Right Side Communications LLC
Frequently Asked Questions
We have a volunteer who's a web designer. Why should we use Right Side Communications (RSC) to create our website instead of building a custom political website from scratch?​
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With Right Side Communications, you'll have a customized, ready-to-go, political party website that you can easily manage and update at your own convenience. It's a snap to add pages, videos, create photo galleries, post news and events, send email campaigns, and manage volunteers and donations through our website’s easy-to-use dashboard.
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Even if you're lucky enough to have a volunteer who has the technical skills to create a professional-looking political website from scratch, and the time to design your website, you will need to invest a great deal of your time writing original content, as well as preparing, collecting, creating, and organizing useful content for your web designer. In addition, relying on a volunteer designer to add content and updates to your site in a timely manner, and on an ongoing basis, can be an unpredictable and frustrating process.​
I already have a domain name - can I use it with my new Right Side Communications website?
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Absolutely! It's a simple process to connect your domain to your new Right Side website.​
I don’t have a domain name yet. Can you help me get one?
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Although we don’t provide domain names, we can point you to a number of good sources for securing your domain name.
Do I need any special software?
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All you need is a computer and an internet connection.
Do I need to know HTML or have any special skills to manage my website?
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If you can use email and surf the internet, you can manage your own RSC political party website.
RSC websites are configured with features and pages specifically designed for Iowa Republican party organizations.
Your new website will be customized with your selections and will be ready-to-go when it is transferred to your local party.
Can I share my site with others before it is officially launched and published?
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Yes! We use a temporary URL while the site is under construction and prior to connecting it to your party’s domain name/URL.
Can I hide my site until I'm ready to launch?
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Yes! You have complete control over sharing the temporary URL for your new website. In addition, the temporary site can be published and unpublished with the click of a mouse. When you're ready to publish your new site, it's a simple process.
Will my website be easy to view on mobile devices?
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Yes - our sites responsively adjust for mobile viewing and your website dashboard provides special mobile editing tools for optimizing the mobile view.
What will it cost to get our new Republican Party website design created?
Our design fees are priced to be affordable for small rural districts, suburban districts, and for high-density urban districts. ​​​
Our fees range from $300 to $2,250 depending on the population (not voters) of the political district served by your party organization.​​
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Does Right Side Communications provide website hosting services for the websites you create?
RSC is solely focused on designing political websites for Republican Party organizations. While we do not provide website hosting, our website templates are created and designed to be hosted by WIX.
Why choose WIX for website hosting?
We have selected WIX because it is so much more than a secure and reliable website hosting platform.
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The WIX all-in-one dashboard has easy-to-use graphic design tools to create flyers, professional emails, and customize forms with just a few clicks.
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The WIX platform has a robust contact management database integrated into the website dashboard that is great for managing voter contact information, creating call lists, and sending bulk emails to constituents.
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The WIX event planning tools and the integrated WIX payment processor can be utilized for hosting conventions, ticketed events, e-commerce, and for accepting online donations.
WIX also offers many optional components and third-party plug-ins to upgrade and expand your website capabilities as needed. These can be scaled up during those active periods of the election cycle or to facilitate the growth of your party organization.
What are the ongoing costs for WIX website hosting?
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WIX offers many flexible and affordable options for monthly, annual, or multi-year subscriptions.
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You select the webhosting plan with features that will best meet your current needs and party budget.
​WIX offers monthly plans as low as $17 per month. Annual and multi-year subscriptions offer discounted monthly rates.
Can I import my contacts into my new website database dashboard?
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Yes. You can import contacts from Excel, email, the GOP Data Center, and other data sources.​​
Can I export my contacts from my website dashboard database?
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Of course! You can easily export your contacts and voter files for canvassing, phone banking, or event registration lists.
Can I set up email accounts for my domain?
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Right Side Communications LLC is a website creator only and we don't manage or assist in your organization's email setup. You will, however, have the option to purchase a Google Workspace custom domain email through WIX when you purchase your WIX website hosting plan.
