W EB P RESENCE S TRATEGIES
FOR S MALL C OMMUNITIES
AND L OCAL G OVERNMENTS
Module 2
Lesson A.
Managing Your Site
L ESSON O BJECTIVES
•
Who will “own” the site locally?
•
Website Ingredients
o An idea of what you want (Module 1)
o Choosing a domain name
o Choosing a web host
•
Some do-it-yourself software options
•
Pros and cons of working with a developer
OWNERSHIP
OF THE
C OMMUNITY
W EBSITE
•
Who will “own” the site? YOU should “own” it!
o
Many communities get off to a fast start, build a site,
and then lose track of it over time
o
Continuing ownership and oversight is crucial to longterm success
o
What community groups / partnerships can and
should be involved?
o
At a minimum, someone should be responsible for
timely updates and paying the appropriate fees
OWNERSHIP
OF THE
C OMMUNITY
W EBSITE
Who Should Be Involved with the Community
Website?
•
Chamber of Commerce
•
Technology centers / Community colleges
•
Health care
•
Government
•
Education sector (public schools)
•
Community groups (Kiwanis / Lions)
•
Businesses
•
All age groups (retirees, youth, etc.)
OWNERSHIP
OF THE
C OMMUNITY
W EBSITE
•
Key Considerations
o
o
Ongoing funding
•
Who is responsible for annual costs (domain name, web host)?
•
If a professional developer is used, how will site maintenance be
handled?
Should there be a “president” – elected annually?
•
o
Is this person different from the web developer?
Community website “board” that gathers input from various
groups?
W EBSITE I NGREDIENTS
A PPLICATION A REAS
W HAT IS A D OMAIN N AME ?
• A domain name gets you the “www.mycommunity.com” name
• Is this important? YES!
• Put some thought into what domain name you want
H OW D O I F IND O UT W HICH D OMAIN
N AMES A RE TAKEN ?
• Most domain name providers / web
hosting services will tell you:
o www.godaddy.com
o http://instantdomainsearch.com/
D OMAIN N AME I SSUES
•
Using FREE web page creators like www.weebly.com or
www.pages.google.com will NOT give distinct “www.mycommunity.com”
names
•
Instead, your page will be located at www.weebly.com/mycommunity or
www.pages.google.com/mycommunity
•
To get a www.mycommunity.com name, you will have to buy a domain
name (ongoing annual expense of around $10)
•
Can also use .net, .org, .biz, .us
•
•
.org is particularly popular among community sites – it is intended for noncommercial sites
Some of the free sites DO give you the option of buying a domain name
•
You use their templates to create a site that is linked to the domain name you
bought
D OMAIN N AME O PTIONS
•
Get Creative!
•
Some communities will buy multiple domain
names and “point” them all to one site
o
This is relatively easy (and cheap!) to do
G ETTING A .GOV DOMAIN NAME
•
www.dotgov.gov is the official government site for domain
registration
•
Cities / counties are encouraged to use “third-level” domain
naming when available (i.e. richmondcounty.ga.gov)
o
•
If not, “second-level” names can be registered if certain rules
are followed.
o
•
Check your state .gov site to see if this is possible
http://www.dotgov.gov/dnc.aspx
Cost: $125 / year (compared to $10)
o
Will need to register with site and obtain user ID
W HAT
IS A W EB
H OST ?
• A WEB HOST gets you the storage space to put up your website
• Most sources today offer BOTH domain
names and web hosting:
– www.godaddy.com
– www.register.com
– www.networksolutions.com
– smallbusiness.yahoo.com
W EB H OSTING FOR F REE ?!
•
Some resources offer to host your
site for FREE:
• www.weebly.com
• http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/enus/
• (Part of Microsoft Office Live)
• You can link (for free) to a domain
name you already own
• But, you are limited to the
capabilities of that template
H OW D O I G ET A D OMAIN N AME /
W EB H OST ?
• There are LOTS of resources online that offer these
services – search around!
• Check out their ratings:
– www.webhostingratings.com (over 200 to choose
from)
– Compare cost, data storage, visit some of their
sites
T YPICAL C OSTS
• Domain Name Registration
– www.networksolutions.com: $35 / year
– www.godaddy.com: $10 / year
– www.bulkregister.com: $10 / year
– www.smallbusiness.yahoo.com - $10 / year
– http://smallbusiness.officelive.com - $15 / year
• These companies all offer basically the same thing - with very
little difference in service.
