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Google Sites is the web publishing platform that came from Google's acquisition of Jotspot in 2006.
Google Sites is the collaborative part of Google Apps (to supplement Docs, Sheets, & Presentations). It has been called an alternative to SharePoint.
Pricing: well, as Google likes to do, Standard edition is Free. Premier edition is $50 a user a year. let me repeat: a year! Some people miss this part and think that is a monthly price.
When you consider all of the benefits of added security (Google also acquired Postini to make this possible) it is an amazing value. Hence the move to cloud computing by so many businesses and cities lately.
There's also a version (basically premier) for Education, Non-Profit's and Gov.
As far as what you get...
Google Sites are for publishing website. You could publish a site for your work team to share information quickly and easily (like SharePoint) or you could publish a site for your club, family, or personal needs.
You can also publish a business website.
Surprisingly, a lot of small businesses don't have websites. An Ad-ology
survey found that 46 percent of small business owners did not
have a Web site in 2009.
Why?
Websites are often hard to update and dealing with a web design firm for updates is too costly. Hence the flock to WordPress.
If you have installed a WordPress site lately, you know this isn't as 'easy as pie'.
You have to deal with hosting and cpanels. You have to learn how to customize your site. You have to learn how to make a "blog" act like a website. That means you have to learn how to create static pages. How to deal with Navigation,Tagging, Titling, and other SEO elements.
WordPress rocks. No doubt. Great for business owners who want to take control, however pretty steep learning curve. If you have WordPress, remember the first time...k?
On the other hand, while Google Sites isn't a walk in the park, it is far more intuitive and doesn't require hosting or cpanels, or learning CSS. Google Sites so far seem hack-proof. Unlike WordPress there's no need to install the latest version or download patches.
There's a WYSIWYG for easy editing and one-step actions for embedding gadgets like YouTube Videos, Twitter updates, Slideshows, Presentations, Maps and Calendars (and more).
Navigation is easy to set up (Google Sites even creates bread-crumbs) and it is easy to move pages for theming and categorizing a site.
There are limitations.
- 100 MB of storage (for free account) and 10 GB of storage for Google
Apps users
- Non-collaborators (viewers) cannot add comments
- Limited HTML coding and no CSS
- Meta Description is only pulled from the site description in General Settings
OK
Here's the SEO Test!!!
I ran HubSpots Website Grader Report and decided to see how a Google Site would rank.
| Website Grade
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87
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| Google Indexed Pages
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54
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Traffic Rank
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758,281
|
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Blog Grade
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52.22
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Inbound Links
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93
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del.icio.us Bookmarks
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1
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OK...you can see there's still some work to do.
But, from an on-site architect perspective, Google Sites performs rather well.
I'm not driving traffic and I haven't done much with my blog. Clearly nothing on bookmarks.
But let's get back to the point.
You can build a website on Google Sites.
If you do, I suggest getting Google Apps for your domain for your site.
Invest in training. If you don't think you need training or help, I have some sites to show you. Your retina's will be burned after looking.
Get help with content. Search engines and people want content.
Install Google Analytics on your site and use it to continually improve.
Verify your site in Google Webmaster Tools and check often...there's a wealth of information there.
Most Google Sites are hideous and have no SEO. But it doesn't have to be that way.
Sites are easy to optimize and...even Matt Cutts recently said "You can build a website on Google Sites". I hope Matt will cover a Google site in the next Website review session. I think we would all be surprised at the optimization that is just a click away!
Agree. Disagree. Either way, I'd love to hear from you.
here's the Buzz post if you want to leave a comment.
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Blue
Sphere Labs 11110 Forbes Creek Drive
Kirkland, WA 98033 (206) 801-0461
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