Since last summer a number of ourlocality website owners have opted to pay a monthly or annual sub for the service. In part this was a response to continuing requests for ongoing training, advice and support, which many active users felt should no longer be completely free.
Our research shows most users find the support most valuable, especially during the startup and early days of their web presence, and groups or individuals with a charitable idea but no budget can still get this help entirely gratis.
We have helped many organisations and groups get going and launch new projects very quickly. But ourlocality also works well for slow burning projects, so users can sign up for free and witch their project into “stealth mode” before making a commitment.
The free tier has a modest media upload limit (nota bene 80% of our users use less space than this) and you can no longer map your own domain (alas to set up the ssl certificate process we have to make some changes at the server end), but otherwise there is no limit on the number of pages and posts you publish.
We formally launched paying plans earlier this year https://join.ourlocality.org. The paid tier starts at a modest £3/m for anyone who wants to simply map the domain (we’ll give you help, but you will need to manage your own domain registry). This plan is ideal for those who don’t need much storage space and can get on with their project without much help (forum help is still free, though).
For £6/m you get enhanced storage space and email based help. We’ll manage also your domain registry, if you would like us to look after that side, and for a little extra we can help setup additional professional third party email services to work with your domain. Also if you anti spoofing measures on your email or newsletter services, we can attend to that too.
For £12/m you can get up to 3 sites hosted, 3 domains mapped and sub domains too, along with a generous 3Gb of storage space. This plan would suit those who rely on their website for generating leads or income.
If you have a project idea and want help to happen – quickly, give us a shout: ourlocality@sustainingdunbar.org