• It’s easiest to get a domain name and web host from the same
company.
• Registering a .gov site: $125 / year
Explore the program you plan to use to
build your site before committing to a
domain name or web host!
T YPICAL C OSTS
• Web Hosting
– Offer different levels of services (Basic, Deluxe, Premium)
based on storage size and data transfer
– Most small community sites will only need “Basic” storage
– Service you receive may differ – who do you call if your site
goes down?
Yearly Cost (subject to change)
Basic
Deluxe
Premium
Network Solutions
$120
$160
$350
GoDaddy
$45
$75
$162
Bulk Register
$72
$120
$288
--
$120
--
Yahoo! Small Business
P UBLISHING YOUR S ITE WITH A W EB H OST
•
Most web hosts (GoDaddy, Network Solutions, etc.) will ask you to select which
files from your computer you want to upload to their host using a screen like this:
•
If you keep all your files (images, pages) together, this is easier!
W EBSITE B UILDING P ROGRAMS /
S OFTWARE – A B RIEF OVERVIEW
M ICROSOFT O FFICE L IVE
•
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com
•
Easy to build and host your own site:
1.
Choose a template
2.
Customize your site
3.
Use their free host (required)
4.
Add a domain (can buy through them
or redirect to one you already own)
M ICROSOFT S HARE P OINT
D ESIGN
•
More professional software package
•
Available for free!
•
Will require more time to learn
•
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/
YAHOO S ITE B UILDER
•
Template-based software
•
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
•
Build a site, alter it, preview it – before paying anything
•
Limits you to using Yahoo! as your web host ($120 / year)
W HICH IS R IGHT FOR YOU ?
•
•
Template-based sites (Yahoo, Office Live) are
good for non-technical people
o
Easy to learn
o
Easy to change
o
But, limited in terms of “fancy” features (rotating
images, drop-down menus, chat rooms)
SharePoint Designer is better for those that can
invest time in learning the program
o
But, if the person building your site leaves – someone
else will have to learn it!
S HOULD YOU H IRE S OMEONE E LSE TO
B UILD YOUR C OMMUNITY S ITE ?
• There are many full-time web developers out there who
can design and upload your site for you.
• Costs can range from $100 to $10,000
• “Typical” cost from webshackdesign.com:
•
•
•
$300 for home page
$100 for each additional page
This means roughly $1,000 for a 7-page site
• Make sure to discuss how you will handle:
•
•
•
Site updates / maintenance (part of contract or per-update cost?
How many updates required?)
“Pay-per-click” or other marketing options
Termination of contract (Passwords / Domain names)
U SING A P ROFESSIONAL
D EVELOPER
Pros
•
•
•
Cons
Can create a more attractive
(and professional-looking!)
site for your community
Can offer more of the
options discussed in Module
1 (online bill pay, chat rooms)
Can remove time
constraints/ headaches of
community members
• Can be expensive
• May be difficult to work with /
get to complete updates as
needed
• Get recommendations!
• Community is tied to whatever
program the developer decides
to use
• Difficult to re-build if / when
they leave
C ONTENT M ANAGEMENT S YSTEMS
(CMS)
•
Allow for a large number of people to
contribute to the site
•
Your developer will provide a template
for any number of individuals to update and
upload information
o
•
Makes maintaining the site much easier if
Chamber, Technology Center, Mayor, etc. are
all responsible for their own content!
Let your developer know if this is something
you are interested in
I F YOU D O D ECIDE TO H IRE A
P ROFESSIONAL D EVELOPER …
W HAT W E H OPE YOU C OME
AWAY W ITH …
•
An understanding of why it is important for a local
group to “own” the community site (and ideas for
setting up this group)
•
Basic website ingredients
o
Options for getting a domain name
o
Options for getting a web host
o
Some expected costs
•
Overview of 3 “do-it-yourself” programs to build a
community site
•
Pros and cons of hiring a web developer
T HE N EXT S TEP …
• Explore the various options for doingit-yourself
• Walk through the steps involved in
setting up some of the applications
discussed in Module 1
H OMEWORK
•
•
•
Decide who will construct the website:
o
A hired web designer
o
“Do-It-Yourself”
If hiring a web designer:
o
Identify potential designers in your community/area
o
Secure estimates/bids from potential designers
If doing it yourself:
o
Identify the individual responsible for web construction
o
Make sure that individual has access to necessary resources
(e.g., Microsoft SharePoint Designer software, domain name)