Considerations For Your Own Website
I was recently contact by Parker Jones to see if I could add to the development of http://activethanet.com, a wiki site dedicated to clubs and societies in Thanet. I thought to myself, what a great idea, just add yourself. Still, seeing as I don’t live in Thanet anymore I wasn’t sure how I could help, I could think of no other clubs to add. I’d like to be helpful though and I saw my chance in their FAQ. He suggests that people create their own site and then get that added to the list. It really is very easy to do and needs little technical skill, especially if you are using a service like GooglePages or Webs. These are easy enough to do, but in my opinion lack a something important, your own .com/.co.uk address. What you can do though is get a .co.uk address from a domain registrar and then get it to just forward to your Google Sites webspace. I’ve used uk2.net as my registrar for years, but others I know have recommended 1&1 who also do an easy site builder. It’s always worth having a look around though, it will cost you maybe £15 a year, which is little more than a cheap night out and gives a definite ‘pro’ factor. If you really want some cheap hosting with loads and loads of geeky goodies then I’d recommend a look at Dreamhost, you won’t get the greatest search rankings, but they give you loads of space (off-site storage perhaps?) and do include one click installs for popular software like Wordpress (blogging) and MediaWiki (same as Wikipedia).
If you want to host your own site (not a GooglePages type thing) and still keep your site up in the rankings then then you really need to use a UK hosting server, especially if you are using a .co.uk extension. Maybe then consider shared hosting like 1&1, who have UK servers. Naturally we are spiraling up in cost here, next steps are Virtual Private Servers (VPN) from £15 a month all the way up to dedicated servers where the sky really is the limit. It really depends on whether you are serious about visibility or thinking of this as a business or hobby.
Lets take a look at http://oonagi.co.uk which has been around for eight years, they are hosted on shared server-space with Dreamhost in California, a google search for “oonagi” brings them top, a search for “Thanet music” brings them in 4th, for “Thanet gigs”and nothing till page 3! That has cost about £40 per year, it would probably be a little more but the cost is offset by sharing its space with other sites. Now there are some SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) issues there to start with which could bring them up the rankings, but still it provides a gauge as to cost/visibility balance.
If one thinks about it though, where does traffic come from on a local focused site like a club or society. It is going to be links from other local sites, like Active Thanet or some of the blogerratti (EastcliffRicahard, BigNewsMargate). So to conclude, you can do yourself a free site using any number of web services, just contact some people, get yourself linked and they will come.