I'm Evan, a web designer and developer from Richmond Indiana. Learn more about me by visiting the "
Interesting Stuff
Starting a Church Website
These days just about everyone knows someone that's pretty good with a computer. Maybe it's someone's grandson or a neighbor, but chances are that we know someone that could figure out how to create a website (assuming that they don't already know how). So, what should you look for when you're looking for someone to create your church's website? The answer to this question depends on the purpose of your church's website.
Most churches don't need a large, interactive website that's going to draw people in from around the country. Most churches are going to put information like service and sunday school times, mission projects, and maybe an electronic newsletter on their website. They don't need a large calendar of events, a community forum or an interactive tour of the church. If your church needs a website of a larger scale we'll talk about that in a later article. For now we'll focus on the churches that need only a basic site.
What's your situation? Let me guess: Your church knows that they want to put up a website. You've talked to one or two people that know something about computers but they've really not gotten you anywhere with your website. So, you need someone to get things going and get things done. Sound like your situation? Well, what if I told you that you could put together a website easier than what you think?
Content Management Systems
One of the greatest untapped resources of the website world is Open Source Software. Haven't heard of it? Most people haven't. Have you heard of Linux or maybe Unix? Well, these are both open source operating systems. Open Source means that no one person/company owns the software. Therefore the software can be edited/improved by anyone with the know how. The result is free software that's constantly being improved and is as good as (and many times better) than most of the commercial software applications.
There are many Open Source software packages that allow you to put up a website and maintain it yourself with little to no technical knowledge (as long as you have someone to get the software setup on your host server). These software packages are called Content Management Systems (CMSs) and they're an invaluable tool for those that don't have the time to learn to create websites from scratch.
The way they work is simple. An administrator sets up a software package on the host server and provides access to the maintainer of the website (which because of the ease of use can be about anyone). That person, who will login and make updates via web-based forms, will control the content of the site without having to touch the technical/graphical areas of the site. For more information on CMSs, visit this page on Wikipedia.
Some of the better CMSs are:
Keep in mind that there is a plethora of CMSs out there and the features of each differs greatly, so if none of these quite fit the bill you'll want to dig deeper into the pile. I recommend http://www.cmswatch.com/ as a great resource for keeping up with the ever-changing world of CMSs.
Once you've chosen the CMS you would like to use and you've had someone set it up for you on a host server you're ready to start developing the website. If you're happy with the look of the website "out of the box" this means getting all of your content entered into the system. However, if you're a little more picky in terms of design you may want to shop around for pre-designed templates that were created for the CMS you chose.
Creating the "look" of the website is the fun part, so don't rush it too much. Make sure that you find something that looks nice but is also easy to navigate for people that don't have degrees in graphic design.
Putting it all together
Getting your website started might seem like a bit of a struggle. However, it's not very difficult once you get some of the terminology figured out. I highly recommend that you make connections with someone that is technically savvy enough to help you get the server-related items dealt with.
Here's a checklist of some items that you should be thinking about when preparing to create a website:
- Where will this website be hosted?
- What specs will my host need to have for my website?
- Who will be updating the site? (Do you need a CMS or will someone with HTML or website development knowledge be creating and maintaining the site?)
- What domain name (e.g. http://www.church.com/) do we want for our website?
- Are the needs for your church's website complex enough that you should hire the building of the website out?