Would you like a free landing page at xxxxxx.business.site ?
Thu 22 Jun 2017
By John Nayler
In typical fashion Google have launched yet another facility that further envelops us in the Google "ecosystem". Incredibly, most products are free and here is yet another example.
Last week they re-launched their web site building product that barely raised a pulse with the very well hidden free domain offer of xxxxx.business.site. We are aware that this has already resulted in a land rush of sorts.
1. First the basics
Google had a web site building product that was just upgraded massively. The launch without fanfare replaced the existing "old school" offer with an ultra simple website building tool that is now optimised for mobile and dove-tails with the rest of the Google Suite. From this facility you can create a rudimentary landing page through to a multipage masterpiece.
You can simply add the banner image, title, text, photo galleries, Google maps, YouTube videos and forms from the interface and easily copy across content from your Google Docs, Sheets, Forms and photo galleries. It's all child's play, made for people to use across the world and ten times simpler than Wordpress.
It's what they have done for business, is where we are excited. The same web site building tool is now a function in Google My Business.
So if you have registered and control a listing on Google Maps - this is for you!
2. Get into Google My Business
Login to your Google ‘My Business’ dashboard and look in the left side menu for ‘Website’.
Follow your nose and this function will create you a landing page website from your business listing almost immediately.
It will automatically load your business name, logo, map location, photos, opening hours and even loads a nice banner image to match your type of business.
3. Now your free domain
When you publish, Google offer you a new domain name at xxxxxx.business.site. By default they will hyphenate your business name to create the xxxxxx part. Hyphen's have never been a good idea in domain names, but here they are again!
Here's the trick - you can overwrite the hyphenated business name and have a look around for a great generic address. The land rush started on the 14th of July 2017, so some of the best addresses have already been taken. For our account customers though we have already captured some great generic addresses and for ourselves, we have taken "websites.business.site" - which we think is pretty cool.
To get a good domain and website in this space requires fast action. We invite you to give us a call at eCentral on 0407 15 13 11 to take advantage of this opportunity or to get you organised on Google Maps and Google My Business.
Related Links:
Google My Business
