- Head on over to Google Apps and click the 'Get Started' button.
- If you've all ready bought a domain (which can be done here), go ahead and enter it. If not, Google gives you the option to buy one right from within the setup page.
- Enter the rest of the required information and click 'I Accept, Create My Account'.
- You should now be on a page asking you to set up/verify your domain. Google provides clear instructions on how to do this. If you are stuck at this point, contact your domain registrar and they'll be able to help you.
- Click on the Organization and Users tab. Once you've clicked on this, you sould see one account; that is yours from the previous step. To create users, click the 'Create New User' button, or create a CSV and upload it. The CSV must contain the following:
email address | first name | last name | password
This can be created in Excel or Google Docs.
6. Once all the users are created, you can create shared calendars, have an IM client set up to your family or many other things within the Google Experience.
7. Make sure to tell your family members how to access their email/calendar etc.
One of the other things you could do would be to create a website for every member of your family. You can create things called subdomains which are essentially "something.your-surname.com". For example, let's assume that you have a family member called Mary. She could have an email address (as mentioned above) like mary@smith.com and a website like http://mary.smith.com. You can create hundreds of subdomains and point them to many free services that offer website creation like Tumblr or Blogger.
With the TLD (Top Level Domain, i.e your-surname.com) you can have a family intranet of sorts. An intranet is a central place for files, pictures and other things that you might want to share with the rest of your family. Google offers a free intranet service within Google Sites. You can use these in association with your new Domain Name/Google Account.
There are multiple possibilities of what you can do with a personal domain. We have only mentioned a few, but here are some reasons (besides the ones above) why you moight want to get a custom domain name anyway.
- It looks better than an @gmail.com or @hotmail.com email address.
- It stands out on a CV or Resume
- You can keep it forever (in case Google/Yahoo/Microsoft ever dies!)
- People tend to pick up the differences on a piece of paper, whether it be as simple as "My email address is john@doe.com.
If you have any suggestions, you can leave a comment below. We are always open to suggestions and questions, email us at team@thegeekpanel.com.
