filter through, but most likely it will work instantaneously. You can go to http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com to access your email.
10. You can set up further email accounts, customise settings, and brand the email service that you and your users see in the Dashboard.

So that's it. It isn't a long process, but it can be a confusing one. It's well worth it though. Of course, you can still access your email with your client of choice on your computer using the regular gmail settings for pop or imap, but simply using your email address (you@yourdomain.com) as the user name. If you're feeling particularly bothered, you can also change settings so that mail.yourdomain.com points to your gmail sign in.