Increasing your small business productivity is one of the most important things you must work on. Too often, businesses operate in different locations, such as towns and countries, and some big businesses operate on different continents. Internal business communication and information sharing among the people in the business greatly impact business productivity. So, one great solution is to create a Google Sites intranet for better communication and collaboration between your team members. The new Google Sites offer modern features like responsive design, secure access for staff only, integration with Google Workspace, customization with Google Apps Script, and the ability to migrate from classic Google Sites.

In this post, I want to cover one tutorial on how to set up Google’s sites as an intranet for small businesses.

What is a Complete Intranet Solution?

A complete intranet solution can help your team members make faster decisions, share information faster, control more efficiently, realize the most important projects or activities, and allocate project tasks… These activities can be implemented through one system – intranet. Google Sites intranets can further enhance internal communications and collaboration by securely sharing information, resources, and documentation with employees.

Wikipedia’s definition of intranet is: A private network that uses Internet protocols to securely share any part of an organization’s information or operational systems within that organization. The term is used in contrast to the internet – a network between organizations – and instead refers to a network within an organization. Sometimes the term refers only to the organization’s internal website but maybe a more extensive part of the organization’s information technology infrastructure.– Wikipedia

Google Sites Intranet

First, let’s talk about Google Sites Intranet, its definition, benefits, and how Google Sites as an intranet can help collaboration and communication in your small business.

The new Google Sites offer improved customization and user-friendly features compared to classic Google Sites, making the migration process essential for leveraging the latest tools and improvements.

Definition and benefits of using Google Sites as an intranet

Google Sites is a website builder for simple collaborative websites. It’s part of the Google Workspace suite and can be accessed with a Google account.

As we already said, intranet means an internal network within an organization where employees can access and share information securely. This can include documents, calendars, project updates and more.

Google Sites is perfect for small businesses with strong internal communication needs. You can create a central hub for all internal information and make it easily accessible and organized.

How Google Sites can help team collaboration and communication in Google Workspace

Some of the benefits of using Google Sites as an intranet include:

1. Google Sites intranet is cost-effective for your small business. Google Sites is part of the Google Workspace suite, so it’s cost-effective for your small business. Instead of investing in expensive intranet software, you can use Google Sites for free, only the cost of Google Workspace for each account of your team members.
2. You have a place for central information. With Google Sites as your intranet, all important information can be stored in one central location accessible to all employees. No more multiple platforms or systems to store different types of information.
3. Google Sites intranet has a simple and user-friendly interface. One of Google Sites’ main advantages is its simplicity. With drag-and-drop features and customizable templates, even those with limited technical skills can create a professional-looking intranet site.
4. Collaboration is key to any business and Google Sites excels in this. You can add team members to your intranet site and grant them different levels of access, making it a great tool for team and project management. The Google Sites team specializes in building effective intranets through efficient teamwork and direct collaboration with clients.
5. Access control is another important feature of Google Sites intranet. You have full control over who can view and edit your site, so sensitive information stays confidential within your organization.
6. Integration with other Google Workspace apps also makes Google Sites a popular choice for small businesses. You can embed documents, calendars and forms into your intranet site and in that way improve productivity and communication within your team.
7. Google Sites is mobile accessible, and employees can access the intranet from their smartphones or tablets on the go. This allows remote teams to stay connected and up-to-date with important information and updates.

Key Features of Google Sites

Let’s look at some of the key features that make Google Sites a great solution for your small business intranet. The new Google Sites offers modern features like responsive design, secure access for staff only, integration with Google Workspace, customization with Google Apps Script, and the ability to migrate from classic Google Sites.

1. Integration with Google Apps for a seamless user experience

Google Sites is part of the Google Workspace, which means it seamlessly integrates with other Google Apps like Gmail, Drive, Google Forms, Google Maps, and Google Calendar. This allows for a seamless user experience and easy collaboration among team members.

For example, using Drive file sharing will allow you to create shared folders for employees to work together on tasks.

2. Customizable design options to match your brand

With Google Sites, you have the ability to customize the design of your intranet to fit your company’s branding. You can choose from a variety of templates and color schemes or create your own unique design. Simply, you can add new features to Google Sites with just a few clicks.

3. Easy content management with a drag-and-drop interface

Google Sites makes it easy for non-technical users to manage and update content on the intranet. Its drag-and-drop interface allows you to easily add text, images, videos, and other elements to your pages. This means that anyone in your team can contribute and keep the intranet up-to-date without any prior coding knowledge.

4. Communication and collaboration tools for teams

Google Sites comes preloaded with standard communication and collaboration tools, such as Docs, Sheets, Calendars, and Blogs. It is strange to me why there is no possibility of embedding Google Chat to get instant messaging. But, there are different third-party plugins or apps for instant messaging that you can embed inside your Google Sites intranet. In such a way, Google Sites intranet can improve employee engagement and collaboration.

Blog is a great way to distribute internal communications to drive business and engagement and allows management to distribute company news.

One great feature of collaboration is the ability to create public calendars to help your employees stay on top of tasks and assignments.

