Just recently, Zoho Sites began a component of their Zoho service providing websites similar to Google Sites. I was excited about the prospect and VERY impressed with the service. Every theme is responsive so it looks great on all media devices. It's easy to use, easy to set up, and easy to maintain! It's really beautiful. I seriously considered moving my blog there.
However, this will likely never happen under the current Zoho Sites setup because of some very real barriers. For one, you cannot import from other sites. I actually considered manually moving over 600 posts to Zoho, even did a few, but quickly realized it wasn’t practical. I wrote to them in their forum and they just reiterated what I already knew, that they could not import from other sites. I was hoping they would say it was in the works but I’m afraid not.
There aren’t any plugins for Zoho Sites and publicizing your site could be a problem. Third party programs like Blogsy don’t work with Zoho Sites and there’s no other way to publish a post than to log on and do it through the Zoho Sites website. You can’t email a post or set up a program like Windows Live Writer to add your blog entry.
However, if you are looking for a great way to write a blog and aren’t interested in these extras, Zoho Sites is a great option and I do recommend you give it a look. It’s definitely worth that.
If you’d like to see the entries I posted at Zoho Sites during this process to get an idea of how it looks, please visit http://myweb4ed.zohosites.com.
Carol Mortensen has nearly twenty-three years of educational experience. She began as a substitute teacher as she worked toward her degree. Upon graduation, Carol began teaching middle school Math and Algebra I and served as the technology liaison for her campus. She served as a teacher for 16 years and was lucky to have taught at Hillcrest Middle School, a 1:1 campus where every student was issued a laptop computer. She also worked as an Instructional Technology Trainer for her district providing training and technology integration support for campus and district staff, faculty and administrators. Currently, Carol enjoys her position as the Campus Technology Integration Specialist for Deer Park High School – South Campus. Before taking this position this year, she served for three years as the Campus Technology Integration Specialist at Fairmont Junior High in Deer Park Independent School District. In this position, Carol provides integration support and training to the students, staff, faculty, and administrators at the campus and district level. In addition, Carol is an online Math instructor for Aventa Learning and K12. The Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) named Carol the Classroom Teacher of the Year for her innovative and creative use of technology to create a 24/7 virtual classroom using her classroom website. Carol has presented at school districts throughout Texas as well as state and local conferences on a variety of technology integration topics. Her article on the use of websites as an instructional tool was recently published in the TechEdge Magazine. In February 2011, her article, Lessons Learning In a 1:1 Classroom, was published by TechEdge. The article was republished in ISTE’s Learning and Leading magazine in August 2011. She was named Fairmont Junior High’s Teacher of the Year for the 2011-2012 school year. Carol is passionate about the positive impact that technology has on student achievement. Her presentations are packed with real-life solutions, quality resources, and humor. She has an ability to connect with her audience and motivate them to take technology integration to a higher quality level.
