We launched Google Apps for Your Domain at the end of August, and since then we’ve been getting great feedback from people all over. Organizations from Thailand, Argentina, and even our neighbors in Palo Alto have set up private-label Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and spiffy customizable start pages for their custom domains. We think it’s especially cool that thousands of students are able to connect better with their classmates — and their schools’ IT directors no longer need to wring their hands over spam and clogged inboxes.
“Hey, wait, Costin,” you say. “That’s great for them, but our organization doesn’t have a custom domain.”
Well, I’m excited to let you know that we’ve made signing up for Google Apps for Your Domain much easier for those of you that don’t yet have your own domain. We’ve partnered with GoDaddy.com and eNom, two leading domain registration services, to offer domains for $10 per year. And I like the fact that we’re including private registration to protect your personal information.
Now you’ve got one-stop shopping for all the services currently on the Google Apps for Your Domain platform — just find a domain, buy it, and get started. We’ll do all the behind-the-scenes configuration work for you. For now this is available for .com, .net,.org, .biz, and .info domains, but we’re working on bringing it elsewhere soon. We’re also constantly working to introduce more cool new features to this service, so be sure to check back for updates.
It makes sense… but it also strays from their search only market. I can imagine they’ll be offering it soon to those they create landing pages for. In case you missed it a week or so ago Google offered to host landing pages for businesses who don’t have a website, but want to buy adwords for their business. That way people would be directed to a page with contact information, a coupon or what have you. Why not add the additional step of giving them the Domain Registration, Page Creator, Gmail, Calendar and the rest of the suite for a nominal fee. It’s very little to do with search, some to do with advertising, and a whole lot to do with creating a cash flow.
Tags: Google, Hosting, Interesting, Internet
