Hi everybody!
I read
THIS a few days ago about just how horrendous my state dem website is. Then, last night I went to my county dems meeting (along with a whole big 8 other people!). In that meeting, we spent some time talking about how party unity and collaboration around here (in this part of the state) is starting to fall off. So, I want to pull my county dems into the 21st century and start a website for us. The problem with that, of course, is that I've never created a website. So then I thought "Hey! There's a whole lot of people with lots of knowledge about lots of stuff over here at DKos! I bet they could help me!"
Am I right?
Right now, this is still very much in the thinking stage. I live out here in the boondocks, and my county dems don't have a whole lot of money to spare. So, my first question is: how much does a website cost, from its inception?
Is there any special software/ apps I need, or should have, or should definitely stay away from??
Should I get my own domain name, or should I do something like ByronM's offer of free web hosting
(here)?
Also, realistically, how much time/ effort is involved in doing a site like I want, (and doing it right!)? Is it really worth it, given that I live in a relatively small (and red) county? I'm thinking about contacting the nearby counties and possibly doing it together, since they don't have sites, either (at least not that I know of). I THINK it would be worth it, because it seems to me that a website is incredibly important these days for communication and getting any message out there.
So, what do you think? Any comments, suggestions, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated...