Create Free Websites With mySites
mySites is a new platform that lets you create free user sites. While we can do the same with Hubs and Squidoo, as well as with WordPress.com and Blogger.com, some web users want a different kind of model to suit their needs. mySites differs in the way where it doesn’t need any coding knowledge on your behalf to get started.
With mySites you can host:
- websites
- blogs
- articles
- files
- movies
- pictures
- music
All of this is free by the way. You will be given up to 10GB of space. This equals 24 hours of videos. The great thing about mySites is that you can design websites only for your eyes, or share them with your friends or the world instead.
Building a site with the platform is easy, since it comes with its own site creation software. You can click and point to build your site in no time with heaps of functionality built in.
This provides a great platform for tutorial sites or membership models. You can also add forums and many cool tools to make your site more interactive.
Another bonus is the one convenient login vs several logins if you were to use separate sites for every need. A normal web user has an account at Flickr, another one at YouTube and then we have a blog and yadda yadda yadda. Each of these accounts require separate login as you well know.
The creators of mySites also make the platform available to use on any device, which means it will be compatible with TV, mobile phones and many other platforms.
From what I have seen, mySites was only launched a couple of months ago and at this stage their system isn’t open to the public yet, unless you have a VIP code. I tried to Google them, but wasn’t lucky.
I’d also like to see some examples of sites that can be built with them before I sign up, even if it is free to use.
The system looks promising, because it could provide business owners with an ideal network environment to collaborate with a team. Naturally it doesn’t include messaging like Google apps or even Zoho, but still, it allows for some interactive networking between groups, family members or friends.
I look forward to see more about mySites in the near future as I’m tempted to check them out. I have several ideas that might work well with this platform, but would have to see whether they are feasible.
If any of you have already tried mySites, please let us know in the comments. I would love to hear what you think.
Related posts:
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- Mini Sites - What Are They & Why Use Them
- Social Bookmarking 101. What Is It & Why You’d Want to Use It to Grow Your Business!
- The Different Types of Websites
- Web 2.0
July 13th, 2008 at July 13, 2008, 8:39 pm
looking for setting up a website that has shopping cart on it and is really cheap or is a monthly fee that isnt to much
July 14th, 2008 at July 14, 2008, 8:00 am
Hi Bina,
Just tried out this MySites, and apparently, I managed to get registered. How? Just insist on login even if you get a nessage that what they call “core” is incorrect (as long as you are certain you copied everything right).
Tried the different services they offer, and got messages like “oops, this doesn´t seem to work right now - try again later”.
Or the page in question just faded out, and I had to hit the “back” button.
This stuff seems to be VERY MUCH BETA.
What Mysites promises seem quite interesting, but well, if it doesn´t work properly……..
I also see it seems to comes from a country that according to my 30 years of experience, for some weird reason generally think that “why make it easy, when it can be complicated beyond any possible means of comprehension.”
July 15th, 2008 at July 15, 2008, 11:20 am
Wen:
Go check out kiosk-viphosting.com
They have at least 3 options that all include more or less everyting you need for IM, like autoresponders, databases, blogs, forums, email adresses, shopping carts and a large etcetera.
(Compare: The standalone Autoresponder Aweber ONLY will cost you abt. $20/month)
I´ve been using this hosting for some time, and I´m transferring other websites to kiosk-viphosting at the same rate as they are next to expire in other hosting companies.
As for a Domain Registrar: Try http://www.namecheap,com
Unlike godaddy.com, they don´t make you walk thru a neverending path of upsells, and you won´t find yourself dropped out without any warning because of an injust spam complaint.
Private Domain Registry is included in Namecheap, whereas other registrars will charge you an additional USD 5-8 per year for this.
Well, I hope this has been to some help for you.
Best of luck!
July 16th, 2008 at July 16, 2008, 12:40 am
Hello,
I’m the founder of MySites
I’ll try to answer some questions and add some details:
Monika:
Thanks for the review
We have launched in private beta in early May, and we just launched publicly on July 12th!
Before the public launch, we tried to stay out of the radar, in order to avoid being copied.
MySites is much more than just website hosting and creation; like you pointed out further in your review. We provide services to cover all the needs of young users.
We try to cover all the needs of a young user online. This means we provide tools to upload, browse, share, and publish any kind of content anywhere online.
