Inexpensive Web Presence

http://www.barcamp.org/InexpensiveWebPresence

-Easy to start on WordPress.com -- no html, easy signup, ready to go
-Other end: hire a professional developer to work on it
-In the middle: Get a (for example) Tomcat server to deploy custom webapps for something like $20/mo

One person here who is nontechnical runs a nonprofit that uses a free hosted Drupal instance called CivicSpace, but there's a lack of flexibility. That's created some problems.

CivicSpace: "CivicSpace is a for profit social enterprise. Our goals as individuals and as an organization are to make a difference, earn some money, enjoy life and change the world! We are a diverse group who share values of effectiveness, respect, fairness and fun. CivicSpace started with the grassroots software of the Howard Dean for President campaign and has emerged as an online service to help civic groups of all sizes to use advanced open source fundraising and communications technologies."

Inexpensive = time *and* money

Cost is a balance of time, money and your technical knowledge. It will vary for every person/group.

Another person likes wikis a lot and runs AboutUs.

AboutUs.org: "We connect businesses and websites with each other and their customers using a wiki-based resource of millions of editable pages of information." Could be used as an early website before getting up your own hosting. About 20 nonprofits have done this.

Interesting tidbit about how technical details impact people: On the free CivicSpace hosting, the security certificate for secure connections has been expired for almost a year. This could cause potential donors not to donate when they get the warning!

TechSoup: "TechSoup.org offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. In addition to online information and resources, we offer a product philanthropy service called TechSoup Stock. Here, nonprofits can access donated and discounted technology products, generously provided by corporate and nonprofit technology partners."

Book by Steve Krug: "Don't make me think" -- about making things intuitive. Fairly expensive because of color graphics

What's simple for non-technical people? Drupal, WordPress... But Drupal does have technical startup costs (need a decent computer person to set it up), and WordPress has some technical limitations (no calendar, sales).

Another person mentioned WebYep: " WebYep is a compact Web Content Management System for extremely simple creation of editable web pages. It is a low priced alternative for small to medium websites."

Email marketing, mailing lists, keeping in touch: ConstantContact, iContact

CRM (customer relationship management): SugarCRM, SalesForce.com (for nonprofits too). Fairly high technical barrier to entry, at least for setup.

Nonprofits have tickets for events and such. Check out Brown Paper Tickets. They take out less than TicketMaster.

Sales: CafePress, GoodStorm (which recently sold to Zazzle) -- has a higher profit margin than CafePress.