We are continuing to work on the Church Web Site. We are going to start setting up the pages necessary for a church web site. We will be installing plugins to make the pages functional. WordPress has plugins for just about everything. We will be installing a plugin on the Contact page to allow people to easily contact us. We will add a different contact form on a Prayer Request page. We are going to install a plugin that will create a church calendar. You will need to download the plugins from WordPress and upload them to your site. This is a process you need to get comfortable with because you will be doing it a lot as you develop your site. I want you to read an article called “50 Things to Do to Start a Blog From Scratch – Part 3“. This will help you get comfortable with the process. Once you have been through the process a couple of times it will become very easy. Rather than step through the process on the Church Growth | Software and Consulting site, you can read how the pages are developed on the Church Web Site Church Blog page.
One of the goals of this site is to help you set up your own church web site. It is now easier and cheaper than ever before to get your church on the Internet. As we have discussed new software programs are available that make it possible for everyone to start and maintain a church web site. As a pastor, I have found that being able to translate my ideas quickly into our website has been very helpful. It is also very affordable to have your own web site. You can put a web site on the Internet for free that will work quite well. or you can purchase your own domain name (about ($10) Ten Dollars a year) and get a web host (about ($80) Eighty Dollars a year) which will give you the most flexibility for your site. One advantage of having your own domain and web hosting will make it possible for you to set up online giving which can easily pay for the cost of your site every year. If you are interested in getting your own domain name and web host you should read an article called How to Creat a Blog You Can be Proud Of on a site called MyNewbieBlog.
The Church Web Site
In order to demonstrate what it takes to start a church web site we have created an actual web site called Church Web Site. By reading the articles here on Church Growth | Software and Consulting and on Church Web Site you should have plenty of information to get an attractive, fully functional web site up and running in a very short time. This site will include a Church Blog, a Prayer Requests page, a page for Audio Sermons, a page for Video Sermons, a Donate page, a Calendar page and more.
