STOP Paying for Custom Email!

Summary

The video discusses Cloudflare's new free feature, Email Forwarding, which allows users to create a custom email address that forwards to an existing inbox. This is particularly beneficial for those with personal brands or side hustles who want a professional email without the cost. The video also addresses the common issue of replies appearing to come from a different address and provides a workaround using Gmail's settings. The feature is praised for its reliability and speed, which are Cloudflare's hallmarks. The tutorial guides viewers on setting up email forwarding through Cloudflare and configuring Gmail to send emails from the custom address. The video concludes with a discussion on the suitability of this feature for different users, from side hustlers to established businesses.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Cloudflare has introduced a new feature called Email Forwarding, which is beneficial for personal brands and side hustles.
• 🆓 Email Forwarding allows users to get a custom email address for free, which was previously a paid service.
• 🔍 Currently, Cloudflare's Email Routing feature is available by requesting access, and it's being tested for reliability and speed improvements.
• 💻 Email forwarding works at the DNS level, using email relays to forward mail to an existing inbox, such as Gmail or Outlook.
• 🔑 Cloudflare's mission is to increase the reliability and speed of websites, which is expected to improve the email forwarding experience.
• 🛑 A common issue with email forwarding is that replies sent from the forwarded email will appear to come from the original email service, not the custom address.
• 🔄 There are workarounds to send emails from a custom address using Gmail, including setting up specific SMTP details within Gmail settings.
• 🔒 For enhanced trust, a dedicated email inbox for a custom email address may be preferable, especially for established businesses.
• 👥 The tutorial is aimed at tech-savvy individuals who are comfortable with setting up and troubleshooting email forwarding and routing.
• 📬 Cloudflare Email Routing is suitable for side hustles and personal brands that want a custom email address without the cost of email hosting.
• 📝 The script provides a step-by-step guide on setting up Cloudflare Email Routing and the Gmail workaround for sending emails from a custom address.

Q & A

What is Cloudflare Email Forwarding?

Cloudflare Email Forwarding is a new feature from Cloudflare that allows users to set up a custom email address that forwards to an existing inbox for free, enhancing personal branding or side hustles without the need for additional email hosting costs.

Why is Cloudflare Email Forwarding considered a game-changing feature?

It is considered game-changing because it offers the ability to have a custom email address without the cost associated with email hosting, leveraging Cloudflare's reliability and speed to ensure immediate email delivery.

How does Cloudflare's email forwarding work at the DNS level?

Cloudflare's email forwarding works at the DNS level by using email relays to forward emails sent to a custom email address to an existing inbox, such as Gmail or Outlook.

What is the difference between Cloudflare's email routing and other free email forwarding services?

The key difference is Cloudflare's focus on reliability and speed. While other services may have delays or inconsistencies in forwarding emails, Cloudflare's mission is to ensure immediate and reliable delivery.

What is the limitation of email forwarding when replying to emails?

The limitation is that when you reply to an email sent to your custom email address, the reply will come from your Gmail or the email service you have forwarded to, rather than the custom email address.

What are the two solutions to send emails from a custom email address when using Gmail?

The first solution is a free workaround within Gmail settings that allows sending emails back through the custom email address. The second solution is to pay for custom email hosting for a dedicated inbox.

How can you set up Cloudflare Email Forwarding for a domain?

You need to request access to the feature within your Cloudflare account, create an email address, verify it, and then add the necessary DNS records for email routing to function.

What is the workaround in Gmail to send emails from a custom email address?

The workaround involves setting up an 'Send mail as' alias in Gmail settings, configuring SMTP details, and confirming the setup through a verification email sent to the custom email address.

What are the potential issues with the Gmail workaround for sending emails from a custom address?

Issues include recipients seeing a 'sent via gmail.com' tag and a verification message from Gmail stating that the origin of the email cannot be confirmed, which may lead to a lack of trust from the recipient.

Who is the target audience for Cloudflare Email Forwarding and the Gmail workaround?

