I’m self-taught. And it’s been a minute since I built my last site from scratch. So…domain name registration…check. Hosting…check. Pointing domain names to the host’s server so you actually see something when you type it in…check.
I didn’t even think about email…or contact forms as far as that goes. WordPress.com, a free site, don’t allow plugins so they use Jetpack which allows you to still add contact forms. And those forms don’t have a problem with your email ending in gmail or yahoo.
So, I installed WordPress + WooCommerce & a theme…check. Many themes include required plugins & a contact form is usually one of them. Contact form…check. Tested it out & it didn’t work. This has happened before. This time it was because the domain name & email didn’t “match”. They don’t like gmail or yahoo. Luckily email accounts are included with the hosting. Got some created & now the forms work.
If you’re going to have a biz site…why not have a biz email? It looks more professional for them to match. I could forward them on to gmail or yahoo. But when you go to reply it’ll be from gmail or yahoo. So, in my case, I’m using mine. To avoid going to the host’s site & logging in to get to the webmail client I’ve added it to Windows 10 & an email app on my phone. You could do the same. There are instructions on Google.