Business email should use your own domain, with DNS records and a migration plan that protect day-to-day mail. Inventory every mailbox, agree a cutover window, and test send and receive on a pilot address before you move the whole organisation. Site Weavers hosting plans include email accounts alongside web hosting and SSL.
What good business email looks like
Use addresses on your domain, not a free mailbox, for anything customers will remember. Enforce strong passwords, keep spam filtering on, and know who holds the DNS and admin logins. Shared mailboxes help a sales or support group, but they need an owner. Unlimited email accounts on published Site Weavers hosting plans are meant for this: one domain, many staff addresses, SSL on the website that sits beside the mail.
- name@yourdomain rather than free-mail aliases for customer work
- Shared mailboxes only when a team genuinely needs them
- Documented ownership of DNS and admin access
- Backups and a way to restore a mailbox if someone deletes a folder
Migrating from Gmail or cPanel without losing mail
You can migrate from Google Workspace, a free Gmail address used as a company alias, or another cPanel host without throwing history away, but only if you plan the order of DNS changes. MX records tell the internet where new mail should land. Change them too early and messages arrive on the new server while staff still read the old one. Change them too late and the old host keeps receiving mail after you think you have moved. Export or IMAP-copy existing mail first, or run both systems in parallel for a short window.
- Export or inventory every active mailbox, alias and forwarding rule.
- Create the same addresses on the new host and copy mail, or agree a cutover with no history if that is acceptable.
- Prepare MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records with the new host before you switch MX.
- Test send and receive on a pilot mailbox, including to banks and Gmail recipients.
- Switch MX during a quiet window, then watch logs for a day and keep the old host readable until you are sure.
How long migration takes
A handful of mailboxes with a cooperative current host can move in a scheduled afternoon. Larger organisations, custom filters, or missing DNS access take longer because the risk is operational, not technical. DNS changes themselves can take from minutes to a few hours to be seen everywhere. We plan around that, rather than promising a five-minute swap.
Tanzania notes
Local banks, TRA correspondence and suppliers still treat email as a formal channel. Keep the same addresses through a move so printed letterheads and WhatsApp bios stay true. If you need a TRA-compliant invoice for the hosting itself, ask when you order. Support from Dar es Salaam means you can call during East African office hours instead of waiting on an overseas ticket queue.
Common mistakes
The failures we see most often are incomplete mailbox lists, MX switched before copies finish, and SPF left pointing at the old host so mail starts landing in spam. Another is letting a former staff member remain the only DNS contact.
- Forgetting aliases such as info@, accounts@ or a director’s old spelling
- Updating the website contact page before mail actually works
- Skipping a test to a Gmail and an Outlook recipient
- Not keeping the old host live for a rollback day