About the US GOP Website
I live in New Mexico. The computer which hosts this website is somewhere in Alabama. On the internet the location doesn't matter.
It is a shared server and several hundred other websites are on the same device; that's why the monthly hosting charges are affordable. However, all the tools a webmaster could want are available. Various web development languages, ample storage space for pages and sufficient bandwidth to handle the requests for page views.
You will notice the site is very simple, with almost no graphics. This is deliberate and based on three important factors.
- Graphics are expensive because they take time and skill to develop. For underfunded campaigns which come and go with the elections, graphics are a luxury. In many cases pictures will have as much or more impact and these days everyone has a digital camera. Remember though that pictures have the same problems as those listed below for graphics.
- The search engines such as Google can't read graphics. This leads to sites which proclaim their owners ignorance for all to see. I frequently encounter very pretty websites with lots of graphics and Flash animations with very low rankings in the search engines.
- Graphics files are large and overuse really slows down the speed with which a webpage loads. A text only site will have really fast loading pages. This doesn't matter to much for those viewers with cable modem or DSL service, but those using dialup services will really feel the difference.