2. Create Your Site

Please click below on the tool you decided to use. This will take you to your sign-up instructions.

WordPress.com
Facebook Page
Posterous
Professional Web Designer

WordPress.com

When you sign up for a new WordPress site, you’ll be faced with a form very much like the one below. I’ve added extra information to the left-hand side, which you may find useful if you get stuck. Once you’ve scanned those notes, click here to sign up for your new site. If the image below is too small to read, click on it to enlarge.

Facebook Pages

Whether you already have a Facebook account or not, creating a Facebook Page is a relatively straightforward process with only 3 steps.

First, you’ll need to open the Facebook Page sign-up and be confronted with a page similar to the image below. Here you’ll have to indicate why you’re creating a Facebook Page. There’s no “wrong” answer here, so just click on the page type that you feel most accurately represents the page’s purpose. If you’re a non-profit, you’ll probably want to choose Company, Organization, or Institution, in the top row, center.

No matter what page type you choose, you’ll now be asked to further sub-categorize. If you’re creating a page for a non-profit and clicked on Company, Organization, or Institution, you’ll now see a box like the one below. Here, you’ll…

Select Non-Profit Organization from the drop-down menu.
Enter the name of your non-profit. This name cannot be changed later and will show up at the top of your Facebook Page, so double-check that you haven’t mistyped.
Click on the square next to I agree to Facebook Pages Terms.
Click on the Get Started button.

Now as a final step, you’ll be asked to either sign-in to your current Facebook account, or create a new account if you’re not on Facebook. Don’t worry, creating an account won’t make you fill out a profile and start “friending” others! You can still keep your personal life off Facebook, while maintaining a professional presence for your organization. Facebook simply requires the information below for sign-in purposes.

Posterous

Signing up for Posterous is dead simple. After opening up the Posterous registration page, you just enter your email, make up a username and password, and click on the You’re almost there! button. They call it that, because you really are almost there.

Now all you have to do is open up your email, look for a message from Posterous titled Confirm your email address, and click on the confirmation link inside. That’s it.

Professional Web Designer

If you think this is the best option for you, the rest of this session probably won’t be much help. But don’t worry, we’ll still give you some resources and tips to get you started. First, I would check out Blazing Moon’s articles on building a non-profit website. This will give you a better idea of the necessary steps and costs.

Now if you already know a non-profit with a great website, ask them who they work with and whether they’ve been happy with that work. Nothing means more than a personal recommendation. We recommend hiring somebody locally, if possible, so that you can meet with them face-to-face.