How i made my 1st google site

WARNING: Read at your own RISK...

The first time I saw SITE.GOOGLE I was very confused, in fact I made a sarcastic comment as to why it was too difficult to understand.

I think the problem was lack of clarity from google programmers on what it is. Google site is sort of like a template, it is not the same with Geocities or other webhosting, where you can make your own way. The site.google way is to save time by lessening design time. The page format selection are those that are proven and easy to navigate.

Its like comparing TradeMe versus eBay, mail.Yahoo versus Gmail. The format or theme of TradeMe and Gmail are easier to understood and better for the eye. And that is what site.google wants, for us to display data in an easy to read flow more like STANDARD's. So we can spend more time making contents, instead of fiddling what the design should be. Which is great, its like having a facebook or friendster, all we have to do is put contents and some little cosmetics here and there to make it more personal, but how the data is displayed and organise is almost the same with the other members.

Anyway, as i said i was confused on my first day in site.google. I made some selection, such as standard white, single panel, ie as simple as possible. However, when it was time to edit, I cant understand why i cant make it look better, like some words or pictures go somewhere else. Also I dont know where the contents are going and also I got confused to where the pages go.

What i did was experiment. The experiment is to put pictures and words in order to find where they are going. Some geeks will have manage to this quicker than me, but i have a different brain composition than them.

Anyway, here was my first webpage in site.google. Figure 1 shows the major parts of the home page or basically the site.google itself.

Figure 1.

Notice the "Geeky Sparky" on the header area. In the header area, I would rather put a image logo in there than use text logo, to make it look better. Also the text logo tends to move, from the side of the image to the bottom of the image, depending on the size of the window.

Note, this image is 830 X 520pixels. If this was 30% bigger, it will be difficult to navigate in the site.google editor.

To remove the text logo, go to OTHER STUFF, to go there you could click on "edit sidebar". Just make sure to save what ever you are doing.

See Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Uncheck the Site name, and it wont be displayed. Use instead an image logo. On the site description, put as much info in there, this helps the search engine spider in giving a better category for your site.

If your site is more into porn, dirty words, adult opinions, sex toys, put a check on the Mature Content.

The Landing page is your choosen home page. Your home page will always have the same image or text logo. Your home page (depending on the theme and layout you choose) will have the navigation bar beside it. I like to visit website with navigation bar, it helps me undestand the site much easier. Remember your home page will be the top level.

Check only the Google Analytics when you have a better understanding of it and when you have put enough

data on your site, but not to the point when it is almost 100% finish. The Google search engine likes a site that grows and get update.

It wont get a good rank if the data in the site is always the same. My advice to you, which I learned from others as well is to check this option when you have accomplished at least 25% of your sites target data.

Google Analytics is more about website traffic management or knowing you website traffic statistic. You can use Google Analytics login to access your Website Optimizer.

Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/

Check this Google Webmaster Tools in the same wisdom as the Google Analytics. It is about submiting all your URLs(wed site address) to the Google index and get detailed reports about the visibility of your pages on Google search engine.

Learn more at www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Try to read about Search Engine Optimization.

Now dont click "Delete this Site", look at the WARNING sign.

I dont know much about "JotSpot Wiki" at this time, also heed to the WARNING sign.

The best way to write a content in site.google, is not to write it on the site.google editor. Instead use your

Notepad or any other text editor such as VIMS, EMACS, EDDIE, etc. After writing it down, copy and paste it.

This will also reduce your bandwidth consumption. You can also use MS-Word, for a better spelling and grammar check.

The name/title of the page you make will also appear on the TOP area of the page itself. Make the TITLE more interesting and also make it very interesting for the search engines.Like the title I use on this page "How i made my 1st google site", from it you could already make a sense to what the presentation or content of the page will be.

To change the HEADER logo, go to the edit sidebar, and replace the logo with an image you just made. Try to look at other site.google website, for comparison and size, and "save image" their header logo. Using a photoshop or similar, you will be able to find out the size of the image, use similar size, to make a logo or HEADER.

If you can't find the page you want to edit, try to go at the bottom part of your browser(Firefox, Opera or Chrome, or IE which I hate).

By this time you will have a good grasp as to what site.google is all about.

PS: If you didnt understand this, just imagine how worst site.Google is because it has a huge budget and it still didnt get the job right. Hey, its both FREE anyway.