If you have a shared web hosting plan and you create an email address, you may consider the option to send out and receive emails for granted, however, this isn't always true. Sending e-mail messages isn't always included in the hosting packages that service providers offer and an SMTP service is required to be able to do that. The acronym signifies Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and that is the set of scripts that allows you to send out e-mail messages. If you use an e-mail application, it connects to the SMTP server. The latter then searches the DNS records of the domain name, which is a part of the receiving address to find out which email server deals with its emails. After some system information is interchanged, your SMTP server delivers the message to the remote IMAP or POP server and then the e-mail is finally delivered in the corresponding mailbox. An SMTP server is necessary if you use some sort of contact page as well, so if you use a free hosting plan, as an example, it's probable that you will not be able to use such a form as many free web hosting companies do not allow outgoing emails.