website creation and hosting?

[albireo13]

The HOA where I live is interested in creating a website for the association and asked if I would be interested in taking on that project? It would be a fairly simple site use mostly for maintaining an activity calendar and for being a repository for HOA documents.

I am pretty good with computers but have no experience with web site creation and maintenance.

It sounds interesting but I fear that I will get in over my head and it will become a major "time suck" for me. Our HOA has a limited budget so, I would be looking for a low cost solution.

Any good advice? Dumb idea?

 

[pb4uski]

Our Association uses condosites.com. They provide a framework for your Association website and the Association is responsible for populating the framework with information.

As I recall, the annual cost is reasonably affordable, perhaps a couple hundred dollars. I think this is a lot better way to go than trying to do it yourself.

 

[MichaelB]

There is no such thing as “a fairly simple site” and I think taking on this project would bring nothing but grief.

I agree with pb4uski, look for a site that hosts HOAs and contract it. That’s the simple approach.

 

[mpeirce]

There is no such thing as “a fairly simple site” and I think taking on this project would bring nothing but grief.

I agree with pb4uski, look for a site that hosts HOAs and contract it. That’s the simple approach.

In the past I set up a simple WordPress blog for our HOA. The officers had access to post to it (meeting announcements and minutes and such).

WordPress is fairly simple - all the officers could figure out how to use with just a *little* help. I’ve been gone a few years and HEY LOOK they are still using it https://parkshorehoa.org and actively posting to it.

You can even set up a free mailchimp account to manage a mailing list for the HOA and have it notify people when there are new postings to the blog.

One other thing, don’t try to get by with a Facebook page! Many people aren’t Facebook members.

 

[Aerides]

I am pretty good with computers but have no experience with web site creation and maintenance.

Back away. You don't have the experience for this.

Just managing log in credentials and access, data security, timely access and hosting hosting of documents, minutes, calendar, etc., is a lot of work and hassle for folks with experience in web design.

 

[Sojourner]

One other thing, don’t try to get by with a Facebook page! Many people aren’t Facebook members.

Hmmm. As much as I hate what Facebook is doing (and has done) to our culture, I don't quite agree with this. Our neighborhood has its own private FB group and everyone seems to like it and use it pretty extensively. Sure, there are some people who don't participate—some of whom don't use FB at all, as mentioned—but they are a small minority. And if they don't use FB or don't even have a FB account, they probably wouldn't use some other 3rd party site, either. IMHO, given the ubiquity and popularity of FB, and the simplicity of setting up a private FB group for OP's HOA, it's worth looking into this option for a simple HOA "website".

 

[braumeister]

Another objection is that it's dangerous to rely on people checking the site regularly. In my HOA we have residents who refuse to deal with computers at all. No email, nothing electronic. They're not dumb; one is even a retired physician. Just not interested.

 

[mpeirce]

And if they don't use FB or don't even have a FB account, they probably wouldn't use some other 3rd party site, either.

I don’t know. I don’t have a FB account and so can’t access anything on it. This disincentivizes me from going to a few local restaurants around here that post their hours and menus on FB.

And I’m not the only one I know w/o a FB account by any means.

 

[braumeister]

I don’t know. I don’t have a FB account and so can’t access anything on it. This disincentivizes me from going to a few local restaurants around here that post their hours and menus on FB.

And I’m not the only one I know w/o a FB account by any means.

FWIW, I opened a FB account years ago with a phony name and information, just so I could access things like that. It still works, even though the email I used to set it up disappeared when that ISP went out of business. Might be worth a try for you.

 

[mpeirce]

Another objection is that it's dangerous to rely on people checking the site regularly. In my HOA we have residents who refuse to deal with computers at all. No email, nothing electronic. They're not dumb; one is even a retired physician. Just not interested.

Yeah, you always need to (snail) mail residents about the annual meeting and dues.

And that’s why we had a mailchimp list setup and linked to wordpress. When anything new was posted on the site, it emailed everyone about it. So people didn’t have to remember to visit the site. And obviously, if they didn’t have email, they didn’t hear about it. Hence the occasional actual mailing.

My main point about WordPress is that while there’s some up front effort (not a lot really, but some) you can pretty much walk away from it and have it continue on without lots of handholding.

 

[gwill1010]

Another objection is that it's dangerous to rely on people checking the site regularly. In my HOA we have residents who refuse to deal with computers at all. No email, nothing electronic. They're not dumb; one is even a retired physician. Just not interested.