5. Google Analytics Integration

With Google Sites, you can easily integrate Google Analytics to collect insights about your company’s intranet page views, session duration, bounce rates, and more. You can also use this data to make informed decisions about website design and content.

Furthermore, you can monitor employee engagement with important company information and resources by connecting your analytics account to your Google Sites intranet. This will help you identify areas where employees may need additional support or training.

How to Plan and Start a Company Intranet Project

If you are ready to create an intranet for your company, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

Google Sites intranets are an excellent solution for internal communications and collaboration, allowing you to customize themes to match your branding and securely share information, resources, and documentation with employees.

Step 1: Define the purpose and goals of your intranet.

Before diving into creating an intranet, it’s important to clearly define its purpose and what goals you want to achieve with it. Some common purposes of an intranet include improving communication within the company, organizing and sharing information, and increasing productivity.

Step 2: Identify key features and functionality.

Based on the purpose and goals of your intranet, identify the necessary features and functionality that will support them. This could include document storage, project management tools, discussion forums, or employee directories.

Step 3: Plan the structure and design.

The structure and design of your intranet will play a big role in its usability and effectiveness. Take some time to plan out the navigation, layout, and overall aesthetic of your intranet to ensure it is user-friendly and visually appealing.

Also, you can ask employees what they’d like to see on your company intranet. This will not only help you prioritize features and functionalities but also make your employees feel involved in the process.

How to Create Your Google Sites Intranet?

Let’s go through the step-by-step process of creating your own Google Sites intranet so you can start improving your team’s productivity and communication today.

Looking at Google Sites examples can provide you with ideas for intranet features and functionality.

Step 1: Access Google Sites

To begin creating your intranet, go to sites.google.com on any web browser. If you are already signed in to your Google account, you will automatically be redirected to the Google Sites homepage. Otherwise, sign in with your Google credentials.

You probably already have a free Google account, but you will have much better options if you use it as part of your Google Workspace account.

Step 2: Choose a Template

Google Sites offers some basic templates for different types of sites. You can start with a blank site or select some of the templates. For example, the portal template looks great as a starting point for an intranet platform. Once you select a template, click “Create” to build your site.

I like this template because there are already integrated some important parts for an intranet platform. Also, you can easily customize the template and integrate branding elements like logo, colors, pages, etc. Also, this template have already integrated search functionality.

If you don’t want to use a template you can start with the blank Google Site when you click on “Blank” site button.

Step 3: Customize Your Site

After selecting your template, you can begin customizing your site. You can change the layout and design of your pages and add different types of content, such as text, images, videos, and links. You can also add pages to your Google site and organize them into categories for easy navigation. Don’t forget to save your changes as you go along.

1. Add the name of your site.
2. Add the logo of your company.
3. The name of your small business.
4. The name of your intranet solution.
5. Add persons who can access your new intranet solution (image below).

Because we want our site to be our company intranet, we will need to add the emails or other accounts that can access the content on our intranet. Now, the site for our small business intranet has been created. The next thing that we must choose is what we want to have as an option in our intranet. Let’s say that we want to have these options in our intranet:

• Blog with the latest business information as an announcement.
• Document sharing place or as a storage place for the files.
• Project activities and realization.

There are too many possibilities for using Google Sites as an intranet for businesses, but I chose these 3 for this tutorial.

5. Create a Page for the Blog With the Latest Business Information

First, we will need to create a new page with the name “Announcements”.

Next, we will add some of the text boxes from the right sidebar. In this case, I am using “Collapsable text” where I add the title of the announcement and the content of the announcement.

Now we have a page named “Announcements” with the latest business information. When we want to add some business information, we must use some of the text boxes and headings, or simply you can add Google Docs documents.

6. Create a Place for Document Sharing

We can continue with creating a page as in a previous case and name it as a “Documents” instead of “Announcements”.

Because I want to add Drive Folder for this purpose, I have selected the first layout as shown on the screenshot, add title and explanation. The next thing I have to do is to insert the Google Drive Folder on this page clicking on the “+” button and select “From Drive” as shown in the image below.

Now on the right sidebar we will have all our folders in Google Drive. I will need to select one that will have a specific purpose for our intranet. Don’t forget to add permissions inside Google Drive for this specific folder.

Now, all documents inside that specific folder in Google Drive will show on the left side of the page.

If we click on the “Preview” button, we can see how our intranet solution will look on the web.

7. Create a Page With the Project Activities and Realization

As in the first and second cases, we start with creating a page by clicking on Create Page and naming it as “Project Activities”.

Next, we will need to prepare a Sheet in Google Drive that will have a list of all project activities, responsibilities, and the due dates for each activity. When we click on Insert Sheet, we will need to choose the right sheet that will need to be displayed on the page “Project Activities” inside our new intranet.

Now, the sheet will be displayed on our page with all raws and columns defined inside Google Sheets.

With this option, we can customize the data that we want to be included in our Project page.

8. Add Links on the Home Page of Your Intranet

For the quick opening of the desired page, it is good to link all important things inside the home page of your intranet.

That’s all! Now, you have your simple small business intranet for your company. You can publish the page now.