Sunday, 22 January 2012

Google Website Hosting- A Good Free Option?

By Annika Quaid


Google website hosting is a free website hosting option that integrates well with other Google products. It is easy to use and has many different template options for you to select to set the tone for your business or personal website. You are limited on space size but if you don't mind that and don't plan on having a huge site, then this might be a good option.

To turn back the pages on Google sites, let's look at how they came about. The technology that Google uses today came from the company called Jotspot founded by Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer and is what Google was after. Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer also started "Excite". Jotspot was obtained by Google in 2006.

Initially you needed a domain to go with the Google site and Google was offering a domain for $10 per domain. However, in May of 2008, you didn't see this anymore. With the Google site apart from the apps, the need to have a domain associated with it was not necessary. But the good thing was, if you could show ownership of your own domain you could use it as your domain for your new Google site.

If you are lucky and already have your domain, it is very simple to use your domain name for your new site. By simply altering the CNAME at your registrar like Godaddy, your new site will be merged with your domain within hours, no problem.

One of the downfalls of using Google sites is not having a 24/7 customer service for technical support, instead you will have to refer to Google sites help where you will find a lot of your answers. It is wise to utilize the forums also to see what other people have done. As far as the CNAME change, they do supply a guided list of what it takes to switch over.

One of the best features of Google sites is the seamless integration of all their products. Just like a content management system like Joomla, adding a gadget is simple and will enhance your site. In fact, adding just about anything is easy to do. You have many options in regards to themes and to change one, it only takes one click of your mouse. You can integrate your Adsense just by adding an Adsense code box which will populate all of your pages.

You have minimal disk space but what did you expect with a free hosting service? With only 100MB to offer on the site side of things and only 25GB on the app side, you don't have many options. In addition to that, you only have a certain amount of freedom when it comes to altering your site. You can change it to some degree but if you want to have a large, complex site you should try something else. It also is limiting due to access to databases or platforms.

If you want a simple, easy and self explanatory approach with this free service that doesn't require a domain, go for it. Just do your due diligence before diving in and committing. What have other Google sites done and are they happy? Look around at different forums to see what folks are saying or not saying, and if you like what you hear, jump in.

The points to remember if using a free service is you won't have 24/7 customer service. With shared hosting, which is around 3 to 5 dollars monthly, you get unlimited bandwidth and disk space and the coveted 24/7 technical support should you encounter any problems.




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1 comment:

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