Looking for help on setting up club website

MadDad

Hi,

I am looking to set up a website for a local schoolboy football club and was thinking of the sites that are like a step by step template based format, I've seen them advertised but none come to mind at the moment.

The site would be simple enough to update parents and members on events and teams, maybe a page for each team, photographs, the usual stuff.

What sites would you recommend?

I notice some require a monthly fee, are these sites better?

advice appreciated

biko

Moved from blogs/wikis on OP request. I believe recs by PM only?

warrenaldo

I would recommend visiting Wordpress.com

It allows you to set up a free site sitename.wordpress.com then you can buy a Domain Name later.

Wordpress is fairly simple in terms of setting a site up.

Mrs OBumble

I would recommend Blogger.com over Wordpress.

Because:

• It's a truckload simpler
• If you want your own domain name, eg myclub.com, it costs $10 per year, and you don't have to pay for hosting.

That said, the OP asked for this to be moved to the development forum .. so maybe s/he really does need some feature that needs custom development. Even so, I'd recommend getting a starter-version going with a blogging tool, while you work out what you need and what policies & procedures's you'd have for updating the site.

IMHO the first things to think about if you're building any website:

• Who will keep it up to date after the initial project is finished,
• What tools/skills do they have
• Can we afford the maintance - or the problems that will happen if it's not up to date?

tricky D

Wordpress on your own hosting is the solution.

Get hosting for around €60/year which has an easy Wordpress application install which is quite standard these days.

Get your domain name through your hoster also, cost €6-7/year.

Prices above include VAT.

Hosting on Wordpress.com for free as opposed to your own hosting has limited add-ons and blogger doesn't have as many add-ons and templates available. Wordpress is the clear market leader in this space.

Then you choose a template, free or one for a small cost in the range $20-40, add you clubs branding/logos/etc and choose some add-ons for listing events, leagues, fixtures, fundraising, galleries, memberships and whatever else you want. Tonnes to choose from for each of those.

Great value, under your control, loads of options, easy to use, no need for custom/expensive development or designs. The only extra outlay you might have is having a Wordpress savvy developer/designer doing a bit of hand-holding for you which might take a few hours but would be well worth a one-off spend.

I'm about to one myself and from experience the above is easily to best solution.

MadDad

Thanks to you all for the replies I will have a look at all suggested...

I would probably be the one keeping it up to date, I wouldn't be far from an expert, setting up a website would be new to me but pc savvy and would be able for layman instructions.

My first thought was we would not need our own hosting it would mainly be poopulated with newsletter and a few photographs, though not so sure after reading replies

Have any of you come across Joomla? (i came across when searching possibilities) is wordpress similar

warrenaldo

You require more knowledge and expertise to run Joomla. Its not as user-friendly and not as easy to set up a site.

Its quite similar to Joomla, there is also Drupal and tonnes more.

But Wordpress is the way to go.

uck51js9zml2yt

definitely wordpress and if you get hosting and buy a domain name. most hosting companies have it as a plug in to the hosting.

MadDad

Thanks again going to have a look at wordpress, going for the free option for now see how I get to grips with it

Will have a look at hosting and domain name if all works well, anyone know if moving from free to a host would be a hassle

Mrs OBumble

What sort of budget has your club allocated for the site? Do they expect that they get a domain (www.OurClub.com) they'll also have email (info@OurClub.com) on that domain? I don't think that your E60/year would include that.

Thinking some more about your request, I'd beware of anyone who says "XXX is definitely the way to go" based on the amount of information you've provided so far. IMHO, we simply don't know enough about what you want to achieve, and it's quite possible that Wordpress is overkill for what you need - or on the other hand that a blogging-based system won't offer enough security: because it's for a schoolboy team, questions about security need to be asked. Is there an expectation that the site can be accessed by people who have been authorised? Have you checked this with parents - some of them may expect it, even if you don't.

Deliverance XXV

MadDad wrote: »

The site would be simple enough to update parents and members on events and teams, maybe a page for each team, photographs, the usual stuff.

Wordpress.

If you want full customisation over it you will expect to pay. You would expect to pay €60-70/Year. Many hosting companies offer it as an auto-install. With this you can give it a custom theme, add-ons such as contact forms, attractive galleries and event calendars etc. You have full control over who accesses what with as many pages as you want.

dvpower

Another one to consider is Google Sites. Very easy to get up and running and to maintain, and free.

MagicRon

JustMary wrote: »

What sort of budget has your club allocated for the site? Do they expect that they get a domain (www.OurClub.com) they'll also have email (info@OurClub.com) on that domain? I don't think that your E60/year would include that.

Just a tip here, both google and microsoft offer free email hosting for any domain.

mojopolo

I set one up for our mini soccer Club using http://www.weebly.com .

I just paid for the domain name but you can set it up for free if using their domain.

I found it really easy to use and they have a selection of templates.