18 months later and all my web design clients still very happy with Google Apps
Posted by: Mayur in UncategorizedI first wrote about my experiences using Google apps in December 2006. Its been 18 months and I am still very happy with it. I have since moved any new clients to Google Apps (www.google.com/a/) and its been great. Google apps is a service where you can have your own custom branded email, calendar, documents, etc. Basically everything Google provides for free under their free calendar, documents, gmail branded service is available in a branded version also. The only requirement for the service is that you own (or at least have DNS control) over a domain name. Best of all, the basic service doesn’t cost you a penny and you are free to move away at any time by changing your DNS entries. Premium service options that the consumer-oriented free version doesn’t have (like enhanced email auditing, etc) are available also.
As a Google apps users, its very important to realize that all of your Google services will now have a special URL. Its a URL accessible in a few different ways. Preferably your web designer can setup DNS entries so that links like .com">.com">.com">.com">http://mail.<yourdomain>.com gets you to your Google Apps email account, and .com">.com">.com">.com">http://calendar.<yourdomain>.com gets you to your Google Apps Calendar, etc.
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Regular @gmail accounts |
Google Apps accounts |
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| gmail.com or mail.google.com | mail.google.com/a/<yourdomain> or mail.<yourdomain> assuming your DNS entries are correct
(eg: for me its http://mail.redprimary.com) |
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| Calendar | calendar.google.com | calendar.google.com/a/<yourdomain> or calendar.<yourdomain> assuming your DNS entries are correct
(eg: for me its http://calendar.redprimary.com) |
Documents, Sites, etc follow the same format as above.
Few realize that the link for accessing their calendar and documents is inside their email as shown here. You will see these links both in your free @gmail or in your free @branded email.
One other thing I always do to make my client’s lives easier is putting a link on their web site so they can access their email without remembering what the address is. See below for some examples.
www.burnabyhomelesstaskforce.org
A lot of my clients don’t know the basics of Google Calendar, so I found some links to videos that may help. Just click the play button below!
And, if you are feeling particularly ambitious with your Google Apps solution, have a look at your Google Documents as well 
Hope you find this post useful! If you do, leave a comment below!
Tags: gmail, google apps, google calendar
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