Google has officially launched a single-site site builder for small businesses. The new tool called "Website" is free and promises to allow small business owners to create and edit websites in minutes on desktop and mobile.
According to Google, 60% of small businesses around the world do not have their own website. Google is trying to increase this number with the launch of the new website builder.
Website is an extension of Google My Business, which means you need to have a complete GMB profile completed in order to use the tool. Google will automatically extract the information from your GMB profile to create the website, which can then be personalized with themes, photos and text.
If it's the first time you sign up for GMB, Google automatically invites you to start creating a website. If it's already registered, you must sign in to your Google My Business account, click on 'Manage Location', then select Website from the menu. Alternatively, you can start creating your website through this landing page.
Follow the on-screen instructions and when you're happy, you can continue and publish the website to see the world. By default, sites created with the Website will have the structure of the "companiata.business.site" domain. A custom domain can be purchased from the Settings menu in your account, and Google will automatically link your site to the new domain.
After publishing the site, updating it is as simple as updating GMB information. Any update of GMB information will be automatically applied to your web site.
The Google Builder website is quite limited, lacking many of the features you find on a CMS. This is the compromise that you get with a free, easy-to-use tool that comes with free hosting. It's not a perfect solution, but it's definitely better than not having a website at all.
For more information about Google Small Business Website Builder, see the Google help page.
https://support.google.com/business/topic/7032534?hl=en&ref_topic=6377335&authuser=0
