The Price is Right

Annual cost of $210 includes hosting, URL renewal, 24/7 customer support, extra email, and MailChimp integration. 

We are currently paying $180 / year.  (I did pay extra to reserve multiple domains - santamonicamasons.org and .net)

Incredible ease of use

Entirely hosted solution that requires no  programming knowledge to use. I was able to build this site in less than 24 hours. 

Wordpress will expect you to host everything on your own, design  everything on your own, maintain plug-ins that will break with every  update, and maintain security. SquareSpace does that all for you. There are few headaches or hassles. 

Proven CMS platform

The design aesthetics are beautiful.  The customer support is great. This is the 6th generation of this product, so the reputation is good. 

Mobile-responsive sites for smart phone users. No need for extra plug-ins.  Although there is capability for CSS and HTML coding. 

Security

Never any issues with high traffic or with the site crashing, because of load balancing. Never any issues with hackers, since the functionality is handled by a central team, as opposed to WordPress which is open source and susceptible to hackers. 

No credit card information will ever be stored on the site. We can remove any personal identifiable information on members. 

No worries about member information leaking, because there will be no storage of member information. 

Added Features

1. 5 or more Administrators. Site never has to be controlled by one person all the time. 
2. Email address which can be directed wherever we want. 
3. Payment feature.  Members able to pay for Dues online. Potential for future sales items, like event tickets.
4. Blog. Great platform for learning and sharing ideas with the brethren. More open than a discussion forum. Lots of potential with a blog. 

Mailchimp integration

MailChimp is a free service for email communication.  (Free for any account with less than 500 email subscribers)

Ability to send Trestleboard electronically, provide weekly updates on meetings or events, disseminate other information safely and securely. 

conclusion

For the purposes of this lodge, we want a site that represents who we are as Masons, and will be enticing to non-Masons who want to learn more. 

This is a platform that can grow with us into the future. We can continue to add more pages, create sub-pages (like for specific events), and try innovative new things. We can even change the entire layout of site and do something completely different. 

As a lodge, I want a site that is rich in history, philosophy, and learning. I believe the blog is a means to achieve that. The integrated calendar should have us all well coordinated, too.  There will be no confusion about upcoming events or lodge information. 

Administratively, this site will be very easy to use, will require little maintenance or oversight, can handle multiple administrators, and anybody can make edits that will look professional (without screwing anything else up).

I am fully confident in the security of the site. SS has few issues with hackers or maintenance crashes.

We have no personal information on here (except for the site owner and administrator).