The target audience includes individuals with a side hustle or personal brand who want a custom email address without the cost of email hosting, and tech-savvy users comfortable with setting up and troubleshooting the Gmail workaround.

What are the benefits of using Cloudflare Email Routing for an old domain with outdated email addresses?

Cloudflare Email Routing can be used to forward old email addresses from an unused domain to a new email address, providing a reliable way to continue receiving emails from old contacts without maintaining the old domain's email service.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Introduction to Cloudflare Email Forwarding

The speaker expresses excitement about Cloudflare's new feature, Email Forwarding, which is beneficial for personal branding and side projects. Cloudflare is praised for its DNS and security services, and the speaker emphasizes the game-changing aspect of the new feature that allows users to have a custom email address for free. The speaker also explains that the email routing feature is currently in beta and requires access. The concept of email forwarding is introduced as a way to direct emails from a custom address to an existing inbox, and the speaker highlights the reliability and speed of Cloudflare's service compared to other providers.

05:01

🔧 Setting Up Cloudflare Email Forwarding and Gmail Workaround

The speaker provides a step-by-step guide on setting up Cloudflare's email forwarding. This includes accessing the feature, creating a custom email address, and verifying it. The importance of clearing existing MX records and adding new DNS records for the email routing to function is explained. The speaker then discusses a workaround for sending emails from the custom address through Gmail, which involves configuring Gmail settings to allow sending emails as the custom address. The process includes adding an SMTP server in Gmail settings and confirming the setup with a verification code sent to the custom email address.

10:02

🤔 Considerations and Recommendations for Cloudflare Email Routing

The speaker discusses the limitations and issues with the Gmail workaround, such as the 'sent via gmail.com' tag and the verification message that may appear when recipients open the emails, which could lead to a lack of trust. Recommendations are made for different user scenarios: for those with a side hustle or personal brand, using Cloudflare email routing for free is advised. For tech-savvy individuals, the Gmail workaround is an option. However, for established businesses requiring a dedicated inbox, custom email hosting is recommended. The speaker also mentions the utility of Cloudflare email routing for forwarding old domain emails to new addresses and expresses enthusiasm for the feature.

Keywords

💡Cloudflare

Cloudflare is a web infrastructure and security company that provides various services such as DNS resolution, DDoS protection, and SSL certificate management. In the video, it is highlighted as a recommended company for its reliability and speed in enhancing website performance. The video discusses Cloudflare's new feature, 'Cloudflare Email Forwarding,' which is a significant addition to their suite of services.

💡Email Forwarding

Email forwarding is a service that routes incoming emails to another email address. It is a feature that allows users to manage multiple email addresses by directing all incoming messages to a single inbox. In the context of the video, Cloudflare's email forwarding is presented as a game-changing feature that enables users to have a custom email address without the need for additional email hosting costs.

💡DNS

DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is the phonebook of the internet. It translates human-friendly domain names into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network. In the video, DNS is mentioned as a foundational service provided by Cloudflare, and the new email forwarding feature operates at the DNS level.

💡Custom Email Address

A custom email address is an email that includes a personal or brand-specific domain name, such as '[email protected]'. It is often used to establish a professional online presence. The video emphasizes the benefit of Cloudflare's email forwarding in obtaining a custom email address without the associated costs.

💡Email Relay

An email relay is a service or system that forwards emails from one email address to another. It is a key component of the email forwarding process. The video script mentions that Cloudflare uses email relays to forward emails to existing inboxes, which is a standard practice in email forwarding services.

💡Reliability

Reliability in the context of the video refers to the dependability and consistency of a service, particularly in delivering emails promptly and accurately. Cloudflare's mission to increase the reliability and speed of websites extends to their email routing product, which is trusted to deliver emails efficiently.

💡Speed

Speed, as discussed in the video, is a critical aspect of Cloudflare's service, indicating the quick delivery of data, including emails. The video contrasts the speed of Cloudflare's email routing with other services where there might be delays in email forwarding.

💡MX Records

MX Records, short for Mail Exchange records, are DNS records that specify the mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a domain. In the video, it is mentioned that to set up Cloudflare email routing, any existing MX records may need to be cleared out and replaced with those provided by Cloudflare.

