Frequently Asked Questions
What is Legionsites?
Legionsites is a web hosting solution for American Legion Posts. It was started in 2004 by a Veteran and a web developer who desired to have an easier solution to getting a web presence on the internet for American Legion Posts. Legionsites is a combination of a content management system (CMS) that a Post uses to create and maintain content which is then published and displayed through a responsive template thus allowing a Post full control to design the content area of their website. The goal of the Legionsites custom CMS has always been to keep it very simple by offering an easy solution to provide content, events and photos onto the internet.
Website Home Page
Admin Home Page
What does Legionsites provide?
Legionsites provides a content management system (CMS) to administrate the content of a website and view content through a mobile responsive template. Some of the features are the ability to create and list events, create general and specific photo galleries, post the American Legion's RSS news feed, take membership applications, provide banner sliders on pages as well as provide content through an word-processing type editor.
We like to purchase the domain on behalf of our customers as it simplifies the technical setup aspects. However, if a customer chooses to leave us at anytime we will transfer domain ownership to them without any additional fees.
If you already own a domain that works with our service as well. We can give you the information that you will need to configure your domain's DNS to point to our hosting server. This configuration change is carried out on your domain's registrars account, and their website will most likely have directions on how to do this task. Note: For domains we do not own, the responsibility of the DNS configuration to use our services lies solely with the subscriber.
Legionsites also provides up to 10 emails that work with your chosen domain name. The email accounts are optional and some customers have chosen to continue to use other services (e.g. Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.).
How much does a Legionsite cost?
Our price for a new website setup is $249. After the first year is complete, our annual subscription fee becomes $199.
Where can I order a Legionsite?
You can use our Subscription page and click on "Purchase." Once subscribed, we will contact you by email. The only decision you will have to make after we contact you will be the name of your Legionsite domain. Most Posts usually opt for or a combination of their post number, geographical location and post name. We then purchase the domain and begin setting up your Post's website. If ever in the future you choose to leave the Legonsite service, we can transfer the ownership of the domain name to the Post for no charge. We only like to purchase the domain as it makes technical aspects of the site setup easier. However, if you already own a domain name, that is not a problem as we can set up a Legionsite on our servers for your domain name as well.
What about email?
A Legionsite account can also have up to 10 email addresses at no extra cost. The email account works with the post's domain name. The system can do POP, IMAP and SMTP, and can be configured to be used through a mail client or through the default web browser interface. Because Legionsites is first and foremost a web hosting solution, the email accounts are a basic mail solution and have some limitations. The email account has a max sending of 250 emails per hour for the domain (all email accounts combined) which does not make it well suited for large mailing list sending. Mass email sending is best performed by services designed for that specific purpose. However, many posts make use of this service as it works well. There is no self administration of the email service as all support is through request. Post's that do not use the email service continue to use their Outlook, Gmail and other email accounts.
What About Bulk Email Sending?
While our mailing system can accommodate sending email to a mailing list, it would be better if you utilize a bulk mailing service for that type of sending (e.g. MailerLite, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, etc.). Mail server providers (e.g. Gmail, Outlook Exchange) are bouncing bulk mailings coming into their system as spam. While our email accounts are set up with the proper recommended identification guidelines (referred to as SPF and DKIM records), emails that trigger a rate limit are sometimes rejected. Since our host email system is a general purpose system it does not have a rate limiting sending algorithm like a bulk mailing system would provide.
However, before going the route of a bulk mailer, you can still try to send to a mailing list from our system. If your list is small, or if you spread out similar domain emails (at this time, mostly the gmail addresses have bounced) amongst different lists and send at intervals, then our mail system may work for your purposes just fine.
If you do choose a bulk mailing provider, they still require a sender email address to be used. If you use an email address from your Legionsite domain, they may suggest some DNS records be added to your domain. Please contact our support and we can add the records that they request.