Today I gave a presentation about how to plan the development of your nonprofit’s website, and here’s the slideshow that accompanied it.

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Decision 1: Do we rescue the old domain and hosting or start afresh?

We could have transferred the domain elsewhere but the hosting company were being uncooperative which might hold up the process. If the old website had been very popular then I would have worried about loss of traffic if we switched domain, but that wasn’t the case. So we bought a new domain name (for under £7) and hosting from www.names.co.uk, a big, reliable company that I’ve used many times before.

Note: when the new domain is in use we’ll have to contact every website that has a link to the old domain and request they amend it.

Decision 2: Do we restore the original website design or create another?

Using the Wayback Machine I was able to see that the old website had static html pages. The easiest option in the short-term would have been to restore those old pages (assuming the organisation had a backup, which they didn’t); but in the long-term they would struggle to keep them updated. So we agreed to replace the old site with one based around a content management system.

Note: we will have to re-upload the textual content but that’s a fairly routine copy and paste job.

Decision 3: How can we create a new website with limited resources?

Obviously this turn of events hadn’t been planned or budgeted for, so not much money was available, certainly not enough to design a new site from scratch. Also, time was short. So we decided to install a free and open source content management system. We chose WordPress because it’s quick to install and easy to learn (plus it has a simple backup facility!). Then we chose a free template theme downloaded from a choice of hundreds on the Internet.

Note: even a free and open source product has to be installed and configured and learnt to use – and there are costs involved if you have to pay someone else to help you do this. Sadly, nothing is ever really free.

The Charity Web Forum is a Yahoo group for the managers and designers of charity websites. There’s some good, frequent discussion and it’s well-worth signing up, reading other peoples’ messages and joining in the conversation.

The TechSoup website gives advice about technology to nonprofits: it publishes articles about web design as well as hosting discussions about web building.

The ICT Hub’s web design forum isn’t as busy as TechSoup’s but it’s still worth posting a message, especially if you’re in the UK.

There are also conferences and other events where you can meet other charity website owners. In the UK there are the ICT Hub’s conferences, in Australia check out the Making Links conference;  and in the US you’re spoilt for choice but see what NTEN have to offer.

Oops: A new website was built for a new educational project. Dreamweaver glitched when asked to delete a single file, deleting both the local and remote versions of all the files on the website. The work had to be recreated from scratch. Lesson: make multiple backups of your website.

Bad design: A charity’s website was designed by an amateur. The site design used outdated practices: font tags, frames, a table-based layout and style attributes in the html throughout many dozens of pages. When the corporate identity of the organisation changed they had to redesign the whole website. A standards-compliant design that uses HTML and CSS properly can save you a lot of bother later on.

Ownership issues: A health charity’s website was designed by a volunteer. They asked him for the passwords but he said don’t worry, it’s safe with me. He died unexpectedly the next week and it took three months to regain control of the site. Lesson: The charity should purchase domains and hosting and retain all passwords, not the designer.

Forgetfulness: A charity forgot to renew their domain name. The domain was legally purchased by someone in Hong Kong who then demanded a large amount of money to sell it back to them. Lesson: make sure you know the renewal date and put it in your diary.

To sum up: purchase your own domain name; don’t forget to renew it; have your site designed to current standards; and make multiple backups.

And please don’t have nightmares!

One of the questions on the worksheet is about which websites you like and which you loathe. Your answers can really help the web designer establish your tastes and produce something you’ll not be horrified by!

Ideally, one person alone won’t make all the decisions. Consider using the worksheet in one of the following ways:

• You could convene a full staff meeting to discuss the points in the worksheet. If so, try not to get dragged into long and circular discussions about specific points. Keep the discussion flowing and try to cover all the questions; if necessary split the discussion across one or more meetings. Be aware that not everyone in your organisation will be comfortable discussing technical subjects so keep the jargon to a minimum. If you don’t feel confident leading the discussion is there a local circuit rider or consultant you could invite in to host it for you?
• You could delegate several staff to form a small website sub-group. This is more likely to result in a focused discussion and quicker decisions but you might overlook some of the needs of your organisation. So once you’ve made your decisions, write a project brief and ask your other colleagues to comment on it.

What should you do when you’ve answered the questions in the worksheet? The next step is to write a project brief – a couple of pages should suffice for a small charity – and you’ll find guidance on the ICT Hub Knowledgebase and TechSoup websites.

If I’ve missed out anything important please let me know by leaving a comment below and I’ll revise the worksheet. If you use it and find it useful, please let me know. Feel free to customise it for your own needs but if you republish it elsewhere please credit me as the author.

I once worked with a charity that fell out with their volunteer web designer. After an argument the designer deleted the entire website then told the charity it was her copyright so she could do as she liked. The charity realised that not only did they have no website, they also had no backup, and they didn’t even have the passwords for the hosting account. The whole site had to be recreated from scratch. That’s not the only worrying scenario: I’ve worked with a charity whose designer died unexpectedly and with several organisations where because of staff changes no-one knew the website passwords any more.

