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Practical suggestions for growing your church through your website. Heather Folliard , Associate Pastor, HillSong Church Drew Mooney, Web Design & Development, HillSong Church. Welcome!. What information are you looking for when…. …you’re a regular member/attendee?
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Practical suggestions for growing your church through your website Heather Folliard, Associate Pastor, HillSong Church Drew Mooney, Web Design & Development, HillSong Church
Welcome! • What information are you looking for when…. • …you’re a regular member/attendee? • …you’ve just moved to a town and you’re looking for a new church? • …you’re just visiting for the weekend and looking for somewhere to go?
VISUAL • The website is often the first impression someone has about a church • Style & presentation can convey a lot about the atmosphere of a church • Looks good:covlife.org • Needs help! mothersetonparish.org
CONTENT • Is the actual content of the site presented in the best way possible? • There’s a good amount of information that belongs on a church website • Looks good: doorofhopepdx.org • Needs help! terraceshores.com
USABILITY • Is the site easy to use and navigate? • Does it meet the needs of the visitors? • Looks good: hillsongnyc.com • Needs help! cedarbrookchurch.net
Make it happen! • Starting a new site? • Purchase a domain name (godaddy works well) • Purchase web hosting • Meet with staff & members to assess needs for the site • Redoing a current one? • Assess current web hosting solution • Meet with staff& members to assess needs for the site • Just moving to a new host? See the follow-up email.
The assessment: so what does my site need? • Why do people go the site? • What are they looking for? • Your congregation and location will determine that! • Ex 1: Chapel Hill, NC -> Small city, lots of new students each year looking for basic information about the church. • Ex 2: Pickett, WI -> Tiny town, members need to access same resources over and over.
Building your site: WordPress • WordPress is the best way to quickly and beautifully create a functional and powerful site. • WordPress is free software that you install on your host’s server. • 5 minute installation • It’s free! • Awesome tutorials and forums • Multi-user functionality • Themes • Plugins • Google Analytics