10 good reasons why you should go for Google Sites.

I have been developing countless websites for over a decade now and I must admit it takes a lot of skills to make one considering the diverse languages and artistic ability a developer must have; but that is just half of the effort. The real challenge is collecting and maintaining the content of the company website.

I chose Google Sites (an application built into Google Apps) website builder for our intranet website and company website for several good reasons.

1. Very easy to setup and deploy.

If your already a Google Apps user, all you have to do is just create a new site and it will guide you to the entire process of setting up one. It will only take a few minutes to do this.

2. No programming skill is required.

Google Sites made it possible for ordinary users to make their own websites without the need for programming. All one need to do is click, drag and select their configurations of their choice. You save company resources by not hiring another developer top your your website.

3. Delegation of work.

This is probably the best feature of them all. You can assign a piece of a page to someone on your work group to develop and maintain. Say for example, a Product Catalogue page may be given permission and assigned exclusively to a staff in Marketing Department. This way, everyone in your company can collaborate online and jointly develop and maintain your website.

4. Integrates well with other Google services (such as Google Apps).

This is a welcome application for us Google Apps users. This means that we all need a single sign-on account to manage all other services including Google Sites web page builder.

5. Multi-purpose.

Google Sites is not only limited to creating company websites. We use this also for our company intranet that is not made publicly available to internet users. This may also be used for departmental intranets for bulletin boards for a specific purpose.

6. Focus on content.

Since no programming is required, users can now focus on making and maintaining content which is above all, more important than design.

7. Easy maintenance.

All Google Apps , Google Sites included, are hosted on Google's server farms. Therefore, no extra manpower is needed or time required for you to manage these service. Everything is managed by Google.

8. Has just the right features.

Google Sites web page builder come with features that you will most likely need and not flood you with others that you seldom use. The simplistic design allows users to easily manage applications without all the useless clutter.

9. Secured.

Google Apps Pro version has built in Postini security service to add another layer of extra security to its already very secured environment.

10. Low cost - US$10

Yes, if you register your new domain on Google Sites, it will just require US$10 for one year subscription of the domain name. Google Service is free.

 

Note: See some example of the sites I made in Google Sites: www.kainoshealth.net & sites.google.com/a/kainosmedical.com/intranet/Home