Can I add users or collaborators to help me manage my website?
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Yes! The number of collaborators you can add depends upon the web hosting plan you purchase. WIX allows you to select Collaborator Roles and designate permissions for specified tasks and to limit access to some of the editing, publishing, and behind-the-scene functions of the website dashboard.
​How do I get started?​​
Common Internet Terms and Definitions
URL
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the file address of a resource on the Internet. A URL can represent a web page, an image, a video, a style sheet, and much more. (e.g. https://www.iowagop.org/)
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Domain Name
A domain name is a unique name (e.g. google.com) used to identify the location of a website on a web server. When you access a website through a web browser like Google Chrome, the domain name is translated to an Internet Protocol (IP) address (e.g. 172.217.12.206) which represents the server on which the website is hosted. This translation is dynamically performed by a domain name server (DNS).
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Domain Registrar
This is the company you pay to register your domain. GoDaddy is the most popular of these services. WIX offers a free domain for the first year with the purchase of an annual business website hosting plan.
IP Address
An Internet Protocol address is a unique numerical label assigned to each device connected to the Internet, including computers, phones, tablets, servers, cars, and more.
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DNS
Domain Name Servers are the Internet’s equivalent of a phone book or directory.
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DNS Records
A set of records that tell the internet where to find your website, your email, and these are also used for validation of various services.
Website Host/ Web Server/Hosting Provider
In order to get a website online, you need to host (or save) your website files on a Web server connected to the internet. Web Servers are used to store, process and deliver web pages to clients (e.g. web browsers like Google Chrome). This is the company that stores your website files and provides them to internet users on request. If you select Right Side Communications LLC to build your website, your website will be hosted by WIX. .
Web Browser
A web browser, often referred to as a “browser” is a software application used for accessing information on the internet. Some of the most popular web browsers include Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Edge.
Drag and Drop
Drag and drop is the action of moving computer files from one application or location to another using a click and drag motion. Drag and drop is typically used in website platforms to position elements on a page using your mouse.
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SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the rankings of a web page (or website) in a search engine such as Google. Search engines have their own secretive algorithms for calculating search position, but there are some basic things you can do to get your site ranked higher and more effectively. The WIX platform has SEO tools integrated into the website dashboard.
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Responsive/Adaptive
Responsive and adaptive web designs allow websites to properly display on multiple screen sizes, such as desktops, tablets, and mobile devices
Design Fees
Our Website Design Fees are priced to be affordable for small rural districts, suburban districts, and for high-density urban districts.
​​​Our design fees range from $300 to $2,250 depending on the population (not voters) of the political district served by your party organization. *
​​Low Density Rural (>10,000 population): $ 300
Rural (10,000 – 25,000 population): $ 600
Small (25,0000 -50,000 population): $1,200
Suburban (50,000 -150,000 population): $1,750
Urban (150,000- 300,000 population): $2,250
Urban Population over 300,000 - call for a quote
* While RSC templates provide a robust website framework for party units of all sizes, websites for districts with larger populations require more customization due to the increased number public officials, political candidates, and municipalities served by the local party unit.
Our Design Fees are based upon the premise that Right Side Communication’s ready-to-use templates and ease of use replaces the need to hire a professional with design and technical expertise to create your party website.
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Generally, the fees paid to a web designer for creating a political website can range anywhere from $1,500 to $30,000 depending upon the extent of the website content, number of pages, and other required design features.
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Even with supposedly easy-to-use website builders like Squarespace or WIX, there's a pretty extensive learning curve required in order to set up an attractive website with the content and features required for a typical political party organization.
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Preparing, researching, and writing content for your political website can be tedious, time consuming, and overwhelming for volunteers or expensive if you need to hire a designer to perform this work.
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At Right Side Communications LLC, we create and customize your party website with our ready-to-use templates that have been specifically designed to meet the needs of Iowa Republicans. ​​​​
Schedule a Demo today!
Learn more about creating an effective, affordable, and powerful website for your local Republican Party unit. Establish a strong online presence for your local party today.
