1) register the domain at a registrar.
2) use a custom DNS service that allows email forwarding like http://www.easydns.com. You simply create an MX record, change the DNS for your site on the registrar and wait a bit. By a bit, we are talking a few hours at the most.
3) enter the address you wish to have email forwarded to so now when someone emails you at the address the DNS and MX mix at easydns.com grabs that email and sends it off to the so-called “mailmap” you wrote.

I chose gmail and then I purchased more disk space. You could also find a hosting service that offers more like fastmail.fm or a real hosting company. I have a new deal with lunarpages.com that was gonna hold my mail; but it became too complex to have all those steps and stops.

In the end, you want something that you can manage and have it adapt and adopt to your life style. Gmail may become bad. Easy to change.

Splendid article – once again!

I have my own domain (and many others). I also register my name/email address with all popular services JIC anyone ever looks for me somewhere. I should go through one day and see how many accounts I have scattered through cyberspace.

I also create a few specific email accounts for specific purposes which help identify phishing attempts.

While I do have gmail/yahoo/aol/aim/hotmail/etc accounts, I prefer my own domain based email b/c I rent a dedicated box for a server. This way I don’t have to worry about third party TOS/Privacy/etc as I know who has access to what whenever.

Along with this – I’ve registered several domains along the same lines as my name. I have .com, .net, .tv, and more and even a domain with my first name as it is commonly misspelled.

What I like to do is give out my personal Gmail address to people at work after I leave a job so they can continue to get in touch with me–but only after, mostly. Why? Because due to auto-fill, if people have my Gmail I start getting work email in my personal Gmail account. :-)

I would also agree with what many other commenters already said here, which is to route a domain email address through Gmail–Gmail is like cheese, it just makes everything better! I’ve become so used to the interface and logic of Gmail that I can’t stand using anything else for email! I created a new Gmail account for work and route my work email through that. That way I also have separate Google docs, calendar and the like just for work.

Google Apps really is a great solution for using Gmail/Google Accounts for work or a custom domain, also.