💡Workaround

A workaround in the video refers to a method or technique used to achieve a desired outcome when the standard approach is not feasible. The script describes a workaround for sending emails from a Gmail account that appear to come from a custom email address, which involves setting up specific configurations within Gmail.

💡Side Hustle

A side hustle is a part-time job or business done alongside one's main employment. In the video, the presenter suggests that Cloudflare email routing is beneficial for individuals with a side hustle or personal brand who want a professional email address without the cost of email hosting.

💡Personal Brand

A personal brand is the image or identity that an individual projects, often for professional purposes. The video discusses how Cloudflare's email forwarding can enhance a personal brand by providing a custom email address, which is a key element in establishing a professional online identity.

💡Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-Factor Authentication is a security method that requires two separate steps to verify the user's identity. In the context of the video, it is mentioned that if a user has 2FA enabled for their Gmail, they would need to generate an app-specific password to use with the workaround for sending emails from a custom address.

💡Subscriber

A subscriber in the video refers to a follower or viewer who receives updates or content from the presenter. The script acknowledges a subscriber named Hasan for sharing the workaround for sending emails from a custom address through Gmail.

Highlights

Cloudflare has introduced a new feature called Cloudflare Email Forwarding.

Cloudflare is known for DNS and security services.

Cloudflare Email Forwarding allows users to get a custom email address for free.

Email forwarding works at the DNS level using email relays to forward mail to an existing inbox.

Cloudflare's email routing feature is currently available by requesting access.

Cloudflare's mission is to increase the reliability and speed of websites, which applies to their email routing product.

With Cloudflare email forwarding, users can have multiple custom email addresses forwarded to unique emails.

A limitation of email forwarding is that replies will come from the Gmail address instead of the custom email.

There are two solutions to send emails from a free Gmail account back through the custom email address.

One solution is to use a free hack within Gmail settings to send emails through the custom email address.

The other solution is to pay for custom email hosting for a dedicated inbox.

Cloudflare email routing is simple to set up and ideal for those with a side hustle or personal brand.

For established businesses, custom email hosting might be a better option for a dedicated email inbox.

Cloudflare email routing is also useful for forwarding old domain email addresses to new emails.

The presenter is excited about Cloudflare email routing and plans to use it for future domains.

The presenter thanks a subscriber, Hasan, for sharing the Gmail workaround knowledge.

There are some issues with the Gmail workaround, such as a 'sent via gmail.com' tag that may appear.

The presenter suggests that Cloudflare email routing is worth trying, especially for those who don't want to pay for a custom email address.

Transcripts

- Something I've been really excited about lately

is a new feature from Cloudflare.

It's called Cloudflare Email Forwarding.

I think it's something that's highly beneficial

for anyone with a personal brand or side hustle.

Here's the thing about Cloudflare.

They're a company that I've recommended using

for a long time for DNS reasons and security,

but I don't wanna get too much into the weeds

on the other products that Cloudflare offers.

If you're already a Cloudflare user

or if you haven't even heard of Cloudflare,

this is a game-changing feature

if you've been wanting a custom email address

but you haven't felt it's really worth paying for yet.

Now you can get it for free.

So, before I jump in and talk more about email forwarding,

the Cloudflare email routing feature

is currently available by requesting access.

I requested access on my account

and I actually don't have access to it yet,

but my creative director, he got access on his account

so we were able to take a look and evaluate this feature.

It's something that I am so excited about.

Email forwarding is not anything new.

It works at the DNS level and it uses email relays

to basically forward mail to an existing inbox,

so you could set up email forwarding

to go to [email protected].

When someone sends an email to [email protected],

it hits the DNS system and it forwards it to a Gmail

or an Outlook account, or I guess it could be AOL,

if you're really in the past.

Please tell me you're not using AOL.

But anyway, basically it's gonna forward email

from the custom email address

to an existing free email inbox.

So, why is Cloudflare's email routing such a big deal?

Isn't it kind of more of the same?

