Resources for Learning

Free Website Solutions (and Services)

There are several free website hosting options for community and nonprofit organizations. You may want to think a little bit about what you'd like to use a website for, first. There are many services out there that may actually work for your needs, that may not require a full website. Some good options include:

Or, see a table comparing each of these. If you want a custom URL for your website (www.yourorganization.com, for instance) then you'll probably have to purchase one and set it to forward to one of these services. Dreamhost is an exception to this. You'll want to think a little bit about which domain you pick.

Detailed Descriptions of Web Services

  • Google Sites - If you’re looking for a very simple solution and don’t care what your URL is then you might try Google Sites.  This is especially easy to setup if you or your organization already has an active Gmail account. If you want to do a blog, Blogger is an easy to use blog service that you also have access to with your Google/Gmail account.
  • Wordpress - A fancier (but still free!) option is Wordpress, an open source blog/website software.  If you can operate Microsoft Word (or Open Office Writer) then you can probably figure out Wordpress. You can setup Wordpress blogs for free on the Wordpress server (so your URL would be www.yourorganization.wordpress.com). To do this begin by signing up, make sure to have an email address ready.
  • Dreamhost for nonprofits - Nonprofits can take advantage of Dreamhost’s free hosting program for nonprofits and charitable organizations registered in the US.  Any 501(c)(3) organization can make use of this service, which includes a real domain name (yourorganization.com, for instance!).  To begin follow the sign up process.  Make sure you have access to a fax machine and a 501(c)(3) determination letter. With a Dreamhost account you can install Wordpress, MediaWiki (like Wikipedia!), Moodle (course software), ZenCart (for e-business), dotProject (project management), PhpGedView (genealogy projects), Gallery (for pictures, movies, and more), phpbb (forums), WebCalendar, Advanced Poll, Joomla (content-management-system), and more easily within minutes.
  • Facebook Pages - A Facebook page is a public "organization profile" that enables you to share your organization or business with Facebook users as well as the general web (you don't have to be on Facebook to access the page). They're easy to setup if you already have a Facebook account, and can make use of the Facebook membership base. You can install many applications on them for many different functions, and update "fans" of your page. You can create a Facebook Page at their website.
  • Wetpaint wikis - A wiki is a collaboratively created website. Some wikis allow anyone to signup and modify them, while others only allow certain users. Wetpaint is an example of a free (supported by ads) wiki service that you can use for a community website. Wetpaint wikis are easy to modify and have a learning curve similar to Microsoft Word (or Open Office Writer). You can learn more about wetpaint wikis at their website, or listen to an introduction about it on the homepage.
  • YouTube - YouTube is a website built around videos that has a very large community and flow of traffic. If your organization is mainly interested in getting videos on the web they can setup a YouTube Channel for their organization that others can visit and even receive updates from. Visitors can post comments on videos and do collaborative annotations. Since videos use up a lot of bandwidth (they take a lot of data!) it might be wise to host on a website like YouTube instead of trying to run your own video server. Check out their homepage to see some of the different ways people are using YouTube or just make an account to sign up.
  • Flickr - Flickr is a rather famous picture and (to a much lesser extent) video hosting website. Visitors can add tags and responses to pictures and also create mashups and even explore the world with photos. It's easy to make an account here for community organization photos. To learn more, take a tour.
  • There are other free hosting options available out there too.  A quick search of Google returns grassroots.org and thinkhost.com as major providers.

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For a comparison of free website services, see the table below:

Option

Ratings* (1-4)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Google Sites (Blogger)

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • Immediate access if you already have a Google account
  • Allow other Google users to edit your site!
  • Pretty limited design options
  • Only basic features
  • No custom URL

Wordpress.com

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • Many features and add-ons
  • Create user accounts for anyone
  • Great for blogs!
  • Strong support community
  • No custom URL
  • Very large websites will run slowly

Dreamhost

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • A full hosting service, offers full professional tech support and dozens of features
  • Easy open source installs, like Wordpress and MediaWiki
  • Nearly unlimited storage
  • Includes email, or can be linked to Gmail
  • Must be a nonprofit for free service
  • Need a fax machine and a 501(c)(3) determination letter
Facebook Pages

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • Take advantage of the pre-existing Facebook network
  • Add applications for common needs
  • Basic visitor tracking
  • Works for users not on Facebook
  • No custom URL
  • One one page, limited flexibility
  • Requires Facebook account
WetPaint wikis

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • Good for simple collaborative websites
  • Easy to use
  • No custom URL
  • Ad supported
YouTube

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • Great for hosting videos
  • Large existing community
  • No custom URL
  • Only videos
Flickr

Ease of Setup

Management

Features
  • Great for hosting and organizing pictures
  • Fun to explore
  • Large existing community
  • No custom URL
  • Only pictures and limited videos

*Rating based on author's opinions and experiences, nothing official | Back to top

Picking a Good Domain Name (URL)

There are many websites out there on the internet. This unfortunately means that many common domain names (URL's) are already taken. Most registration sites will help you to come up with alternatives, but it's important to remember to keep them short, if possible, and memorable. Try to avoid domains that are difficult to spell or ambiguous.

The last two or three characters following the "." in a URL help to identify what type of site it is. Sometimes they can identify the country a site is hosted by. The most common ones you will see using the internet in the US are as follows:

  • .com - Commercial sites, which may include corporate homepages or individual users's homepages.
  • .net - A website that is supposed to be a network of some kind, though .net gets used in many of the same ways as .com.
  • .org - These are associations or other non-commercial organizations that maintain internet sites, though like .net, .org sometimes gets used like a .com.
  • .gov - This extension identifies the information server as a government entity.
  • .edu - Addresses ending in this extension indicate that you are connecting to a university, college, or other school computer system.

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