South Carolina Conference Communications
Does your church need a website?
One of the questions I get most often is, "How do I make a website?" The truth is there is no easy answer. It's a lot like asking, "What car should I buy?" or "What camera should I get?" In 1998 there was only one way, you learned HTML and you coded it all by hand. However, the reality is that there are now so many ways to make a website and there are so many factors to consider when you make one, that building a website is a very personalized thing for every church. How much can we spend? What kind of skill do we have to manage a website? What information do we want, need, or wish for? All of these questions can lead to different answers and different ways for building a website. For example, if your church has $0.00 dollars to spend monthly on a website, going with an expensive content management solution like e-zekiel isn't a good choice. Maybe using a free Google webpage like the Charleston District website would be better for your needs.
Recently, I discovered a new website company called squarespace.com Squarespace is not United Methodist, it's not even a Christian company, but they are VERY good at providing people and companies with high quality, easy to build websites for very little money. A basic squarespace site can cost less than $8.00 a month and you get a lot of bang for those eight bucks. Even better is that you can try it free for two weeks and you don't need a credit card, just an email address.
I recently worked out a special offer for our United Methodist Churches. Sign up for any squarespace plan and use the coupon code UMCSC and receive 10% off the life of the account.
I've gone ahead and built a faily basic site using ONLY squarespace and some free easy to use google tools. Check it out. My Church UMC
It only took me about 4 hours to put it all together. Granted I know my way around and I'm familiar with the tools, but you should have the hang of all of that well within your first week.
I sat down with yesterday with a church that is reworking there website in squarespace. After a couple of quick tutorials they had the basic shell and navigation of there whole site done in less than a day.
If you are interested in using squarespace, would like for me to talk to you more about it, or come to your church to show a committe some options and ideas, give me a call or send me an email. Matt Brodie mbrodie@umcsc.org 803-786-9486
I am going to be posting more information on website and search engine optimization. We are very close to doing some very neat things here!
Derik: Thanks for linking to the Charleston District Website. Low budget was actually high on the list of considerations when putting the site together. Some of the others were ease of posting and time to create something. Budget, administrator skill levels and time will definitely shape the tool that you choose to use for your web hosting. (07/29/09)
Matt Brodie: Thanks, The whole idea is to let our churches know that were are easy and affordable web solutions out there. I also want them to know that the needs, budget and skill level will all be huge factors in what kind of website you make. (07/29/09)
Suzanne Birk: Just to add a little more information... I am currently the administrator for www.Murrayumc.com and whiteplainsumc.net. I started www.newnanchapelumc.net (another administrator is handling it now) a few years ago. The fee is minimal and either I can do the work or someone in your church can be trained. Take a look at the sites and let me know what you think. I am always open to suggestions - especially how to get more traffic! Be Blessed. (09/15/09)