Business email on your own domain (without a paid mailbox)
An email address like you@gmail.com tells a customer you are a person with a hobby. you@yourbusiness.co.uk tells them you are a business. The fix is your own domain plus email forwarding, and Sorted Online sets it up as part of your £15-a-month website — nothing to pay at sign-up.
Why the address matters
Customers judge before they read. A matching domain and email address:
- looks established, especially to a customer spending hundreds or thousands;
- makes quotes, invoices, and receipts look official;
- helps when your Google Business Profile, website, and email all agree;
- lets you keep your inbox — you do not have to learn a new email app.
What email forwarding is (and what it is not)
Email forwarding gives you an address on your own domain that quietly delivers every message to the inbox you already use — Gmail, Outlook, whatever you have on your phone. You reply from your normal inbox, and you can set it to send as your domain address.
It is not a separate mailbox with its own storage and login. That is a larger, paid product, and most sole traders do not need one to start. Forwarding gives you the professional address without another app to check.
If you later want a full mailbox, you can move to one — and because the domain is yours, the address stays the same. See the help article on setting up email forwarding.
How to get an address on your own domain
- Get the domain. If you already own
yourbusiness.co.uk, keep it. If not, register the name you want. - Point the domain's mail records at a forwarder. This is the DNS step that makes the address work. It is fiddly to do by hand.
- Add the addresses you want, for example
hello@,info@, or your own name. - Test it by sending a message from an outside account.
Sorted Online does steps 1 to 3 for you: the domain is registered, the records are set up, and forwarding is connected to the inbox you nominate.
The most common mistakes
- Using a domain you do not control. If a web designer registered it in their name, you may not be able to take the email with you. Own your domain.
- Forgetting the records. A domain with no mail records simply does not receive mail; it does not bounce politely.
- Sending a change and assuming it is instant. DNS changes can take a few hours to a day to settle. Send a test before you rely on it.
- Putting an address in public that you cannot monitor. Only publish an address that reaches an inbox you read.
What it costs
With Sorted Online, forwarding email on your own domain is included in the £15 a month — along with the website and the domain itself, billed by UK Direct Debit through GoCardless. If you want a full paid mailbox instead, that is a separate subscription you can add later, keeping the same address.
Compare the total against doing it yourself in how much a small business website costs.
Next step
Start your website and choose the domain you want. We register it, connect the email, and publish the site — usually within minutes.
See also how to get your business on Google and the help centre.