You will need to buy a name/domain eg. www.Living Democracy.ie

In the past we have used: www.Digiweb.ie and www.godaddy.com as sources to buy domains.

Prices vairy so shop around. “.ie” is most expensive as it requires proof that your web site has Irish relevance, so be prepared to prove this with letter headed paper and an explanation of what your web site is about. Other “.com, .info, .org “ web sites are cheaper and do not require a stringent verification. This is a recurring (usually annual) fee. Prices vary form €7 for a .com to around €30 for a .ie

You now need an internet computer to host or “broadcast”  your  web site to the internet. This is a service which can cost anywhere from a few tens of Euro to thousands of euro.  Typically it will be in the region of €200.

Usually the designer will create a template and then allow you to put up text and pictures. There  is a recurring (usually annual) fee for this service that you may expect to pay around €50

There are free hosts but they come with limitations and drawbacks usually having standard templates with mandatory advertising which gives a “cheap feel” to the site.

You  need some way of putting text and pictures onto the web site and this is what a designer or web master does. They will have the necessary software to put up and take down pictures and text. Most web sites are now operating with Content Management Systems (CMS) , ie  a local administrator, typically friends, who are  trained to use a programme to manage the web site rather than go through an outsider to put things up. Going through an outsider is a laborious process and takes up valuable time, but may be adequate for a site with a static content. It would be wise to have all your ducks in a row and know what colour, layout, logo etc that you want.

You can now decorate your web site with  pictures from  a free picture internet site. Generally these sites supply stock images for free use so long as your web site is non commercial and you credit the site. Eg http://www.morguefile.com Alternatively you can decorate with your own images that you can upload onto the internet.

Consider using Ning.com as a social networking web site.

I have created a web site called www.LivingDemocracy.ning.com  It has all the functionality of an ordinary web site, its easy to use and it comes with various options you can select or unselect as needs arise including chat, group e-mails, calendar, personal and group profiles, group administration etc . You can make the ning site visible to all or keep it or sections of it private  - visible only to an inner core. Best of all its free! On the negative side it does have template limitations, you are stuck with a name”.ning.com”  and the advertisements are irritating. But you can pay a certain fee that removes both the advertisements and the “.ning” from the name.