Ive decided to compile some resources and tips that will allow you to get a
domain name, web hosting, a basic CMS, web apps and branded email for about
$10/yr.
I think that with a little work and compromise, this combination will be
more than suitable for 70% of people. If you require a shopping cart, FTP
access or any detailed custom development, move on this is not for you. This
is for small business owners who traditionally operate in the brick &
mortar realm who just want a web presence, groups and individuals who just
want a simple website with online collaboration, and anyone else who wants
fairly robust layout options, self-publishing capability + an easy to use
webmail program (gmail) all while getting a custom domain and (50) email
addresses of yourname@yourdomain. com.
The formula goes like this:
1) Free Google Blogger: http://www.blogger.com/
account (you already have one if you have a Gmail email)
2) + $10 domain purchase (through blogger dashboard via GoDaddy)
3) + Free DropBox: http://www.dropbox.com/
account (for 2GB of file hosting) or other hotlinkable file host
4) + Free Google Domain Apps Standard Edition: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html
(when you purchase your domain through Blogger dashboard)
5) + A few CSS tricks to de-brand your blog as a Blogger blog.
This is the cheapest feature to price ratio Ive come across for anyone who
wants to build a simple professional looking custom branded website with NO
compulsory advertisements (you can actually "monetize" your blog and make
money off this with enough traffic... you own the blog and advertisements in
this setup).
Most people overpay for their hosting needs and use very little of the
features they overpaid for. Blogger is also the easiest when it comes to CMS
publishing (in my humble opinion Ive used several, albeit not as robust as
other CMS solutions).
First sign up and activate your Blogger blog. You can choose any available
Prefix so your initial setup blog will look like www.yourdomain.blogs pot.
com: http://www.yourdomain.blogspot.com
Then go to your dashboard and under Settings, go to Publishing and look for
Need a Domain? Buy One now!
This will take to a Google Checkout page. Since you went through Google
Checkout, your domain automatically gets Google Apps for Domains account (
Standard Edition) for the domain you just bought. This includes Google Docs
and branded email addresses (I think up to 50... not sure) you can manage
among other nice stuff. Since you went through the dashboard, all DNS
records will automatically be set up to point to your blogspot blog. Easy.
Blogger allows you to upload images and text for content, but if you want to
host the occasional PDF or other type of file, you need to use another
storage option that allows for a hotlink. I like DropBox because they give
you 2GB for free and allow about 10GB transfer per file per day. You can use
any other file host that allows hotlinking, like SugarSync or even Google
Sites (which you now have access to with your Google Apps for Domains
account).
You probably now want to un-bloggify you blog by removing all the Blogger
branding that happens on the page by default. From your dashboard go Design,
then Edit HTML.
Copy and paste this CSS override stuff in the page header and it will remove
the persistent Blogger navigation panel from the top of the page and the
Blogger favicon from the address bar.
******************** ******************** *****************
#navbar-iframe {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none
}
******************** ******************** *****************
The rest is just using the freeform HTML gadgets or other blogger gadgets to
design your pages. After you set up your email addresses, you can start
using your branded email and access them through your browser or any email
client.
You can actually create some very nice looking websites that dont even
resemble a blog using a Blogger account. Some even do all their layouts in
Photoshop and just host big images with hotspots as their entire site.
Feel free to add any other tips to squeeze the most value out of this setup.
