There can be many different factors that appeal to nonprofit agencies when it comes to hosting their website. Here are some to consider:

The Cost Factor - Affordable Website Hosting

These days most of the so-called shared hosting plans are very affordable and offered by literally hundreds of web hosting companies - some with their own services and some others reselling original providers' plans. So I think cost is not so much an issue anymore if your needs are "basic" i.e. doesn't require any special customized service or high-bandwidth (high capacity and fast) access: a shared hosting plan will give you plenty of features giving you everything you want and more. All nonprofits and small businesses I have ever dealt with fell into this category.

Website hosting companies offer one or several shared hosting packages - the main variable usually being the storage space (and bandwidth) size. You will find many similar plans anywhere from $4 to $10 per month. Since there's a huge competition in this area and prices are very similar, companies compete on other areas like customer service, extra features, reliability, etc. You should consider all those other factors and see what fits you the best.

Keep in mind that cheapest is not always the best especially if you need a considerable amount of hand-holding in running your website successfully. If you know how to manage your site yourself then by all means, find a low-priced hosting - but if you want some help then look at good customer service and even website design/management packages.

I offer so-called Manage Hosting plans that takes out the hassle of managing the website from your hands and let you focus on your core mission. It's a website hosting + everything else for your website managed by me. You can find different levels of services depending on your needs:

• One year plan: $400
  
• Two year plan: $700
  
• Three year plan: $1000
  

Add-on Functions - Extra Services

Some of the extra features are: free email accounts, free databases, add-on domains, or useful applications like WordPress for blogging, Joomla for content management, or SMF for discussion forums.

These can be very useful - if you know what to do with them. My advice to create a Strategice Internet Plan for at least the next 2-3 years and see what you need in order to successfully execute your plan. If you don't have a plan yet, you can start by filling out my Internet Needs Assessment Form.

Usability - Ease-of-Use

We should separate usability into two different areas: managing the hosting account itself, and managing the actual website which can be done in different ways depending the technology being used.

It's important that the user interface of your hosting management account is clear, well-organized and laid out intuitively so you know with high degree of certainty where each click leads. I've seen many hosting providers whose account management interface (many times proprietary) just doesn't make sense and get you frustrated (1&1 comes to mind...). Godaddy has the most intuitive interface I came across. I also recommend any hosting with cPanel: it's very reliable, easy to use and full with extra features - they just lack a good built-in spam protection system (the included Spam Assasin is way too weak).

When it comes to actually managing your website, now you have to consider what technology you will use - that is a very important decision, especially if you are planning to manage the website yourself either fully or partially. I've seen MANY nonprofits that went with a cheap or easy managed technology solution only to regret it a year or two later when they had too many problems or outgrew their platform and couldn't switch easilyt to another.

Finally you can consider using web-based website builders where you dont' even have to purchase hosting as it is included in the product. These are not only very user-friendly but they pack tons of features that could help you make your website more dynamic with discussion forum, blog, photo album, videos and so on. Check out some of these solutions that are great for nonprofits.

Other Considerations Like Environmental Friendliness

There are many environmentally conscious nonprofits who care about their impact on the environment and that might include their website hosting.

A couple of such environmentally-friendly hosting companies were brought to my attention:

• Thinkhost
• Acorn Host