GeoffF100 wrote:I want to create a simple website with its own domain name for a club. Google found this, which looks simple enough:
https://websitesetup.org/He recommends Bluehost in the US. Is that a good choice?
I would like the website to be in the club's name rather than my own. I expect that I will have to give a name and postal address, but the club will have a bank account and perhaps a debit card. Are there any complications here?
Do I have to do anything to ensure that the website is found by Google?
A lot depends on how technically minded the ultimate users/administrators of the website are.
I concur with the use of Wordpress (WP) as the website 'builder' . Like it or loathe it (it is a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut for the majority of websites) but it is ubiquitous, lots of online help and importantly most (if not all) webhosting companies have either a one-click install or a fully managed Wordpress solution.
Savvy users/admins could go for a self-managed WP install, but for a bit more on the monthly fee, you can get a fully-managed WP solution which takes care of WP backups, keeping WP updated etc etc.
I have never used Bluehost but I assume they are all much of a muchness, and it all gets down to price. I have used 1and1 (now rebranded ionos), GoDaddy, 123-Reg, others I know have used tsohosts. I think these days they are all pretty much the same TBH.
Google finds everything, as soon as your website goes live, it will start to get visits from Google bots. If you want to make it more easily found e.g. appear higher on ranking lists then links to/from the site helps, but if the website is mainly used by club members then this is a non issue.
A family member has just gone through a similar process to update an club website from a hand-crafted one built 10 years ago which has never been updated because no-one at the club had any experience/knowledge to do it. They opted for a managed WP site from their existing webhost as the simplest, easiest to maintain solution.
NB. The reason for their update was because they got hacked and it was due to the aging software that was used (nothing to do with passwords etc, but an underlying flaw), hence the need to move to a solution which required zero input to keep the site up-to-date re security patches etc.
Re ownership, make sure it is all done through the club secretary with club name and bank accounts etc, you don't want a situation where the owner of the domain and webhosting packages etc are different people/organisations. I would check with the webhosting company on the specifics.
HTH
kyu66