Zoho Email Custom Domain Setting: Cloudflare DNS Example

Zoho Mail is a robust email hosting service designed primarily for businesses (also catering to individual users) while allowing custom domains to be set up. Its ad-free, user-friendly interface and features tailored for professional and business applications stand out.

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In-depth Look into Zoho Mail Key Offerings ∞

1. Personalized Domain Emails: One of the standout features of Zoho Mail is its ability to provide businesses with custom domain email addresses. This feature allows you to align your email address with your business or website name, enhancing your professional image.

2. Prioritizing User Privacy and Security: Zoho Mail emphasizes privacy and data protection. It employs a range of security protocols, including two-factor authentication, S/MIME certificates, and data encryption, to ensure the safety of user data.

3. Seamless Integration with Zoho Suite: Zoho Mail offers seamless integration with other Zoho apps as part of the Zoho suite of business applications. These include Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, Zoho Docs, and more. This integration capability can significantly enhance productivity and streamline business processes.

4. Collaborative Features: Zoho Mail promotes collaboration by allowing users to share emails and folders with their team members. This feature can prove invaluable for collaborative projects and team communication.

5. Advanced Search and Custom Filters: With its powerful search functionality and customizable filters, Zoho Mail enables users to manage their inboxes efficiently and effectively.

6. Mobile Accessibility: Zoho Mail offers mobile applications for iOS and Android platforms. This provides access to the emails anytime, anywhere.

7. An Ad-Free Experience: Zoho Mail offers an ad-free user experience, unlike some free email services, even in its free tier.

8. Round-the-Clock Technical Support: Zoho provides 24×7 technical support to ensure your email services’ uninterrupted and smooth operation.

Zoho Mail offers a free tier with basic features and several premium plans offering more advanced features and larger storage capacities. The pricing and features can vary, so checking Zoho’s official website for the most recent information is recommended.

Why Use Dedicated Email Hosting and Not Website’s Hosting Integrated Email Service ∞

While website hosting often includes email services as part of the package, opting for a dedicated email hosting service like Zoho Mail can offer several distinct advantages.

Dedicated Email Hosting is Feature-Rich

Dedicated email hosting services are specifically designed to handle email communication, which means they often provide more robust, secure, and feature-rich experiences.

They offer advanced features such as custom domain emails, enhanced security measures, spam filtering, and integration with other business tools. Furthermore, dedicated email hosts typically provide larger storage capacities and better email management tools, such as advanced search and custom filters.

They also ensure your email service remains unaffected if your website server goes down. A dedicated email hosting service can offer a more reliable, efficient, and professional email experience, which can be crucial for businesses.

Website Hosting Migration: Dedicated Email Hosting is a Winner

Another aspect is Website hosting migration. It is a process that involves moving your website from one host to another, often for reasons such as improved performance, better customer service, or more competitive pricing.

However, a common misconception is that migrating your website necessitates moving your email services. This is not the case when you’re using a dedicated email hosting service like Zoho Mail.

Your email services operate independently of your website, meaning they remain unaffected during a website migration. This separation provides a significant advantage, ensuring uninterrupted email communication during migration.

You can change your website host without worrying about transferring email data or experiencing downtime in your email services. This is another compelling reason to consider a dedicated email hosting service.

The Reason We Don’t Use Email Forwarding Only ∞

Of course, there are numerous email forwarding services available. Your domain name registrar should have one (NameSilo does), and Cloudflare has one. Having email forwarding is not enough.

You can set the forwarding from an email address like “[email protected]” to your Gmail account that we created for your site. However, if you want to reply to that email from a user, the reply will be sent from the Gmail account and not from “[email protected].” Hence, we need to register for email hosting providers to be able to send email messages from the “privacy email box.” This means that we also need to add several layers of security as we would for any email service.

How to Set Up Zoho Email with Custom Domain ∞

Let’s begin the guide.

Set Up Zoho Email with Custom Domain: Sign Up with Zoho

Navigate to the Zoho website.
There is a “FEATURED APPS” widget on the right. Click on “Mail”.
On the top panel, click [Pricing].
Under the paid plans, you will see the “15-day free trial for Mail Premium plan”. Under that, on the left will be “Forever Free Plan,” click on [SIGN UP NOW].

Fill in the details with the email you opened for the site, agree to the terms, and click [SIGN UP].
Get the code sent to your email, input it into the verification text box, and click [Verify].
On the “Welcome to Zoho Mail!” page, under “Add an existing domain,” click [Add now].
Fill in all the details on the following form and click [Add Now].
When you see “Congratulations! Your domain ‘domain.com’ added successfully”, click on [Proceed to domain verification].

On the “Domain Verification” page, select [Add a TXT record in the DNS (Recommended)]. This should be the default option.
Leave this window open.

