In the past few weeks, I’ve been appalled with the price that some churches and ministry organizations are paying for their web hosting. It’s not the church’s fault; many of them signed up with web hosting companies years ago, and are still paying the rates from years ago. Here are two examples of groups who I would say are simply being taken advantage of:
- One church was paying $26.95/month for 100mb of storage space, 1 MySQL database and a limited number of email addresses and very poor customer service. In order to use another MySQL database, they would have to upgrade their account.
- Another church group was paying $45/month for a “Premier” hosting package that included 100mb of storage space, 24-hr FTP access (I find that funny), up to 20 email accounts(!!!) and “no hidden charges or fees.” Absolutely ridiculous. The same web host charges the following for their “web design:” $425 for the Home page, and $225 for each additional page. Are you kidding me?
I feel like I should start a business that simply contacts every church that has a website and helps them to switch their sites to a new web host. I’d guess that over 90% of churches and small non-profits that have websites are paying 2, 3, 4-times more than they need to for their website/email packages. And it’s not their fault – years ago they just got into a web hosting contract with a company, and they’re not aware of the significant decrease in costs for these types of services now. And that’s how some churches are still paying someone $45/month for 100mb of space, 20 email accounts and 24-hr FTP access.
The other problem is that sometimes these web hosts are church members! It’s an issue of stewardship – and if someone in the church is making the church pay outrageous prices for something that can be as cheap as $5/month, that is just unacceptable. Granted, there may be some reasons why some churches stay with certain providers, but if you are on staff at a church that has a website, I’d encourage you to take a look and see what you’re paying for your web hosting and email services. My guess is that it is probably too much – and while it may take some phone calls and time figuring out how to switch to another host, it will save your church money in the long run.
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$90 a year at Dreamhost lets me host my blog, our church youth website, my wiki, decently.org, and a few other incomplete web projects. Excellent post to bring to people’s attention.
I think a lot of elders on ancient Presbyterian sessions believe that “you get what you pay for” and that something expensive is actually better quality. Weird. My church was in the same boat, and I second Shawn’s opinion on Dreamhost. I host my site, my church’s site, and about three others for various friends — at less than a hundred dollars a year. With unlimited MySQL databases.
And where exactly *is* your wiki, Shawn? I was looking for it yesterday…
That service would go a long way. Last year my church was suffering huge site and email down-time, so I looked into it and found out we were paying $25/month for 40 or 50MB and 20 emails. We weren’t getting any spam protection, none of the “filtering” they promised. So we switched that day and got 100GB and 100emails for $7/month. And no spam or down-time.
Spread the word…
preach on brother! And the biggest travesty? churches and non profits pay THAT MUCH and then put horribly designed sites on them that they never update. I specifically serve independent contractors, churches and other non profits by emphasizing this point
Very interesting and helpful…I like the stuff you point out about churches, cleave. What web hosting company do you use?
@Leisel, I use Media Temple (mt) – it’s $20/month and I can host up to 100 sites on it, unlimited emails/MySQLs and really great tech support.
I usually direct people to 1 and 1.
Less than 10.00 a month will cover most every need a Church could have.
I pay $6 a month with hostmonster for more than I need or know what to do with (this includes hosting, email, the domain name registration, and good service, too!). My site looks good (in my opinion) because I learned how to use wordpress.
Uh….am I doing something wrong? I’m pretty content with my FREE website. I know it’s pretty simplistic…but it does the job. Please feel free to see http://www.emmauscatholic.org
Peace.
Don, it looks ok…all except for the Mark of the Beast in the lower left hand corner.
Microsoft loves to help people sell their souls in return for “free stuff.”
I’m just kidding. Mostly…
;-)
Oops. I meant “in the lower *right* hand corner.”
Thanks for sharing on this subject. I just went through a cost analysis for different website providers for my church. I would spend ALL of my time developing the website if I could but that is not what I am being paid to do.
The challenge for my church was looking for someone to design the site while also being willing for us to provide guidance on the content. We also wanted to avoid having a “word pressy” site that looked like everyone else’s. Lastly, we wanted leaders (besides staff and the webmaster) to have the ability to update content.
We are in the prototype phase with the designer now. I will know more about the quality of work in a few weeks. I would then like to consider if we could have created the same site for significantly less…
Hey Adam…I just started reading your blog and can’t help but pimp my friends business. He is a ‘former pastor’ who started a web-business and his desire is to continue help churches maximize their web presence…here’s his business page:
http://www.vaultmultimedia.com/
Thanks for the post too…I totally agree and just stopped paying too much to typepad (sorry for all those who use it) for my blog!
later…Justin