Expecting people to visit the site regularly is unreasonable. I'm assuming someone is sending out emails containing notices and such? You either include the announcement in the email and a link to the same information on the HOA site or just provide a link to the HOA site containing the information. I would do the latter.

I don't have copy of all my HOA documents, but I know where to go to get them.

 

[gwill1010]

I think it's a great idea if you have a genuine interest in learning how to do this sort of thing.

 

[folivier]

I've been using forums such as this one but different interests for many years. And am a moderator of one. Depending on how it is set up, mainly the categories, it can be much better than any group on FB. FB search within a group is terrible. No way to categorize things. And don't forget that even being a private group you will still be exposed to their marketing ads.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The HOA where I live is interested in creating a website for the association and asked if I would be interested in taking on that project? It would be a fairly simple site use mostly for maintaining an activity calendar and for being a repository for HOA documents.

I am pretty good with computers but have no experience with web site creation and maintenance.

It sounds interesting but I fear that I will get in over my head and it will become a major "time suck" for me. Our HOA has a limited budget so, I would be looking for a low cost solution.

Any good advice? Dumb idea?

It depends. How many users do you think the website will attract? How often are you expected to make changes to the site? If it's truly a low budget, low traffic website, if you are reasonably comfortable working with images and documents, and you want to learn something new, then have at it. There are plenty of DIY "how to build a website" videos on YouTube that can walk you through it. I recommend using either a template style site like Wix, or else using WordPress.

But be forewarned if you proceed with it, you will get in over your head, it will be a major time suck, and you will never be satisfied with the end results.

 

[threeonesix]

Back away. You don't have the experience for this.

Just managing log in credentials and access, data security, timely access and hosting hosting of documents, minutes, calendar, etc., is a lot of work and hassle for folks with experience in web design.

Have to agree strongly with this. I have built hundreds of websites for businesses, everything from simple Wordpress sites to PHP to .Net. It's nothing amateurs should get involved with unless they are creating their own personal site. Especially avoid doing this yourself if there are any plans to share personally identifiable information on the site, such as addresses, phone numbers, vehicle info, etc. An HOA is a business and should be treated as such. Running a website is part of doing business.

Also, avoid Facebook for this. Way too easy for a member's account to get hacked and the hacker to erase everything and demand a ransom. Or for a group member to go bonkers and ruin it for everyone. I have witnessed some very bad results from this with local businesses who were relying on their Facebook page as their own website. Plus, you never know what Facebook can do; all it takes is one member to make a horrible post on the group page and Facebook can shut it down permanently, with your HOA losing the entire history and content. Also saw this happen with a local HOA after one homeowner got so frustrated about the HOA demanding he come into compliance with fencing rules that he started making violent threats to individuals, sharing PII of others on the page, sharing compromising photos of other homeowners and much more that I don't care to mention. With the resulting thousands of complaints that came in Facebook just shut down the group completely, they didn't even try to work with the HOA.

 

[Sojourner]

Also, avoid Facebook for this. Way too easy for a member's account to get hacked and the hacker to erase everything and demand a ransom. Or for a group member to go bonkers and ruin it for everyone. I have witnessed some very bad results from this with local businesses who were relying on their Facebook page as their own website. Plus, you never know what Facebook can do; all it takes is one member to make a horrible post on the group page and Facebook can shut it down permanently, with your HOA losing the entire history and content. Also saw this happen with a local HOA after one homeowner got so frustrated about the HOA demanding he come into compliance with fencing rules that he started making violent threats to individuals, sharing PII of others on the page, sharing compromising photos of other homeowners and much more that I don't care to mention. With the resulting thousands of complaints that came in Facebook just shut down the group completely, they didn't even try to work with the HOA.

Wow... that sounds like quite an extreme situation, although certainly believable in this day and age. Luckily, our private FB group for our neighborhood/HOA has not been plagued by anything of the sort in the 15-odd years its been around. Fingers crossed that it stays that way.

 

[threeonesix]

Very unfortunately and much to my chagrin we now live in a world where the extreme has become the norm. "Expect the best" when it comes to individual behavior no longer applies. Makes me sad for all of the young people today growing up in this mess.