Isn't it sort of the same feature

that we've had free for years from other companies?

At its core, yes, but let me tell you why

this is a big deal.

Cloudflare is the leader in their space

of reliability and speed.

Let me tell you, I've used email forwarding before

from various different sources and it's often quirky.

Sometimes, I send an email to the custom email

and it can take five or 10 minutes to forward to my inbox,

or sometimes it doesn't even work at all.

But Cloudflare, their entire mission

is to increase reliability and speed of your website

and they take this very seriously.

So, with their email routing product,

if somebody sends an email to your custom email address,

I would trust that Cloudflare is gonna deliver it

to the appropriate place immediately.

So, how does this change the game?

Well, previously, if you wanted a custom email address,

you had to pay for email hosting,

having an entire inbox to yourself.

With email forwarding, it takes away that barrier.

You could have as many email addresses as you want

and forward them to as many unique emails as you want,

but there's definitely a problem here.

If you're following along, you might say,

"Now, wait a second, if I set up email forwarding

someone sends an email to my custom email address,

it forwards to my Gmail,

maybe the dedicated Gmail account that I set up.

If I reply to that email,

isn't it gonna come from my Gmail

instead of from my custom email address?"

And the answer is, yes,

this is definitely a quirk of email forwarding.

It's a limitation.

Now, there are two solutions to this problem.

The first one is to utilize a hack of sorts

that is free to use, and it will allow you to send email

from your free Gmail account back through

that custom email address.

It's something else that you have to set up within Gmail.

I'm gonna show you how to do that later in this video.

The second option is simply to pay for custom email hosting.

I suppose there is a third option too

and that would be just let your Gmail account show.

I mean, if you've got a side hustle or a personal brand,

it may be important to you to list your pretty email

on a business card or on your website, but maybe

you don't mind a reply coming from a Gmail address.

If you do have a side hustle,

it's probably not a big deal to your customers

that the email comes from a free Gmail account.

Maybe you don't need to worry about that at all.

But if you're certain you want the replies coming back

through that custom email address,

you have those two options we discussed.

Let me show you how this hack works.

So, I'm here in the Cloudflare dashboard and if

if you don't already have Cloudflare set up on your domain,

I have an entire video covering how to do that.

But assuming you already have Cloudflare set up,

we can see the email option.

It says beta right here on the sidebar.

I'm just gonna click that.

And again, if you haven't requested access

to this feature yet as of the recording of this video,

you're gonna have to click the big request access button.

I've already done that and I do have access to the feature,

so I'm just gonna click Create address right here.

I'll say [email protected]

and it looks like it's got my Gmail saved

probably because I've done this before,

but you would just type your Gmail address right here.

I'll click save and it says pending verification.

It sent us an email.

We wanna click the link in the email.

You know the drill when you have to verify

your email address on a site.

Now, we're not done yet.

In order for Cloudflare email routing to function,

we have to make sure that these MX records,

really the DNS records are added to the domain.

Cloudflare makes this easy.

If you have any records on your DNS that say MX or TXT,

you may have to clear those out first.

Really just the MX records that's all we're concerned about.

You're gonna have to clear out any existing MX records.

Then, I can go over to email here

and just click where it says "Add records automatically."

Add records.

Makes it super easy.

I can go back to DNS. Everything has been added.

I don't have to type anything in manually or worry about it.

So, once we add these records, and once you click that link

and you confirm that your email is verified

right here under status, your email forwarding is set up.

So, when someone types an email to your custom email,

it will forward to your Gmail.

Now, we can move on to step two,

which is setting up the workaround

on how to route it back through your custom email.

And to do that, we go to Gmail.com.

Here I am in my inbox, and I'm gonna start

by gonna the gear icon in the top right corner

and clicking See all settings.

Now this is my favorite part because Gmail settings

are like, whoa, scary,

but take a deep breath (inhales and exhales),

it's gonna be okay.

It's gonna be fine.

I'll show you exactly what to do.

So, I'm gonna click up here

where it says "Accounts and Imports."

And right here we see Send mail as.

