Compare the features...
Typical Free Service (e.g. MSN) |
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ContractBridge.Net |
| Advertising |
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You are forced to accept advertisements on your pages which not only have nothing to do with your club, but may even be offensive to your members. Advertising banners often take up one sixth or more of the screen area.
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You have an advertisement-free website, or if you like, offer advertising to your own club sponsors. The content of the site is 100% yours to control. |
| Technical Support |
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| Non-existent. If you have a problem with your site, chances are no-one cares. This may not be an issue if you have an expert in your club, but if you don't??? |
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Quick and efficient advice and support will be guaranteed with us. |
| Image & Customisation |
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| Your site will look the same as a million others. What's worse is that free sites are associated with amateur/low quality sites, so your visitors have a pre-conception that your site is not professional. |
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You can choose to use our templates which are specifically designed for bridge clubs, adapt the templates for your own image, or create your own pages from the ground up. There are no limits on your creativity! |
| Scalability |
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| If you decide to add more functionality to your site, it can be very difficult or impossible. There are many technical limitations which prevent certain types of features. |
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Anything is possible - from using your own domain name to adding a shopping cart and selling merchandise online (naturally these options cost extra). |
| .NET Passport |
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| MSN free sites necessitate members and visitors having to sign up to their .NET Passport scheme. This scheme has been slammed by privacy experts around the world and many people refuse to use it. Try a Google search of the words ".NET Passport + criticism" and see what you get! Or for an example, see this web page for some interesting comments. |
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Not an issue. |
| Terms & Conditions |
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Likely to be quite restictive, and liable to change without warning at any time. Some free hosts simply shut down, either temporarily or permenantly. More often, certain features they offer are discontinued or they start charging for them.
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You know where you stand with us. Our aim is high-quality websites for bridge clubs and our terms & conditions (available soon) will reflect this.
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You can opt for a free site and save yourself a small amount of money, or you can avoid all the drawbacks and have a website which truly meets your needs now and into the future. And it's not expensive - one very low set up price and an ongoing annual cost that can be recouped from table money from the first 10-12 tables at your first session of the year.
Plus your site is part of a team of bridge players, and bridge players only!!! We want to see good, successful bridge websites and we want to help you get there!