Setting up a community website

[Buck]

Hi

I help with our village association and we are wanting to build a website for us to use to promote the village and its amenities as well as being used as a community noticeboard to keep everyone updated on what is happening in the community etc.

As we do not have funds to pay someone to set up a website I 'volunteered' to look at what we could do ourselves with a bit of guidance.

Reading through I'm thinking Wordpress looks a good option as it should allow me to build a website that offers ebnough functionality and from my early reading, we can develop and expand this to offer other items such as free downloadable walks of the local area / fact sheets and so on.

Our thinking is that we will have a main website with potentially another one for the village association and another for a second village group [although I accept we may not have got our thinking right!]


I watched part of you tube video last night (from the USA) where they used wordpress and he recommended a company called HostGator as they allowed you to have multiple websites hosted for one reasonable fee per month. I thought this was a good idea but didn't know where to start inthis country as I don't think we could host with them?

We were also wanting to be able to have emails linked to the website such as the usual 'admin' 'enquiries' 'sales' etc.

I've read the sticky "so... you want a website" but thought this was slightly different to the photo website type so to my questions: -

- Am I on the right track with Wordpress?

- Can anyone recommend a hosting service that will allow multiple web sites and emails form one account?

- What else do I need to consider?



Thanks

 

[Rob L]

Yes Wordpress is a very good solution, works straight out of the box and can be tailored to almost any requirement you may have (now, or in the future)

I've been using https://www.vidahost.com/web-hosting/overview for a few years now, their support is excellent.

They do a basic package for £29 p/a with which you can host up to 6 websites.

They also have a one click install for many platforms including Wordpress.

 

[Buck]

Thanks Rob

that sounds like what we are after - I'll take a look this weekend. thanks.

 

[Phil V]

I can't think of a good reason you'd need 3 separate sites TBH? 1 site is easily divisible into stuff aimed at different audiences, even if you want to have an area restricted to members, wordpress allows for private password protested postings etc.

I've just done a site for the local scout district, now run by people with no web building experience, who've managed to design user forms, attach maps and all sorts of things. PM me if you want a link to have a look.

 

[jemdna]

Just want to second Rob's post about Vidahost, Although I now host my website through my own webserver in the living room, past experiences with Vidahost's hosting and customer service has been fantastic.

Well worth the money

 

[Buck]

I can't think of a good reason you'd need 3 separate sites TBH? 1 site is easily divisible into stuff aimed at different audiences, even if you want to have an area restricted to members, wordpress allows for private password protested postings etc.

I've just done a site for the local scout district, now run by people with no web building experience, who've managed to design user forms, attach maps and all sorts of things. PM me if you want a link to have a look.

That's good to know - thanks Phil

Yes, one was going to be for the committee members etc.
The other site is potentially for our village magazine (potentially with subscribed content!) - we are thinking of an on-line version (all early ideas at the minute) and I'm trying to cver all eventualities - I don't want to find I've missed a trick.

PM on its way

 

[Buck]

Just want to second Rob's post about Vidahost, Although I now host my website through my own webserver in the living room, past experiences with Vidahost's hosting and customer service has been fantastic.

Well worth the money

Thanks Brian.

I might sign up for a month or two first to try whichever we choose then go for one of their annual packages.

 

[six6six]

Any decent host can host multiple sites. up until recently I was with tsohost.co.uk, and I highly recommend them. No faults, or troubles. my circumstances changed and am now with RackSRV.com. So far so good...

If I remember correctly tsohost.co.uk only charged £3/month. Their cloud hosting control panel is easy to use, and theres a wordpress automated installation readily available when ever you need it.

Options to add multiple domains if required. Hope this helps, and good luck.