Taking responsibility

If yours is a large website built by a reliable web design agency and there’s a maintenance agreement you should include backups as part of the contract. However, if you have a small website designed by a one-man-band designer, don’t leave the responsibility to them: it’s far better to be self-reliant. An employee should be responsible for documenting and backing up the website and ideally it should be in their job description.

The essential documentation

On purchasing a domain name you should be given a username and password to access a control panel that’s either on your own website or your hosting company’s. These details are usually sent to you in an email immediately after purchase. Without them you will be unable to renew your domain name or set up official email addresses.

When you purchase hosting for your website you typically administer it using the same control panel as for the domain name. But not always, so retain the email the company sends you. The control panel will enable you to see your website visitor statistics and set up FTP access and your web designer may need to use it to set up databases and do a dozen other techie tasks.

The FTP details are important to know: you use them to backup the website and make changes to its design. You’ll need an FTP address (e.g. ftp.yourdomain.org), username and password. These details should be included in the email your hosting company sent you but you can change them at any time using the control panel.

Keep these details as printouts in a file in the office, not just as emails on a computer. If you change passwords, amend the printouts too.

How do you backup a website?

It depends how your website has been designed and how you edit the content.

If your website has a Content Management System (CMS) such as Joomla, WordPress or Mambo, the text on your pages, sub-pages, posts and news items will be stored in a database. There should be a backup facility to export this content as a single file that you save to your computer. If later on you have a problem with your website you might need to import this file. Do this regularly, especially if you often change the site’s content. However, this usually only backs up the written content of your site and not the design itself or any pictures you’ve uploaded.

Whether you have a CMS or not you’ll need to backup of all the website’s files, possibly including:

• .htm – static html pages
• .php or .asp - pages that interact with a database
• .css - the stylesheet containing instructions about fonts, colour, layout and the look and feel of your site
• .pdf & .doc – documents in Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word format
• .gif & .jpg – images

The problem is that these files aren’t on your own computer, they’re on your hosting company’s server. You can connect to that server in several ways: FTP client software; web design software such as Dreamweaver; or simply the Internet Explorer browser that’s already on your computer. To do this you’ll need your FTP address, username and password: here’s a simple FTP tutorial.

Keep one copy of your website on your computer; put another copy on CD, write the date on it, and put it in the paper file with your site’s passwords.

Every charity, however small, needs a domain name. As explained in the Knowledgebase article What’s in a Domain Name?, a domain represents your organisation’s identity online, giving you an official, unique address for your website and email.

Disputes about domains can easily arise. The case study Who Owns Your Website, describes how two trustees resigned, taking control of the charity’s website with them. In other instances web designers have died unexpectedly or fallen out with a charity, which then had to prove ownership of their domain. Other charities have been targeted by unscrupulous cyber-squatters who have deliberately purchased similar domain names and then tried to sell them at an inflated price to the charity. The good new is that in many cases disputes are avoidable and there are actions you can take to resolve them.

What to consider when buying a domain

Domains are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis by domain registrars. Domains ending in .uk are registered by Nominet, a nonprofit organisation. Website hosting companies and ISPs can act as agents to register your domain name for you.

As soon as you know which domain you want, purchase it before someone else does. However, think twice about buying a .com, .org or other domain that isn’t a .uk domain, because disputes involving them can be more difficult to resolve.

If a company offers free website hosting, don’t take them up on the offer unless you can also have your own domain name. Once you own your own domain, if you change your website hosting company, your website and email address can travel with you.

Free domain names are sometimes offered with website hosting, but read the terms and conditions: the domain may only be free for the first two years, after which you must pay a renewal fee; there may be a fee to transfer the domain elsewhere; or you might not actually own the domain name if it’s registered in the website company’s name.

If you commission a web designer to build your site don’t give them responsibility for purchasing the domain. By all means ask them to suggest companies and packages, but buy the domain yourself.

When you purchase a domain name you will be asked to register it. You should do so in the name of your organisation and it’s a good idea to have several different staff or trustees listed as contacts.

Cyber-squatting

The National Deaf Children’s Society, which owned ndcs.org.uk, had a dispute with a Harold A. Meyer who purchased ndcs.org to run a website called Nude Dames, Chat, Sex. Meyer had also registered a .org domain similar to the British Heart Foundation. He demanded £20,000 from BHF to relinquish his rights to bhf.org and £12,500 from NDCS, so both charities took legal action. The BHF lost their case but NDCS won because their acronym is better-known to the public.

To lessen the potential for cyber-squatting, a charity could register all domain names similar to the one it actually uses for its website: most commonly these would include .org, org.uk, .com, .co.uk and .net. For each domain there could be variations of spelling and punctuation (using hyphens and underscores). Also, a charity might buy domains for both their full name and their acronym. For smaller organisations this can be too expensive and time-consuming and they might purchase only a single domain.

When buying a domain, try not to infringe any well-known organisations’ trademarks. For instance, in 2001 a charity bought healthyyellowpages.org.uk but was instructed by yell.com’s lawyers to stop using that domain because it infringed the Yellow Pages trademark.

