- Hey guys, my name is Christian Taylor. Welcome back to Craylor Made, where I like
to talk about all things branding, marketing and entrepreneurship. So today,
I'm going to be talking about why I dumped Namecheap private email hosting. So, if
you're new to the channel, you might be wondering why I'm talking about such a
small email provider. I mean, Namecheap is a credible name for selling domains and
web hosting but, not many people think of Namecheap for email hosting. So, why even
talk about it? Well, if you've followed my channel for a while, you know that I speak
very highly of Namecheap private email hosting. I'm a reviewer and that means I
bounce around from service to service to service as I test things, but one thing
has stayed especially constant with my hosting usage, and that's Namecheap
private email hosting. I've been using it personally for years across all of my
websites and services. Anytime I have a need for a custom email address with my
domain name, I use Namecheap private email hosting. So, why am I dumping them? I'm
not going to clickbait you or make you wait till the five minute mark of this
video. I'm dumping them for security. Now you're probably like, "Whoa, hold on
Christian! You've been recommending email hosting that's insecure?" Then you'll
dislike, unsub.... Wait! Actually Namecheap private email hosting's security
has only gotten better since I made my recommendation, a couple years ago or last
year but, my needs as a business owner and my standards have gotten higher the more
my business is scaling. So, let me take some time to explain what I mean by
security, why I'm switching and what this means for you. So first, in my video last
year, I explained that Namecheap does not offer two-factor authentication for their
email service. This is when you log into an account and you put in the password,
but they still want to text a code to your phone or have some other way to verify
that you are who you say you are, just to be extra safe and make sure that you're
not some hacker who just guessed the password to the account. Now, Namecheap
didn't offer this at all last year, but they do offer it now: they do give you
two-factor authentication as a login method, when you check your email through
their web portal. So if you go to "privateemail.com" and you put in your
email and password and you check your email there, you do have the option of
enabling two-factor authentication, where it will ask you for that next step. Now,
as my business has grown, I've personally come to the conclusion that I need
two-factor authentication on my email. I'm getting to a point where I have all sorts
of business documents and important information that lives in my email
address, and I need to know that it's secure, and the best way to do that is
through two-factor authentication. So you're like, "Well, Christian, why don't
you enable two-factor authentication? I don't follow; what's the problem?" Okay.
So the problem comes in with desktop email clients, and this is how I check my email.
You might be familiar with Microsoft Outlook or the Mail app on your iPhone or
your Android device; apps that you connect your email address to and check your email
through the app or through the program instead of going online and signing in on
their online interface. To use these desktop clients, there's a standardized
old technology called IMAP and SMTP. This is not a technical video, so we're not
going to get super into the details but, this older standard does not support
two-factor authentication. So, in a nutshell, your account is only as strong
as its weakest link. And while you can have two-factor authentication for the web
login, you cannot have two-factor authentication on any IMAP email solution.
So, this is not just Namecheap, for any IMAP email hosting solution, you cannot
have two-factor authentication. It is simply not possible with the way that it's
set up. So why did I switch to G Suite (and yeah, that's who I switched to; I
went to G Suite) If it's not possible, why did I switch? Well, you see, Google and
Microsoft are so big that they're able to bend the rules and get away with it.
They're big enough that they can say, "You know what, we're Google, we're not going
to use IMAP and SMTP authentication, we're going to use our own proprietary method,
where you have to go into your browser to google.com, where there's no getting
around the two-factor authentication. And that is the only way that you can sign
into your email address on your app or your program, or however you check your
email. And because we're Google, and everybody uses Gmail, these apps are going
to support it. They're going to use our proprietary method because, what choice do
you have?" If you're an app developer, and you're making one of these apps to check
your email, everybody has Gmail! So, you have to fall in line and you have to
support Google's proprietary sign in method and their sign in method is
rock-solid, secure, enforces two-factor authentication, every time. You're only as
strong as your weakest link, so if your weakest link is two-factor authentication
every single time, your account is very secure. With G Suite, not only can I have
regular two-factor authentication, I can have physical hardware keys. I bought
these: these are physical security keys from Google. They're called Titan security
keys. And I've made it where I actually have to plug this in to my computer or my
device via USB to be able to sign into my Google account. So I type my password, it
goes, "Hey, we need to see that security key," I plug it in via USB, and you'd have
to actually physically hold that key to get into my Google account. I know it's
geeky. I know it's ridiculous. I know it's overkill. But it really was worth the
peace of mind to me, at this stage in my business, to pay that $6 a month for G
Suite. I will say, I didn't switch at all for the Gmail experience or for Google
Apps because I don't use the Gmail online interface. I always check my emails
through an email client, and as far as the Google Apps, all that stuff is free, you
can create a Google account using your business email address, have your business
email hosted elsewhere, create a free Google account and access Google Docs,
Google Drive, Google meet... all of that stuff is free to use. And I also have to
say, I still 100% believe in the reliability and the quality of Namecheap
private email hosting, and I would still recommend it to you if you're just
starting out. If you're doing landscaping around town and you're just getting
started, you probably don't need rock solid security for your email address.
Yes, you want to make sure it's secure and protected but, let's be honest, you're
probably not a likely target for someone wanting to breach your email account. But,
if you're an online content creator like I am, the bigger you get, the more of a
target you have on your back. And it was definitely worth the $6 a month to me for
the added peace of mind. So yes, I still recommend Namecheap private email hosting.
Yes, I still use it for some of my other domain names in business. senses. And yes,
I would definitely take a look at G Suite if and only if you feel you may be a
target, and maybe someone's going to want to get into your account. And you really
want to have that extra security and protection. So, that's why I switched to G
Suite. And by the way, I've created a new tab over at my website at Craylormade.com,
where you can click like what I'm using or my services or something like that. And
I'm always going to keep updated the services that I use in real time. So, the
web hosting platforms, VPN, email hosting... anything of that nature. I'm
going to keep that there and explain why I use it, so you can always know what I
personally use and why. There may be cases where I recommend a service that I don't
personally use and that may be because it's a better fit for someone in different
shoes or someone in a different position than me. So, with that being said, What
email hosting service do you use? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments down
below. And if you like this video, 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 will catch you
guys next time.