I don't want to send mail as CNM Innovations.

I want to add another email address.

I'm just gonna type my email. (computer keys clicking)

And we'll leave Treat as an alias checked

and click Next Step.

Now here, you have to enter some specific details.

I've got them written down right here.

They're also gonna be in the description below.

But for SMTP server, I want to change it to smtp.gmail.com.

Port is going to be 465.

Username is going to be your Gmail address

without the @gmail.com.

And here, I'm just gonna enter my Gmail password.

If you use two-factor authentication with Gmail,

you need to generate an app specific password.

I'm not gonna show you how to do that today

because I don't use 2FA on this account,

so I'm gonna click Add Account.

So, now Google has sent a confirmation code

to our custom email, which if you're following along

is going to forward back to this Gmail.

It sounds a little bit confusing,

but all we need to do is go back to Gmail.

Go to your inbox.

Right here, we see the email Gmail confirmation

so I'm gonna click the link to confirm the request

and click Confirm.

And there you go.

Gmail may now send mail as [email protected].

I'm back at my Gmail account

and there's one more step here.

I'm gonna go up to this gear,

See all settings, Accounts and Import,

and click make default next to our email.

And that way, when I do compose,

we see right here from [email protected].

The emails are gonna send back through

our custom email address and we have

an entirely custom email set up through Gmail

and Cloudflare for free.

Hey, by the way, I have to give a huge shout-out to Hasan.

I hope I'm saying your name correctly,

but a subscriber emailed me and told me

about this workaround, which I actually didn't know about.

Thank you, Hasan.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge

and now it gets to be shared with everybody.

So, this workaround is pretty cool.

We have email routing set up with Cloudflare.

It goes to our Gmail account.

When we reply from Gmail, the email comes

from our custom email address,

but there are a couple of issues with this.

First, if the recipient of your email is using gmail.com,

they're gonna see this little tag

that says sent via gmail.com instead

of your custom email address.

It's just quirky.

So, as I was editing this video,

I was testing this solution, the workaround in Gmail,

and I saw this big message when I sent a test email.

Gmail is saying, "Hey, we can't verify that

this actually came from morganslawn.care."

And this message alone is a reason

to consider going with email hosting.

Because if people see this message

when they open your emails, that's a big turnoff.

They may think that you're a scammer or an impersonator,

and that's just not good for anyone.

Okay, so who is the solution for?

I think if you have a side hustle or personal brand,

you should definitely be using Cloudflare email routing

to get email forwarding for free.

That way, you can have a custom email address forward

to your Gmail account or Outlook

or whatever email service you use.

Now, as for the workaround to send emails back

through that custom email address,

I would only attempt that if you're tech savvy

and you're feeling good about following the tutorial

and being able to troubleshoot future problems

that could come up.

I don't think the workaround solution

is a good fit for the average Joe unless

you're feeling tech savvy.

But, I do think that Cloudflare email routing

is pretty simple to set up.

So, if you have a side hustle,

but you're not super tech savvy and you haven't wanted

to pay for a custom email address

why not set up email forwarding?

But, if you run an established business

and you want a dedicated email inbox

for your custom email address,

that's what I do think it is worth paying

for custom email hosting.

I will say that I'm very excited

about Cloudflare email routing and if I have domains

in the future where I don't need a dedicated inbox,

but I just want a casual custom email,

I am absolutely gonna take advantage

of Cloudflare email routing and set up a free custom email.

Also, Cloudflare email routing is great

if you have an old domain where you need

to forward old email addresses to new emails.

I still have the domain, christiantaylor.co.

I used to have an email address that I listed

in certain places and some people still have

that email address.

Now can use Cloudflare email routing for free

and get great reliability to forward that old email address

to my new craylor.media email address

and that's something that really gets me excited.

So, what do you think of Cloudflare email routing?

Is it something that excites you?

Do you want to try it or is it not worth the hassle?

I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below.

And if you liked this video, do be sure to hit

that subscribe button and click the bell

so you don't miss when I release new videos.

With that said, I'll catch you guys next time.