Google Webstory

 Google Web Stories are powered by AMP technology and are owned by Google. They are immersive, full-screen experiences that you can host on your own website.

The ability to post them on your own site is what makes them different from other story experiences, such as Instagram or Facebook stories. In addition, you can include links, calls to action, and Google AdWords in your Google Web Stories.

Using individual story panels with videos, graphics, and other features, you can share brand narratives that users can click through to experience the story you want to tell.

In addition to viewing them on your website, people can also experience Google Web Stories in a Google search, in Google images, or through the Google Discover app, available on Apple and Android devices.

Owning your Google Web Stories content gives you the full advantage to leverage SEO opportunities and make the most of this immersive storytelling option.

Every brand has a story to tell—and Google Web Stories helps you tell yours. Do you need some inspiration to get started? Here are a few examples.

Refinery29 has created a series called How Stuff Is Made, including this piece called How Money Is Made. It’s the kind of story that sounds rather boring, but throw in some great copy, videos, and photos, and it’s suddenly compelling. You are eager to find out what happens next.

Sometimes the world just needs more good news, and Google Web Stories are a great way to tell heartwarming stories. Brands can leverage the opportunity to tell inspiring and heartwarming stories, as NowThis has done with this one. It’s a story about a Paralympic swimmer who built his own pool when his training pool closed during the pandemic shutdown.

Stories about travel, animals, and kids are all just asking to be told in a visual format like Google Web Stories. Lonely Planet has run with it in this story about traveling to see wildlife with your kids.

Before you create your first Google Web Story, think about your brand’s image. What stories should you be telling? Leveraging the power of stories can be an engaging way to get people to care about your brand and what you have to say.

Don’t forget to take a few minutes to storyboard your story first, whether it’s on a white board or back of a napkin. Sketch out your plan and decide how many panels you need. Which visuals or videos need to be on each panel? Don’t forget your CTA or ads.

Next, it’s time to actually start creating your Google Web Stories.

Google stories are code-heavy. If you have a coding engineer on your team, they may be able to create the story for you, but they need to be familiar and comfortable with the AMP framework. If you want to start exploring that route, AMP does have a lot of documentation to support creators.

If you’re not a developer and want to create Google Web Stories for yourself, you can explore a number of tools. 

Knowing that many of their creators would not be coding engineers themselves, Google offers a number of third-party suggestions for developing Google Web Stories.

Because WordPress-built websites make up such a large share of websites, we will start there. This plug-in allows you to create Google Web Stories from within your WordPress website’s CMS.

Since it’s integrated with your website, your WordPress media library is available to your Google Web Stories. The plug-in offers drag-and-drop creation and allows you to publish your story right to your website. 

You also have access to templates to assist your design. If you have a WordPress website, this may be the most obvious and seamless option, especially if you’re already comfortable with the content manager.

Newsroom AI allows you to start creating Google Web Stories for free, with a lot of available features. Even with the free version, you can embed stories onto your website and start getting your stories out on Google. You can track how well your stories are doing with the analytics reporting feature.

Creating is simple. Just set up an account with your Google account and click “Create Story.”

Newsroom AI provides a lot of different templates to choose from. Grab one to get started. Next, you’re taken to the “create” page where you can start designing. 

This is where the visual fun begins.

From here you can change up each page with the content you want, including text, photos, and videos. You can also change the template midway through or choose other layouts and presets. The design options are as limitless as your story ideas. 

If you find yourself wanting to get more out of the experience, you can upgrade to a paid account.

There are a couple of different options, but the main feature paid accounts offer is allowing you to leverage Google ads for yourself. This may be worthwhile if you want to make some money with the content you are create. 

Another great feature of Newsroom AI is the Getty Images integration. With the free version, you gain access to Getty Images’ creative commons images. This is more of a convenience, so you don’t have to search images out separately.

The paid versions, however, get you access to the Getty editorial image library and Getty videos. If you’re brand is into history and culture, this may be a benefit for you.

Much like the first two options, Make Stories boasts easy-to-use features. They have a catalog of free images, icons, symbols, and more, and use a drag-and-drop interface for design. They also have templates to get you started. 

They have a WordPress integration, but also allow you to export each story in a zip file or publish to your FTP on your website, as well as use embed options like iFrame.

If you just want to explore a bit, this one might be the lightweight option that can let you see what it’s all about before diving in.