Get a Free .in Web Domain and Hosting from Google

Google India, in partnership with ICICI Bank and HostGator (the web hosting company), has launched a new program called India Get Online where they make it easy for you to setup a website for your business for free (see video).
As part of the deal, you get a free .in web domain (provided it is available) and free web hosting for one year. The .in domain will registered to you while Hostgator will manage the website hosting* though you can move the site to any other web host for free.
Such free offers are always a goldmine for spammers but Google India has made it mandatory for businesses to enter their Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) at the time of registration. Since these numbers are unique for every individual / business, you can’t avail it more than once.
Your website will be integrated with Google Apps so you also get access to other Google products like Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Docs and more. You also get Google Adwords coupons worth INR 2.5k for free to help you advertise your website on Google and AdSense network sites.
[*] If you have purchased a web domain already, you can also use Google App Engine to host your website online for free.You can visit vijashiviinternational.in or khoslaprinters.in to get an idea of how sites created with the “India Get Online” look like. There’s a set of ready-made web templates, pick one that matches your business profile, you can customize the text and pictures of the pages and your site is good to go.
Google hasn’t exactly specified the amount that businesses will have to pay to renew their website registration and hosting after one year except saying that it will be a “discounted fee.”

How to Create a Website with Google

The following video will walk you through the whole process of registering your .in web domain and then setting up your website using one of the available themes.

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How to Sign-up for Google Apps for Free – Video Tutorial

Google Apps is no longer free. If you wish to have a branded email address that reads like myname@mydomain.com instead of myname@gmail.com, you will have to subscribe to the Business edition of Google Apps and that will cost you at least $50 per year.
You have options though. You can either configure your web domain with Outlook.com (for personalized email addresses) or, if you prefer the Gmail interface over Outlook, you can use the Mail Fetcher option inside Gmail to manage your Outlook emails from within Gmail.

How to Get the Free Edition of Google Apps

Alternatively, here’s a quick and simple workaround that will still let you sign-up for the free edition of Google Apps even though Google has officially retired the free edition – all you need is a free Gmail or Google account.

1. Go to appengine.google.com, sign-in with your Google Account and create a new Application. You may fill in any dummy date and click the “Create Application” button.
2. Open the “Dashboard” and on the next screen, click the link that says “Application Settings.”
3. Scroll down a little (refer to the video tutorial) and choose “Add Domain” to associate a domain with your App Engine application.
4. That’s it. Now you should see a special link* to sign-up for the free edition of Google Apps. You may either use your existing domain or buy one through Google Apps.

[*] You have to access this link through App Engine as Google Apps checks the HTTP Referrer information before serving up the sign-up page for the free edition of Google Apps.Related reading: Register Web Domains with Google Apps
Also, the Google App Engine website says that you only get a single-user Google Apps account when you sign-up through App Engine but in my testing, I could create additional users as well inside Google Apps.

Video Tutorial – Sign-up for Google Apps

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