If you have ideas or good/bad feedback, we’d love to hear it. You mentionned you have several ideas, so go ahead
My username on MySites is rameen.
Wen: we do not have shopping carts currently. We are currently focusing on young users (gamers, students) so that they can create websites for their communities and post content.
Sigmund: It’s a shame you’ve experienced bugs. We do test the site on several machines and configurations, and together with test users, but sometimes something like this slips through.
Could you let me know which browser / OS you are using? This would be quite helpful.
I’m happy you are interested in the concept.
I’ll ignore the comment about Finland
July 16th, 2008 at July 16, 2008, 2:14 pm
@ Wen: Thank you for your comment. Also, while Sigmund already answered your question and gave you a lot of great ideas, I’d further like to point out the power of WordPress combined with a shopping cart Plugin. All you’d need is hosting and of course a domain name to make this work.
@ Sigmund: Thank you for helping out Wen. As you already know, mySites have launched publicly now so your earlier bugs might have all but disappeared.
@ Ramine: Thank you for taking part in the discussion here and answering some questions/issues.
I’m sure you put in a lot of hard work to get this rolling and functioning to satisfaction and with any new launches there are always bugs.
My ideas were based on private ways on how to use this platform from a business perspective. One application that would certainly take mySites to a new level is to incorporate a chat version for users.
This would make it easy for teams to stay in touch while they are online.
Take care and thanks again for stopping by.
Monika
July 16th, 2008 at July 16, 2008, 5:05 pm
Hello Monika
We’re currently working on chat!
We have a prototype messaging system, which works like a traditional forum inbox (eg, it’s not live yet). We will make it sexier and live quite soon hopefully
We’ve also been updating the user interface a lot. I noticed you wrote your review on July 4th, which is before we introduced things like double clicking, left click info, and windows to view content, so I recommend you have a look!
I’d really like to hear your feedback on these, so feel free to message me on mysites! My username is rameen.
Cheers,
Ramine
July 16th, 2008 at July 16, 2008, 7:09 pm
Hi Ramine
First, I apologize for my final comment, it was NOT meant for Finland, but for Spain, You see when checking out the site, at least the page where I clicked out a little frustrated, the country ID in the browser was .ES = Spain.
Maybe you´ve got a copycat out there lurking around and copying your site?
As for my browser: IE 7 OS: WindowsXP Media Edition
Best regards
Sigmund
July 17th, 2008 at July 17, 2008, 3:13 am
Hey Sigmund,
No worries
We use .es domains for shortcuts:
http://www.mysites.com is the main domain
mypictur.es
mymovi.es
mytun.es
etc are shortcuts (so you don’t have to click on them from the main site, saves you time).
We’re based in Finland though, the country of Nokia and the beautiful girls
Have you tried the site recently? Could you please let me know if you have the same bugs?
Cheers,
Ramine
July 17th, 2008 at July 17, 2008, 9:23 am
Hei Ramine,
kuinka aari te?
(Probably misspelled, backwards and everything, but I chance on that)
Abt. Finland - I would put that in the order of importance:
1. The Beatiful Girls of Finland - everlasting!!
2. Nokia - Great stuff, but maybe not everlasting?
I´ll login again tomorrow, and if I still find the same bugs, I´ll let you know (it´s getting a bit late at night right here, or early in the morning)
All the best
Sigmund
July 18th, 2008 at July 18, 2008, 9:57 am
Hi Ramine,
I checked out your site again, and searched for something like blog/comments/suppoert/forum, things like that….
Yes, I found a couple of things that in my opinion could be improved, apart from a weird behaviour that sometimes looks very much like a bug or two.
You may put a support/blog/forum link - whatever - and I´ll post my comments, unless you prefer to post your email address here.
I bet you´ve put a lot of work into this project, and it would be a pity if you fall flat on your face because of a lack of feedback.
Best regards
Sigmund
July 18th, 2008 at July 18, 2008, 3:58 pm
Hey Sigmund,
Currently, 3 ways of sending feedback easily:
1) Msg on Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11185619106
2) Msg me on MySites: buddy name: rameen
3) Msg me on Facebook: Ramine Darabiha
We’re also working on a forum for MySites
I appreciate your spending time to test it!
Cheers,
Ramine