Domain Name Search It/240

Assume the role of an IT consultant to a new nonprofit organization, Free Flu, which provides flu shots to the elderly. The organization needs a domain name.

I started with the Domain name search using Network Solutions’ WHOIS search. I found that .com is not available, .org is a premium re-sale for $6,249.00 (might be a little out of budget) and .net is unregistered and available for $34.99 for one year through network solutions, also available are .me and .nyc if they happen to be located in NYC. Through GoDaddy, the .net and .me domains are on sale for $9.99 but .nyc is still $39.99.

Free Flu’s site would not be difficult to host on their own with a server, but being a nonprofit organization I would assume that their funds are limited. It could be a substantial initial investment to buy and maintain their own server, a decent server would start at about $2000. Then they would have to pay someone to build the site, deploy it and then maintain it, not a cheap person to employ.

Another option would be to use a cloud web server like Google, Amazon, or Rackspace but again you have to hire someone who knows how to use and maintain it. In my opinion the best option for this organization is to use a web hosting service such as GoDaddy or Network Solutions (my employer uses them, bit pricy but good) one of these would be the most affordable and there would be no need to hire an IT person to maintain the site. With GoDaddy to build and host one site is $5.99 month and get your domain name for free if you go on the annual plan. Network solutions has the same deal for $9.96 month.