 

[Walt34]

Hmmm. As much as I hate what Facebook is doing (and has done) to our culture, I don't quite agree with this. Our neighborhood has its own private FB group and everyone seems to like it and use it pretty extensively. Sure, there are some people who don't participate—some of whom don't use FB at all, as mentioned—but they are a small minority. And if they don't use FB or don't even have a FB account, they probably wouldn't use some other 3rd party site, either.

I have to strongly disagree. I, and a bunch of other people I know, loathe FB. Under no circumstances will I create an account there. And the statement that "if they don't use FB or don't even have a FB account, they probably wouldn't use some other 3rd party site, either" is simply not true. I'm here almost every day and on a couple of other forums several times a week. On one of them even the word "Facebook" is automatically replaced with stars so I'm clearly not the only one.

It may well be that most of the people that you connect with do use FB but in my world, very few do.

 

[threeonesix]

It may well be that most of the people that you connect with do use FB but in my world, very few do.

78% of Facebook users are over the age of 25. The writing is on the wall. It won't exist in 10 years, at least not in its current format. The changes they will make to attract the under-25 crowd will drive away the over-25 crowd. Most of us can't stand TikTok and who knows what Musk will end up doing with Twitter, other than trying to make it the new YouTube, which is totally unnecessary.

 

[Aerides]

I have to strongly disagree. I, and a bunch of other people I know, loathe FB.

Yup, I had it, and no longer use it, and think negatively about any place that will only use it to engage me. Their loss. And I'm very much "on line" otherwise.

 

[Sunset]

My FIL was old, could play games on his computer.
The Association had all this web based stuff they implemented even for payments.

I did it for him after they sent him a letter wondering why he was still mailing in checks... They never considered some people didn't use computers.

 

[albireo13]

OP here.
A website would be purely supplemental. Yes, I realize some folks still prefer standard mailings.

Not interested in Facebook. The more I look into it, the bigger a headache it appears to be to maintain it and support it. Maybe I'll leave this project for some of the youngbloods out there. LOL

 

[intent]

I'm doing something similar for my association. I've designed websites in the past, but didn't want to make this too difficult/complicated. They have a GoDaddy account so I checked out GoDaddy's Website Builder feature and it's easy to use and pretty cheap (depending on the deal available at the time, ~$150/yr). Very easy to design a site using their user interface. The resulting site won't knock anyone's socks off, but for an HOA it's perfectly fine.

Part of the reason I suggested this solution to them, and they went with it, was because the management is so easy. I told them I'll set it up and help them for awhile, but at some point I'll show someone else how to make updates and that person can take over. I'm definitely not looking for a full-time job administering the HOA website.

 

[target2019]

OP here.
A website would be purely supplemental. Yes, I realize some folks still prefer standard mailings.

Not interested in Facebook. The more I look into it, the bigger a headache it appears to be to maintain it and support it. Maybe I'll leave this project for some of the youngbloods out there. LOL

You would do best by contracting this out. You need hosting, WordPress, and maintenance. It can be low cost, or higher. Really depends on who gets their hooks into you.

What is your time worth? I know it can be a hot potato. I would not get involved in day-to-day, just oversight.

 

[ERD50]

I'm doing something similar for my association. I've designed websites in the past, but didn't want to make this too difficult/complicated. They have a GoDaddy account so I checked out GoDaddy's Website Builder feature and it's easy to use and pretty cheap (depending on the deal available at the time, ~$150/yr). Very easy to design a site using their user interface. The resulting site won't knock anyone's socks off, but for an HOA it's perfectly fine.

Part of the reason I suggested this solution to them, and they went with it, was because the management is so easy. I told them I'll set it up and help them for awhile, but at some point I'll show someone else how to make updates and that person can take over. I'm definitely not looking for a full-time job administering the HOA website.

It's been a few years since I was looking into this for our beer club, but I was surprised by all the negative comments in this thread about how difficult it is, and to run away.

I forget which tools I investigated, but I found several that were easy to set up and maintain - assuming you just are posting fairly static info. No real technical knowledge required, its just little building blocks.

Now, if you want a lot of interactive stuff, where members can vote, or pay dues, etc - that might get much more involved. But keep it simple, and I'm pretty sure it can be done with minimal effort/skill.

IIRC there was also a simple forum (maybe that was google groups?) for interactive stuff.


Later, they went with Facebook, but I really hate Facebook's interface, comments get buried - you have to expand to see them, hard to tell what's what, IMO.

I'm out most of the day, but if I get a chance I'll dig up my old notes, I'm curious myself now.

-ERD50