Google Sites (also called Google Apps for Work)

Google Sites is is a little known platform for building websites that may be suitable for those who require only a simple website.

Advantages Include:

• Some eCommerce capability (PayPal simple storefront)
• It’s free.  There is an option to upgrade to a $5 or $10 plan, however, the free option will be suitable for most users
• No advertising (unlike the free WordPress option)
• You can use any domain name.  Note: by default, your site will have a URL starting with sites.google.com, but if you buy a custom domain name, you can switch to that URL.
• Some limited functionality can be added, beyond static text, pictures and video using Google’s gadgets, which are equivalent in some ways to a WordPress plugin
• Various documents can be made available to your visitors, for download, including PDFs and word files.

Disadvantages Include

• Limited ability to customize and simplistic appearance.  Note that it may be possible to mitigate this issue to some extent by purchasing a template.  There are several companies offering Google Sites templates for about $50, however, I have not yet tried these and can’t comment on their usefulness.
• Bandwidth cap: if your website’s usage exceeds a certain amount, Google will temporarily block your account.  Google does not specify what their bandwidth limitation is, but if you only have a few thousand visitor per month, or less, you should be fine.
• Size cap on your website: you are limited to 500 MB of text, files and photos.
• The mobile responsiveness option is very poor and should probably be inactivated.

Here is an example Google Sites website, which was created in minutes for demonstration purposes.