Website company

You could try our host Community123.com there is a link on the left in the yellow box.

Hosting companies have packages that are very easy to use. Don't get anything where you have to send content somewhere for someone else to upload. Costs a fortune. Of all the domain/hosting companies, GoDaddy is the cheapest.
Jeanne

Leticia,

There are several elements to a community web site. How you address them is a matter of your available talent and the money you want to spend. The elements are:

1. A domain name
2. A hosting site
3. Construction of the web site structure
4. Maintenance of the web site and content updates

Our Association uses a company that provides us with only a domain name and hosting site. We had a talented volunteer build the structure of our web site, and use other volunteers to update the content (news items, contact links, community directory, calendar, etc.) This is very cheap for us and gives us everything we need.

Since you have already tried to do something with volunteers and failed, I suggest using a "full service" provider, such as Community123. There are others that you can find through Google. You should look at several and compare prices an features to find one tat fits for your Association.

A "full service" provider will cover all 4 items above, usually with a one-time charge for the construction of the web site, and periodic charges for the domain name, hosting, and site maintenance.

Most "full service" companies have templates for Association web sites that include areas for static information (such as the community description) plus dynamic features (such as a news section). Most also have a public portion of the site and a portion that is accessible only to members via a password. This private area may contain a community directory, an events calendar, a page to pay assessments on-line, a form for ACC requests, a files area for your governing documents and other documents, contact information for board members and committee chairpersons, and maybe even a message board like the one we are using here (but private for your own Association's issues).

A good web site can go a long way toward improving communication and furthering the goals of the Association.

John,

You are absolutely correct about a discussion board being targeted by spammers. I was astonished how quickly the spam started to show up after we added this feature to our web site. Spammers can be addressed by putting the discussion board on the private, password-protected portion of the web site.

As to the "disgruntled homeowners and just plain fools" there is little that can be done. But these people are your neighbors and it's better to have their issues out in the open. A discussion board gives a place to people to vent, and often to see that their complaints may not be shared by the rest of the community. In our case, a discussion board has been a good thing and has increased communication, improved our sense of community, and led to the resolution of several contentious issues.