Websites are no longer only owned by high profile businesses, professional bloggers and those who consider themselves to be technically savvy. Thanks to a wide variety of easy to use control panels employed by web hosting companies, today's websites are owned by grandparents, new fathers, stay-at-home moms and students--all eager to make connections.
Is your family online? Here are five reasons why your family needs to have a website to call home.
1. The last email address you'll ever need!
With a domain based web hosting account, you'll be able to create an unlimited amount of email addresses that will stay with you and your family for life. No longer will you need to check multiple email addresses across multiple networks.
Let's say your last name is Karpinsky and you buy up the domain name Karpinsky.com. You, John Karpinsky, can have an email address of [email protected]. Your wife Sally can choose [email protected]. And so on and so on with all the various members of your extended family. Suddenly, email addresses are easy to remember again.
2. Personal family websites offer a great way to stay in touch
What you decide to do with your family's website is entirely up to you. Some families do these things:
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Start a forum for extended family members to keep in touch on a daily basis.
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Install CMS software that enables all family members to start blogs, chat-rooms or post their thoughts.
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Exchange recipes, storing them all in a database that can be accessed by everyone.
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Plan a family reunion.
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Catalog the family tree.
3. Websites allow you to “see” family more often
Do your child's grandparents live in another State or even in another Country altogether? Family websites are a great way to let your extended family see your baby's first steps by video or your daughter's graduation photos or even just your weekend outing to a local campground. With a website, you can create photo and video albums on the fly.
4. You control privacy settings
If you're one of those up in arms over Facebook's issues with privacy, a family website may be just right for you. With a domain name and website, you control how much information you give visitors access to. You can password protect certain areas of the site, like family photos or children's blogs, password protect it all, or leave it public for all the world to see.
5. Websites are inexpensive
The cost of a domain name is less than $10/year and web hosting prices in 2010 are some of the lowest we've ever seen. You can host a family website for less than you spend on groceries in a week. Get the whole extended family to kick in a few dollars each and now it's cheaper than buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
What are you waiting for? Join the fun and get your family online today!