Why Google Sites Is the Right Way to Do Things

We mention in the previous section that Google Sites incorporates the best aspects of Web page, wiki, and file sharing technology into an easy-to-use online tool. But choosing Google Sites is about more than playing with a shiny new service — it’s also about saving you time and money. In this section, we share with you our two cents, just in case you’re not already convinced that Sites is the way to go.

The first thing you notice with Google Sites is Google’s trademark simplicity.  Although other services may have more bells and whistles, Google Sites keeps it simple and gives you the features you need to get your work done without making you master a whole new complicated set of tools and features.  With Google Sites, you can focus more on coordinating group activities to accomplish your tasks and less on figuring out all the extra stuff. Plus, you get all the training you need from this blog. Now that’s simple!

Google Sites is free. Talk about saving money. You don’t have to invest in expensive servers and software. All you need is an Internet connection and a Web browser, either of which you could get free at your public library, if you wanted.

All of your pages, wikis, and files are hosted for free, along with your other Google services. The exception, of course, is if you use Google Apps Premier Edition (www.google.com/apps), but in that case, your organization is really paying for the support. (Google Apps Premier Edition, along with all other editions of Google Apps, is discussed in the next section.) Google can provide these services free because of the money they make on Internet search advertising. Next time you use Google Search, look for the sponsored links to the right of your results. That’s what pays the engineers to create these high-quality tools.