Why Your Business Should Use Google Apps

Google Apps, free web apps provided by google have become very popular for personal use, but not as much so for business use.  Why?  Well, this is mainly because most people think that they have to have a GMail, or GoogleMail, account in order to use these services, but they are wrong.

You can actually sign up for a Google ID without a GMail account, the only thing is, you won’t be able to use GMail to check and respond to the email you have on your domain, unless your host supports POP3 access to the select few ports that GMail offers.  For people and businesses who use BlueHost and other hosts like it, which use port 26, and an obscure SSL port, the option to simply use GMail isn’t available.

This is where Google Apps comes in.  You can sign up for a free account for your domain, which gives you Google Docs, Google Mail, Google Talk, and Google Sites, all on your domain.  This means you’ll be easily able to use GMail with your own domain to check and respond to all of your email.  The additions of Docs,  and GTalk are all pluses, because they allow you to collaborate with other people, whom you will be able to add account on your domain for.  The best part of all of this, is Google Apps for your domain is free up to your first 50 users, and for most small businesses, this is not a problem, but for those businesses who do need more users $50 per year isn’t all that much at all.  Plus, you’ll be getting top notch support from Google with any problems you might have, as they give you a telephone number to call, instead of waiting for email support in the free version.  Another thing I noticed is that you can’t use GMail Themes in Google Apps, but I’m hoping for that to change soon, once they become more stable.

There’s isn’t really much to setting up Google Apps, either, so if you’ve set up your own hosting, and have bought a domain, and know how to set nameservers, you’ll be able to set them up fine, and you’ll be up and running in no time.  Google does provide pretty clear instructions, and I was able to set it up even though they didn’t have specific instructions for BlueHost, and I by no means consider myself an expert.  So, what are you waiting for?  You can be using Gmail to read and respond to emails on your own domain today!

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