One Way to Create a Website for a Non-Profit Organization

Note: The websites and software referenced in this article may have changed since this document was written.

Introduction

This article is meant to help you get started on your journey to create a website for yourself or a small organization. This is not the only way to get a website online, this is just a recommendation based on what I have done for a couple non-profit groups. Creating a website is a great way to move your organization into the 21^st century. Many young people are so used to the Internet that if your organization doesn't have a website, they may never want to find out more.

To get started: Choose and Register for your Domain

A domain is the website address that people will be typing in to get to your site. You want to make it something easy to remember - such as your organization's name (epwt.org for example). I recommend DotEasy.com for your website hosting. The charge is between $18 and $25 per year (depending on how many years you pay for at a time).

You may be asking about now, why wouldn't I just use one of those free websites rather than spending money to get your own website address? Well, here are just a couple reasons:

· Most free websites are full of ads that you have no control over. These may be ads you do not want associated with your organization.

· Most free websites don't allow you to have your own domain. For example, if I decided to use a free site through GeoCities (one example of a free website), my organization's website address would be www.geocities.com/epwt/ rather than just www.epwt.org. Which one is easier for you to remember?

So, assuming you decide to use DotEasy.com to host and register your website domain, this is an example if I wanted to start a website for a women's group in the town of Stacy, MN. I start by going to www.DotEasy.com and clicking Sign-Up Now. Then I type in a domain name I would like for my website. I will use stacywt.org as an example. Dot Easy does a search to see if someone else already owns that domain name.

When the search is complete, it will show you what is available. My search showed me that my requested domain of stacywt.org is available. It remembers each of your searches and gives you this summary after each one so you can keep searching until you find a domain name you like best.

Once I am sure of the name I want, then click continue. It will ask you to select a term of 1, 2, or 5 years and if you want to protect your domain or not. There is additional information on the site about the protection option, but note that it does cost extra.

Next it steps you through some additional decisions. I recommend the $0 Hosting. This is what I have used for the sites that I maintain. You can always upgrade to a paid hosting plan later if you find that it is necessary. You will need to add the FrontPage extensions option if you plan to use FrontPage to edit your website. This does cost extra so you may want to consider different software to maintain your site.

The next step is to enter in the contact information for the site. This is best if it is the person who plans to maintain the site. Then you will be creating your member id and password. This will be used anytime you need to log into the DotEasy.com website or when you publish new files to your website. I would recommend that this id and password be stored someplace where others in the organization can update the site if needed.

If you already know someone who uses DotEasy.com for their website hosting, you can enter their website address and you will give them some credit of additional storage space in their domain.

The last step is to submit payment information for your site. You will need a credit card for this step.

For any DotEasy.com questions, you can take a look at the "Read My Setup Instructions" link on their site.

To Setup Your Page with the Doteasy Web Creator

If your organization doesn't have anyone who is comfortable enough with technology to create the website from scratch, you can use the Doteasy Website Creator to help you with the process. This is as easy as picking a template, adding your details, and publishing your pages. This option is very easy and Doteasy has a great tutorial to help you through the process, but it is more limited than using your own editing software. To use this option, simply log into your Doteasy account and click "Launch Doteasy Website Creator". Click on the help button and they will step you through the process. Once you publish you are done! If you choose this option you can always switch to the more technical option at any time and vice versa. Either way you go, read the tips for creating your site section below for some tips on your website content.

Installing the Web Editing Software

If you decide you want more options than the Doteasy Website Creator provides, then you will need to install some web editing software (unless you already have some). There are many tools out there to help you maintain a website. They range in price from free to several hundred dollars. I will assume that most of you will want to take the free route, so that is what I suggest here. The software that I am recommending is called NVU and is available at www.nvu.com. These are the steps you can take to install this software. You can skip this section if you plan to use something else for maintaining your website.

Visit http://www.nvu.com/download.html and choose the correct version for your computer (probably Windows or Mac for most of you).

After clicking on the link, choose Run. This will install this web editor on your computer. You may also receive an additional security prompt, you should click run there as well.

Next, you will walk through a wizard to complete the install. Click next on the first screen. On the second screen, choose "I Accept" and then click next. Click next on each additional screen. On the second to last screen, you will click "Install" which will start the actual installation of the software on your computer. Then on the last screen, you can launch the software or just finish the installation.

Getting Started

The first step to actually creating your site is to create a folder on your computer's hard drive to hold your website. All files related to your site should be stored in this one place to make things easier for you. All files or folders you store here will also need to be copied to the Internet when you publish your site. I will get back to that later.

Using the NVU Software

The main screen looks similar to other Windows applications. You can enter text on the right side of the screen, just like you are editing a document. This is what your website will look like. Note - this is called WYSIWYG editing software which stands for "What You See Is What You Get." Other web editing tools may require you to write and understand HTML code.

I recommend the following links to help you get started with this software:

http://nvudev.com/guide/1.0PR/ugs02.htm

http://www.nvu.com/websitehelp.html

http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/nvu1.shtml

Some Tips on Creating your Site

· The first page you want people to see when they visit your site should be named index.htm.

· All your pages should have a menu displayed to allow your visitors to navigate to other areas of your site. This menu should also include a way back to the main page.

· When creating your website, remember the members of your organization may use it just as much (if not more) than other people seeking information.

· Important things to include on your site:

o If you only put one thing on your site - make sure it is contact information (including an e-mail address) for someone to talk to about your organization.

o If you have regular meetings, you should include information such as meeting dates, time, location, and directions. If your meeting location changes, then either update your site each time or simply provide contact information.

o A calendar of events section is important to communicate what your organization does. It is important to keep this up to date so visitors to the site see that you are active.

o Pictures! These give good insight into your organization and the events that you do.

o Resources for members. This can include your newsletters, meeting minutes, important forms, flyers to post, links to other sites, etc.

· Once you have your site created, it is a good idea to have some people look at it. You want to make sure the message your website gives matches your organization.

· I also feel that it is important that all your public relations materials (website, flyers, etc) have similar themes. It makes you look much more professional and put together.

· Once you create your site, get the word out! Put the website address on everything - flyers, business cards, brochure, your e-mails sent, etc. The website will be worthless to you if no one ever visits it.

· This one is important - keep your website up to date!!! I have visited sites in the past where the calendar of events was 2 or more years out of date. I would assume that the group is no longer active. You may also want to change your main page from time to time. Some people may check out your site several times before they even visit an event or contact someone for more information.

Publishing

When you get your web pages completed, you need to publish them to the Internet. This copies them from your computer to the Internet to make your pages available to the public to view. You also need to publish your pages after every change that you make.

If you are using the NVU software, then you can simply click the Edit Sites button and it will help you publish your site or your changes.

If you are using Dot Easy to host your website, you can take a look at the "Read My Setup Instructions" link on their site. In the uploading files section of this page, it will tell you the information to use for your publish (also called uploading) settings.

If you are not using the NVU software to maintain your website, one way to publish is to use a free version of FTP Explorer. You can find one at http://www.ftpx.com/. You will need to point to the folder on your computer where the website pages are stored and then copy those to the website domain. For additional assistance with this FTP Explorer software, please check out their website.

Note: If you ever try out your site and you get a "page unavailable" message, it means that the page you are referring to is missing. Check to make sure you used the correct website address. If you did, they try publishing (uploading)your files again.

So, now what?

Just remember, your website will evolve as you learn more and as you receive feedback from others. The hardest part is getting started! Once you have an initial site created, you will have learned how the process works and every update will go faster! I hope this article helps you understand the importance of a website for your organization and how easy it can be to do.