How to Host a WordPress Website for Non-Profit Organisations
Do you want to host a WordPress website for a non-profit organisation? The best way to do this is through a non-profit organisation that you are a member of. You can use organisations such as Charity Navigator to search for grant opportunities. As a member, you will also receive an array of benefits ranging from tax deductions to web hosting that can be used for the website.
Create A Non-Profit Entity
To start with, you will need to create a non-profit organisation. This is a legal entity that will enable you to receive tax benefits and conduct business activities. You can consult your country’s non-profit organisation registration page for guidance on creating a non-profit entity.
You must then take time to register your non-profit entity with Charity Navigator. This way, you will be able to see any grants or opportunities that are available for non-profits.
Select A Nomadic Existence
Once you have registered your non-profit with Charity Navigator, you can select a nomadic existence for the organisation. A nomadic existence is one that does not have an office or any sort of fixed residency. You can select this option if you are travelling or moving to another location. This way, you can take advantage of the ability to set up and operate a blog from anywhere in the world.
While this might sound like an ideal situation, it comes with a cost. Since you will no longer be able to establish a fixed base of operations, you will need to allocate financial resources to cover your costs while on the move. These may include airfare, daily rental of a car or lodging, etc.
Choose The Right Hosting For Your Site
When choosing web hosting for your blog or website, you must consider various factors. These include the platform/language that your website is built on, the cost of the service, and whether or not you want to use a dedicated IP address. You may also want to look at the relative security of the host you choose as well as how quickly they respond to support tickets.
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that is openly MIT licensed and completely OPEN SOURCE. It is also a highly secured platform, so you don’t have to worry about your website being hacked. For these reasons, it is a great choice for non-profit organisations that want to start a blog.
Install WordPress To Begin Building Your Site
Once you have chosen a nomadic existence for your non-profit, you can move onto the next step which is to install WordPress to begin building your site. This step will depend on the host you have chosen as well as your existing technical skills. For example, if you are looking at SiteGround as your host, you will need to have some basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and SEO. You can find WordPress documentation and tutorials that will help you get up and running in no time.
Set Up Your Domain Name And Web Hosting
Once you have installed WordPress, you can set up your domain name and web hosting. Most websites will recommend using Honeycomb Hosting for this step, as it makes configuration much simpler. After you have installed your web hosting, you can create a blank blog (or whatever you want to call it) and configure it to point to your website. To create a blog, all you need to do is click New Blog at the bottom of your WordPress dashboard.
You will then be presented with a welcome tour of your new blog. The tour will introduce you to the WordPress dashboard. From here, you can customise your blog design as much or as little as you like. You can add or remove themes, colours, and images to make your website look the way you want it to look. To remove the tour, just click Skip The Tour at the top of the dashboard.
As part of the blank blog setup process, you will need to pick a branding template. The branding template is a file that contains all the information that will be associated with your blog. This could include the name of your blog, the name of your organization or company, the domain name that you will use for the blog (if applicable), etc.
For instance, if you are using Organic Waste as your brand name, your blog’s name will be organicwaste.com and its associated branding will be organicwaste. You can use the Get A Free Website button to create a fully functioning blog in less than five minutes. This website will then be hosted on the open web, ready for you to launch a blog or online store.
Customise Your Site’s Appearance
Once you have launched your blog, you can start to customise the appearance of your site. To do this, you will need to login to your WordPress dashboard and click the Appearance tab in the main menu.
You can then click on Themes to bring up a list of themes that are available for download. You can also create and download new themes to add to your collection.
If you have any experience in graphic design or website creation, you can download a themeforest theme and start to customise it to fit your needs. Once you are happy with the customised theme, you can click Save to save it back to your WordPress dashboard.
If you don’t feel that any of the themes on the Themes page are appropriate, you can click Browse to bring up a list of alternative themes. You can then choose a theme from this list and begin to customise it.
You may also want to consider upgrading your web hosting to take advantage of speedier servers and more storage. While this might be an additional cost, it could be worth it if you are struggling with website loads and have considered the option of moving to a dedicated hosting plan.
Set Up Your Site’s Social Media Accounts
You can now set up your social media accounts for your blog. To do this, click the gear icon in the top right hand corner of your WordPress dashboard. This will bring up a gear icon which you can click to bring up a menu of options. Clicking Twitter will then take you to a page that will show you all the various tools and features that you can use to incorporate social media into your blog.