Need Advice on How to Create/Setup a Website

JrClocker said:

I was coerced into being an officer for my golf league this year. It's a large league (over 100 members) and has been around for many years.

The league currently does not have a website, and has used email in the past to communicate with its members. The process of tracking down members, trying to communicate, oh...I have a new email, oh...your email went to SPAM folder, etc. is very frustrating.

I would like to bring the league into the 21st century and setup a website for the league.

I am a complete noob in this area.

I played around with the "automagic" website creator on GoDaddy.com. It was pretty straight forward, but the "automagic" website have limited functionality.

As the cost to host the website will come out of the league treasury, we are not in a position to hire anybody to do this.

I have enough hardware and internet bandwidth at my house to host the site out of there.

What is the best way to approach this?

How do I approach this without it turning into a science project?

Do I go with a hosting service, or run out of my house?

Any other random question(s) that I should ask but am too much of a n00b to ask.

Thanks!

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ratbuddy said:

Don't kill me for asking this, but have you considered a using closed Facebook group for communications and announcements, and a google spreadsheet for standings?

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Ralphort said:

There are 2 ways to approach this - the cheap way (hosting by domain provider) & the expensive way (hosting using your own web server).

Let's talk about the cheap way first. You already bought a domain from Godaddy. Godaddy can host the domain website for you. You need to download first an ftp client (ex. SmartFTP) to upload your site files. You can then login to your FTP site & upload your site files. It's all up to you what kind of site you want to set up & files to upload (phpbb, phpnuke, wordpress, joomla, etc.). You also need to login to your site's Cpanel to get access to your site's database. Access info to FTP & Cpanel are all provided by Godaddy. Just google it so you'll learn how.

The expensive way is running a web server at home. It's expensive because you need to buy your own server machine (typically cost $200 & up excluding HDDs) but over time it's actually cheaper. Running a Wamp or Xampp server package on a desktop computer wont cut it as it's less secured (OK as offline test server only) & it's impossible to run a dedicated server machine 24/7 in it with close to (0%) downtime. You can build your own dedicated server machine (can get very expensive if you're now familiar with server components to get) or buy a NAS like those made by Synology, Qnap & Asustor that also function as a web server, mail server, multimedia streaming server, etc. Advantage of running a website using your own server machine is having total control of your website - you don't have bandwidth & storage limits. You can also fix things without going to customer support.

Happened to host a website at home for several years now using a Synology DS214play NAS. It's very easy if you know how - minimal html coding, networking & DNS knowledge needed. For now hence you're new to this, it's wise to just have it hosted by Godaddy.

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Ralphort said:

Download & open an FTP client (SmartFTP, CuteFTP, etc. for example). On host address, type (ftp.nameofyourwebsite.com) & try to use your godaddy password. You can also try using the DNS Type A record (IP address) used by godaddy. On your godaddy settings, click on Domains then DNS Management. You can check the IP address from there. Open your FTP client & on host address, type (ftp.yoursiteipaddress) & use your godaddy password to login.

As far as server goes, it really depends on what kind of server set up you have. You can install FreeNAS to it but its not gonna be as feature rich as those used by Synology, Qnap or Asustor.

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