Web hosting for Not-for-profits (advice needed)

Hi there,

I’m currently working on a pro-bono project with some fellow designers to help a recently started Not-for-profit organisation. The NFP is a group of refugee women who have started making handicrafts & jewellery and they require a website in order to raise their profile and sell their goods online.

They have some questions regarding web hosting which I’m currently unsure about, and wondered if someone could point me in the right direction…?

  1. Can anyone recommend any suitable web hosts? We’re based in Aus, so is it better to go for an Australian hosting company?
  2. They have a domain name in mind - can anyone recommend a registry, or do you recommend registering the domain with the host at the same time? If so, what are the benefits of this?
  3. Does anyone know of hosts that offer discounted rates for NFPs?

I’m hoping someone on here can help me answer a few of their questions. As a UX consultant I’m not usually involved with this part of a project, but I’m working on this in my spare time and want to be able to offer them some advice.

Thanks in advance,

Josie

Hi,

Your questions are very simple.

1, You can go to Australian Hosting Provider, but I believe their price will not cheap. Let’s go to any Global Hosting Company which can offer US Server with cheaper price. Non-profit should be economic for first time start-up. I recommend it! Remember to find any hosting provider which has at least 1-2 years in hosting industry. Take a look into their domain whois and see creating date.

2, You should register domain name belongs with hosting company, because you will no need to manage DNS or make some changes if there is a same company. One contact for doing many requests will save your time.

3, Wanna discount? See hosting provider’s Facebook or Twitter. They usually share promotion code on these social network.

Good luck, guys!

Hi,

Thanks so much for the advice. You’ve certainly helped point me in the right direction.

Josie

I’d disagree strongly that it’s best to register the domain with the hosting company. Particularly if you are looking for cheap web hosting, where many companies are unreliable and here today, gone tomorrow. Keep the domain with a professional well established registrar. 1-2 years is not a well established company in any field, particularly in an industry like hosting and registration that has a very high rate of failure. If and when you switch hosts you’ll not run into the problems associated with domain transfer.

If the site customers are primarily in Australia, and you want to speak to host support, choose a local provider. You’ll also get slightly better load times. Remember that relative to almost every other cost and resource involved in a business or charity, hosting is a negligible expense. You’ll pay more for a few sandwiches a month, it’s not worth saving pennies to lose pounds.

Yes, I agree with EastCoast. Domain names are pretty cheap (dot.com around $15 and .com.au etc. around $22). And decent hosting in Australia is pretty cheap, too, like around $10 per month, and it’s much nicer to have the faster load times and be able to ring on the phone if there’s an issue. You have to be a little careful about having the domain name hosted with the same company as the web hosting, as some can try to lock you in. But FWIW, I’ve found companies like PlanetDomain to be a reliable way to go for both services in Aus.

Thanks East Coast & Ralph. I definitely agree it would be better to have some local support available, plus you get what you pay for, and having something that is reliable and trustworthy is more important.

Will check out PlanetDomain too, thanks for the suggestion.

Josie

For the hosting providers you take a look at, ask if they offer discounts for non-profits. In the US, many do.