Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Greetings from Tampabay!

I've decided to be my first offline customer and develop a lead generating site for my primary business; Life and Health Insurance. I have hosting at Host Gator but as I was exploring
"Google Places" I noticed I could create a free site at "Google Sites".

Are there pros or cons of using Google Sites for a basic business site?
RichieG

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Was this too "newbie" a question or has nobody ever used google sites? 30+ people have viewed this post and no feedback?
RichieG

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Well I'm still fairly new myself so heres my opinion for what it is worth. I had know idea what google sites was until you mentioned it but I signed up to check it out. The first thing and biggest problem was that you have a sub domain instead of being www(dot)yoursite(dot)com it will be http(semi colon)//sites(dot)google(dot)com/yoursite. This not only makes it hard to remember but looks less professional. Also if you sign up for an account you will notice that there are a lot fewer options and no control panel. The one positive I could see is that templates are easy to set up and edit. But still look nice. Overall I would definitely stick with hostgator having a domain makes a huge difference.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

As listed above, they appear to have a subdomain on them. This is going to lessen the chance of type in traffic. I'd recommend just going with a normal domain and hosting as it looks more professional as well.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to check it out.
RichigG

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

The biggest issue is that you don't own the site. Google does.

It's just like blogger but a bit easier for newbies and it's main intention is to be more for project management.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Why go with Google Sites or any of the other free services? I generally would never buy or sign up for anything from a site which has a HostGator or Google Sites watermark or anything like that.

A URL from GoDaddy is only 7$ (with a coupon which you can find all over the internet) and hosting is quite cheap per month ($5-ish). If you are serious about doing stuff online, you have be willing to make some investment to be credible.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

You must have a main website, which you do. (The one with Hostgator.)

You must also have "feeder" sites, including free ones, that link to your main site.

The more sites you are on, and the more links you have back to your Main or Money sites, the better.
These links can be:
a. Articles at www.ezinearticles.com
b. Videos at YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
c. Postings to forums related to your niche
d. Posting to blogs related to your niche
e. Submitting to directories

So, defenitely go for Google sites, but also consider:
a. Blogger (also Google) at www.blogger.com
b. Squidoo at Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo
c. Wordpress, free ones at WordPress.com — Get a Free Blog Here (.org is for when you host your own blog on your own server (like Hostgator)).
d. Do a search on Google for free websites, and use the bigger names.

Hth.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

I recommend staying with the HostGator account. Then signing up for WordPress.
Host the WP blog on your HostGator account and change your DNS to have your domain name point to your WP blog.
You can have people set up your WP site for you on Fiverr.com.
Otherwise, Peter Beattie offers a free training course on WP. His WF name is Skorpion. The course is WP Site Ninja or something like that.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

I am testing this out myself.. Google sites, Weebly and Blogspot and Blogger are all authority sites so using these in some fashion whether as a landing page of sub page linking back to your hosted site 'should' not only get indexed quicker but assist as an relevant authority backlink. Just thought of this a short time back so needs testing yet.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Adriaan, thanks for the summary.

-G

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Google Sites allows you to use your own domain with their service.

I have a buddy who has a few .info domains he bought for 99 cents I think and used google sites to make sites for his domains that he didn't want tied to his main hosting account.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

It's a simple HTML based free web hosting that could potentially load a Cpalead script or Google Adsense. Honestly; there's way better options out there.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Yea I agree with your these are the platforms where you can gain lots of points by getting links from this domain names...

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

If you want to play with the big boys you have to get a dedicated server. I hate FREE web hosting. It just feels cheap...

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Hostgator.com has good web hosting packages at affordable prices. I am a big fan of their web hosting. But I am looking for good hosting that I can send 100k visitors per month. Does anyone know a good company that can help me out?

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

I would look into buying you own domains and reseller hosting.It will be very helpful in the long run when you'll get clients.I used to work with Hostgator but i got myself a deal with some guy on the forum that owns an hosting company and it's been really productive since then.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

My company is currently using Google Apps and Google sites. I am new at this company. But until now I have not find any cons of that. If there exist, I don't know.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

I don't think there is any cons of Google but there are many pros of Google which we can not estimate.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

My company is using Google Apps and Google sites. As it is very new to me, so i can not find any cons of that. If there exist, I don't know :(

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

I think u can create your own free site, there are no pros and cons free sites.

Re: Pros and Cons of "Google Sites?"
 

Yes

Thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate the time you experienced Warriors take to help
out us relative "newbs". Props to all.
Richieg