How to start a charity website: web hosting
Charity, Web Hosting by Kemuel Tags : Charity, Non profit, Web HostingWeb hosting
The previous post discussed the types of website to consider and the CMS software, WordPress that you will typically use to build your website. One important factor we did not yet consider is Web hosting. When you go to a website’s url you are contacting a specific computer, a webserver, to send you the files which make that website. A webserver is just a normal computer with web server software installed on it. To ensure good uptime of the website they are placed in secure cooled datacenters with fast internet connections. To put your website on a webserver you will have to rent a service called ‘web hosting’.
Graphical sitebuilders
Some web hosting comes in the form of graphical sitebuilders which allow you to build and deploy a website from your browser. As mentioned in the previous article, you should be a bit careful with these services as they will often not give you access to the website’s files. Should you ever decide to take a break with your charity or move to a different web host, you will then lose your website.
Shared web hosting
A safer place to start is Shared web hosting, which shares one web server between many websites. Getting a dedicated server for your website is also possible, but requires significant technical expertise and is expensive. A good shared hosting provider will manage the technical side for you and often provide an automatic interface to install software like WordPress or even graphical sitebuilders. Most importantly, you will keep full access to your files and will also be able to have personalized email accounts for your domain name which you can access from your computer or phone. If at any time you want to leave, you can transfer your files to another provider and continue where you left off. Be careful when choosing web hosting providers though, many will offer unrealistic packages with unlimited resources to seduce beginning web designers. When one of the websites on the server truly uses a large amount of resources they will often suspend them under a ‘fair usage’ clause or worse let the website slow down all the other websites on the, often overfull, server.
Our hosting services
We provide shared hosting services with one-click installation of wordpress and various other site software. Graphical sitebuilders are also available and you can host as many email account as you like, provided they fit within the disk limits of the account.
Special discounts and free trials are available for non-profit organizations, so always feel free to Contact Us. We’ll also gladly advise you and help you get started. If you’d rather explore, we’ll write a detailed overview of what to pay attention for in web hosting soon enough.
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