Set Up Zoho Email with Custom Domain: Zoho Email Domain Verification against Cloudflare DNS

Remember that the Cloudflare DNS Records setting is just an example. In every other DNS hosting provider, it will be the same. You need to find where to update the DNS Records.

In the new browser window, log in to the Cloudflare website.
On the left menu bar, click on [Websites].
On the page, click on the button with your domain.
On the left menu bar, click on [DNS]. It will navigate you to the [Records] page.

Click [(+) Add record].
Since it’s a TXT record, we will set [TXT] for “Type.”
You can follow Zoho’s opened page to check what you need in the “Name” field, but it should be a “@” character at the time of writing.
To “Content,” paste the value from the Zoho page from the “TXT Value / Points To / Destination” field.
Comment: Zoho verification.
Click [Save].
Leave the page open.

Return to the Zoho “Domain Verification” page and click [Verify TXT Record].
It will navigate you to the “Account Creation” page.

Creating Accounts on Zoho Email

To continue setting up Zoho email with a custom domain, you must create a Super Administrator Account. This account will manage all the other email accounts. The name can be anything, as we will not use it on the site.
Input the Super Administrator user name, and click [Create].
We need to create two accounts that we will place on the Contacts page for privacy and support.
Now we’re on the “Zoho Mail Users” page.
On the top panel, click [+ Add].

Fill in the details as is:
First Name: Privacy
Username: privacy
Password: <Create Password>
Uncheck, [ ] Force user to change the password on the first login
Click [Add].

On the “User created successfully” page, click [Add More Users].
First Name: Support
Username: support
Password: <Create Password>
Uncheck, [ ] Force user to change password on first login
Click [Add].

On the “User created successfully” page, click [Done].
The password for the Super Administrator account is the same password you signed up with Zoho.
On the “Zoho Mail Users” page, at the bottom, click [Proceed to Setup Groups].
On the “Groups” page, click on [Proceed To DNS Mapping].

DNS Mapping Between Zoho Mail and DNS Hosting Service (Cloudflare)

On “DNS Mapping,” they tell you which records you need to set. Three MX records connect Zoho servers to your domain name, and two TXT records are responsible for your domain name’s security regarding Zoho’s email services. These two TXT records are responsible for SPF and DKIM security protocols. There is a question mark sign under each record, which you can hover on, and it will tell you what it does.

Go back to the Cloudflare DNS Records page.
Remove all the MX records if you have any.

Click [(+) Add record].
Copy all the settings from the first MX record from the Zoho page.
Type: [MX]
Name: @
Mail server: <Paste from Zoho>
Priority: <Paste from Zoho>
Click [Save].

Click [(+) Add record].
Copy all the settings from the second MX record from the Zoho page.
Type: [MX]
Name: @
Mail server: <Paste from Zoho>
Priority: <Paste from Zoho>
Click [Save].

Click [(+) Add record].
Copy all the settings from the third MX record from the Zoho page.
Type: [MX]
Name: @
Mail server: <Paste from Zoho>
Priority: <Paste from Zoho>
Click [Save].

We added three MX records. Now, we’ll add a TXT record for SPF.
Click [(+) Add record].
Copy all the settings from the SPF TXT record from the Zoho page.
Type: [TXT]
Name: @
Content: <Paste from Zoho, Value>
Click [Save].

Now, we’ll add the DKIM TXT record.
Click [(+) Add record].
Copy all the settings from the DKIM TXT record from the Zoho page.
Type: [TXT]
Name: <Paste from Zoho, Host>
Content: <Paste from Zoho, Value>
Click [Save].

Return to the Zoho page and click [Verify All Records].
On the “Data Migration” page, click [Proceed To Go Mobile].

Set Up Zoho Email with Custom Domain: Zoho Mail on Mobile

You can install the Zoho Mail app on your iOS or Android device and receive a notification each time there is an email.

On Android, Install the “Zoho Mail” app from the store.
On the top left corner, click the menu button.
On the new pop-up window in the top right corner, click on the “Settings” icon.
On the “User Accounts” section, click “+ Add Account.”
Your browser will open. Input the email address you want to add: [email protected]
Click [Next].
Input the password, and click [Sign In].
Do the same for “[email protected]”.

Return to the Zoho “Go Mobile” page.
On the bottom, click on [Proceed To Setup Completion].
On the “You’re all set” page, click on [Go To Admin Console].

Checking Emails ∞

You can check emails from the mobile application or Zoho email web application.

Finishing Setup with Cloudflare ∞

Return to the Cloudflare DNS Records page.
On the left menu bar, under [DNS], click on [Settings].
On the “Email Security” section, click on [Configure].
On the “DMARC Management” page, click [Enable DMARC Management].
On the “Configure DMARC records” page, click [Add].
To view if there were any DMARC alerts, you can visit the [DMARC Management] page under the [Emails] section.

The current article is "4.16. Email+Custom Domain" of our Complete SEO Guide Box.
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