MFGx Blog : June 13, 2008

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Add this to the list of factors (VAT rebate reductions, rising taxes, falling U.S. Dollar, elevated wages, etc.) raising the costs to manufacture overseas - especially in China:

Stung by Soaring Transport Costs, Factories Bring Jobs Home Again from the WSJ (subscription required).

Something in here about clouds and silver linings ...

Have a great weekend.

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Awhile back, we wrote about Google Sites, a platform from the Googleplex that allows manufacturers to create whole Web sites with social/2.0 features easily.

Here's another toolkit from Google Labs that manufacturing SMBs will want to watch: Google Pages.

Like Google Sites, Google Pages is a WYSIWYG html editor. Here's what we get:

  • No technical knowledge required. Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software.
  • What you see is what you'll get. Edit your pages right in your browser, seeing exactly how your finished product will look every step along the way.
  • Don't worry about hosting. Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yoursitename.googlepages.com.

While Google Sites is a one-stop shop for complete Web site creation and hosting, Google Pages looks like it'll help those of us with an existing site to create pages to upload to them without having html or technical chops.

Right now, Google Pages is still in "an early testing phase" (is that pre-beta?) but it's accessible and looks pretty good.

For manufacturing SMBs looking to broaden their Web development options, you oughtta slap a bookmark on Google Pages.

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Google has just announced a new Web service called Google Sites, and it offers manufacturing professionals large and small several options to promote and serve their businesses, and collaborate with others simply and effectively.

In essence, Google Sites is about building a Web site without needing to know how to build a Web site. No coding, design or advanced computer skills are needed.

Check out these features and descriptions:

  • Single-click page creation - Creating a new page for your Google Site just takes the click of a button.

  • No HTML required - Creating a Google Site is as easy as editing a document, which means there's no markup language for you to learn - just get started.

  • Make it your own - (Google's) customization options let you give your Google Site your own look and feel.

  • Get started with templates - (Google) offer(s) a growing list of page types -- web page, announcements, file cabinet, dashboard and list -- to help you get started with your Google Sites pages.

  • Upload files and attachments - Use the file cabinet to upload files up to 10MB in size. Each Google Apps account receives at least 10GB of storage in Google Sites. Google Apps Premier and Education editions get an additional 500MB for each user account.

  • Embed rich content - Google Sites is integrated with other Google products, so you can insert videos, docs, spreadsheets, presentations, photo slide shows, and calendars directly onto your Google Sites pages.

  • Work together and share - (Google's) permission settings let you designate owners, viewers and collaborators (meaning they can edit pages) for your site. And you can make your Google Sites available to just a few people, your entire organization, or the world.

  • Search with Google - You can search across Google Sites pages and content using powerful Google search technology. You'll find specific pages and documents instantly, the same way you would on Google.com.

What does all this mean for manufacturers? You can create a useful Web site for your company. You can create an Intranet (internal site) to serve you company, employees, sales force, etc. You can create private sites to serve a project and only invite the project members. You can create training sites for your employees.

The point is that you can create a Web site - without knowing how.

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