"home page" - had left our little congregation, we decided to have our web site hosted commercially, and under a top level ".org" Domain Name.

   Right from the beginning, and since the web hosting company provides web space for about 100.000 average web pages, we thought it would be nice to share the $150.00/year hosting cost in an "umbrella" web site for several congregations. With 5 sharing congregations, for instance, this comes to $30.00 (Canadian) per year (or $2.50 per month) per congregation - or $15.00 each per year (or $1.50 per month) for 10 sharing congregations. With 6 sharing congregations, each congregation would have web space for up to 16.500 average web pages - and with 10 sharing congregations, each congregation would have web space for up to 10.000 average pages.

   With this arrangement, the web addresses (URLs) of the various congregations would be as indicated on the previous page, and as follows:

www.unitariancongregation.org/victoria www.unitariancongregation.org/kelowna www.unitariancongregation.org/duncan www.unitariancongregation.org/yourcity www.unitariancongregation.org/yourtown www.unitariancongregation.org/yourplace

   And since our congregation has registered the Domain Name "www.unitariancongretation.org", there is no need for anyone else to register a Domain Name - for a further saving of funds.

   Residing in their own sub-directories, all the sharing congregations can have their own entirely independent and uniquely different web sites, with their own FTP access for managing and maintaining their web site. Please contact Peter Weis at pweis@shaw.ca for further information.

all you need is a "web person". Extremely low cost - something all of us can appreciate. Plus, and most importantly, the extremely high exposure of top level domains, in top level search engines.

   Right now, and under the query "Unitarian Congregation Victoria BC", we have the 1st. and 2nd. place positions on the first search results page in "Google", in "Yahoo!", in "AOL", in "Alta Vista", in "MSN", and in "All The Web" - all of the biggest, the best, the most popular, and most important search engines of the Web. To have first place position in all of the major search engines of the 'Web is absolutely priceless exposure. Many web sites would give their first born for such fantastic exposure - and throw in grandma as well.

   And the same goes for the Kelowna fellowship; "www.unitariancongregation.org/kelowna" also comes up in first place in the first search results page all of the above search engines, under the query "Unitarian Fellowship Kelowna". And if someone should search for "Unitarian Congregation Kelowna", it comes up in 3rd place.

In my view, one could not find any cheaper and more effective advertising anywhere. It's permanent, night and day, 365 days a year, with lots of room to make an appeal to visitors - as well as keeping members informed. And it reaches the best possible segment of the population - the progressive segment of middle and high income earners who can afford computers and have embraced the 'Net - all for just $2.50/month.

And it does so where all your prospective members live, right in your city or town. And of course, the world wide exposure of "www.unitariancongregations.org" is there as well. It comes up in 6th and 7th place in "Google", in 7th and 12th place in "Yahoo", and in 9th place on "AOL" - under the simple and extremely general query "Unitarian Congregations".