Domain renewal

In 2002 the Poetry Society’s website at www.poetrysoc.com disappeared, replaced by adverts for via_gra and other products. As well as losing the website, their email was being sent to a server in Hong Kong. Due to an administrative lapse the Society had failed to renew its domain name registration, allowing a company in Hong Kong to legally purchase it. Fortunately their lawyer resolved the problem within ten days, with the Society paying a small fee to recover the domain, but only after it had to reprint its leaflets with a new web address. Unscrupulous cyber-squatters can buy and resell lapsed domains using automated software and getting your domain name back can be time-consuming and expensive.

Domains usually have to be renewed every two years and the company you purchased from should send you reminders by email near to the date. If you change your email address let them know, because if you miss the reminders your website and email will stop working and you could lose your domain. It’s not unknown for registration agents, especially small companies, to forget to remind you to renew your domain name so you should take responsibility for making sure it’s done.

Fortunately, if your domain lapses it shouldn’t go on sale immediately: it should be put on hold, giving you a grace period – one or two months – within which to renew.

Many domain registrars let you “back-order” a domain name, usually by paying an annual fee. The registrar checks the domain daily and as soon as it’s listed as available it will automatically be registered to the user who back-ordered it. This can be a useful fail-safe.

Make an entry in your diary to remind yourself to renew the domain. Keep copies of correspondence with web hosting companies and domain registrars and keep a paper copy of all usernames and passwords filed in your office.

Your options for resolving a domain dispute

If you’ve lost your domain name or if someone else owns a domain you believe you have the rights to, you have various options.

Firstly, contact the owner, tell them you’re a charity and you may be able to successfully negotiate with them; but they have the right to decline your offer and you may have to agree a settlement fee. If they are unreasonable you might have to offer them a lot of money to buy the domain.

If the issue is that you don’t want people to confuse your website with theirs, you could ask them to put a link to your site and a disclaimer stating that their site is unconnected with yours. You might consider doing the same.

If they are misusing the domain you could hire a lawyer and get an injunction against them – if you have the resources to do this. If the site is being used for illegal or immoral purposes, you could contact their ISP and ask them to suspend the site (although they cannot transfer the domain to you).

A cheap (possibly free) option is to try arbitration through Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service.

You could register a new domain for your organisation. You’d then have to change your stationery and tell the world about your new website and email addresses.

How to find out who owns a domain

To find out who currently owns a particular domain, use the free WHOIS database at http://www.whois.net. The information includes the registrant’s details, registration date and current status, registrant’s agent, and the name servers associated with the domain name. Registrants of domain names are obliged to provide Nominet with accurate details; they can opt out from having their address published but Nominet can still provide it to people with a legitimate interest.

Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service

Nominet is the not-for-profit company that manages the database of all .uk domain names. Nominet provides the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) to quickly and cheaply deal with disputes about the registration of .uk domain names, with Nominet acting as a neutral third party.

To make a complaint, use the form on www.nominet.org.uk and send a signed copy with all the evidence to them. Nominet send this to the domain’s registrant, who is asked to respond; this response is sent back to the complainant who can comment on any new points made. This stage is free of cost.

If the case is still not settled, it moves to mediation: Nominet speaks to both parties by phone and discusses, in confidence, how the case could be resolved. There is no fee for mediation, although sometimes a settlement includes money. Mediation usually takes two weeks.

In some cases the complainant can pay to have an approved expert appointed, chosen from a list of mainly lawyers and IT professionals. The fee, £750 + VAT, goes to the expert not Nominet. The expert gives a written decision based on the documentation but does not speak to either party or find out what happened during the confidential mediation. If the expert decides that the complainant has proved their case, they can order that the domain is transferred to them. If not, they will order that no action is taken. The expert can even order the domain name to be suspended or deleted, but this is unusual.

The expert’s decision (and the appeal decision, if there is one) are published on Nominet’s web site.

Disputes involving a non-UK domain name

Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service can only help you to resolve .uk domain disputes. If you have a .com, .net or .org domain, visit the website of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) at www.icann.org instead.

This article by Jason King was first published on ICT Hub’s Knowledgebase in July 2007 under a Creative Commons license.

On 18 August 2007, a team of volunteer web professionals from Australia and a team from New Zealand competed to build a complete website for a non-profit organisation in just 24 hours.

The New Zealanders won the competition but the real winners were The Ripple Effect and Our Voice, the two charities that now have brand new, fully-functional websites. Well done to all involved because this event was a great idea and something that could be easily replicated by teams of volunteers in other countries.

You can read all about the event at www.fullcodepress.com and even watch videos of the work in progress and interviews with the participants. It’s an excellent opportunity to see how a website can evolve: from the original brief, through discussion and conception, to delivery of the final product. With added moments of panic when you’re on a tight deadline!

I’ve written an article, published on the ICT Hub’s Knowledgebase at www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/helpgroupsplanwebsites about how to best support an organisation through the process of planning a website.