Come On Out to MinistryCOM!

Join me for MinistryCOM 2008 - Living On The Edge - September 18-19, 2008 in Oklahoma City

I’d like to do a plug and invite all of you to join us for the upcoming MinistryCOM, September 18th - 19th, right here in my backyard of Oklahoma City! Some of the sessions will be lead by cool peeps like Mike Foster, Kent Shaffer, and Michael Buckingham and there will be many other great presenters there as well.

I had to cancel my plans and sponsorship last year due to work and was really bummed.  This year I’ll definitely be attending and I’d love to meet any of our readers who make it out here.   So look me up and I’ll buy you a cup of Java or maybe take you cruisin’ to Bricktown in my ‘66 Oldsmobile Delta 88.  Air conditioning is not optional (it doesn’t work).

Don’t wait…check out the MinistryCOM website and get signed up today for one awesome get together!

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James Dalman specializes in church branding, church consulting, and church marketing. He’s the new editor at Church Communications Pro and will be the first person to capture a live Bigfoot.

June 30, 2008 · Filed Under CCP Talk & News, Church Marketing, Church Media, Church Ministries, Resources and Links

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Uploading Your Sermons to WordPress Blogs

In case you haven’t heard about it there is a plug-in for WordPress blogs that allows you to upload your sermons.

Mark Barnes recently sent me an e-mail about his Sermon Browser WordPress Plugin that allows churches to simply upload sermons to their WordPress website, where they can be searched, listened to, and downloaded. It is easy to use with comprehensive help and tutorials.

While I haven’t tried it out personally (because I’m a WordPress dummy) - it sounds really cool!  Feel free to check it out for yourself.

June 16, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging, Church Media, Church Websites, Web 2.0

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The Pros and Cons of Website CMS (Part Three)

In part one of this series we discussed what a CMS actually is and in part two, the advantages and disadvantages of Content Management Systems. Today I’d like to wrap up the Pros and Cons of CMS series by talking about what you should consider when choosing a CMS platform.

Budget

There are two main budgetary concerns with CMS’s: set-up (or design) fees and monthly hosting charges. A custom designed CMS, like the one we use at Calvary Church, can be pretty pricey. With the extra expense comes more custom functionality and future expandability. There are less expensive set-up options in the form of plug and play CMS’s. Most of the CMS companies targeted at churches only charge a small set up fee (if any) and a monthly fee. With these, you typically do not get a custom design, but rather get to choose from a selection of templates that you can tweak yourself. Typically you should budget more for monthly hosting of a CMS than for basic web hosting.

Custom Templates

Most CMS’s operate using templates to maintain the design of the site’s pages. Consider whether the CMS has a wide selection of templates from which to choose, if you can design your own templates, and explore whether the templates are easy to change.

Features

Another factor to consider when selecting a CMS is the list of features. Do you only need to design static web pages? Will you need email forms? Is there an easy way to upload and edit images? Do you plan on streaming audio or video? Will you be selling items in an online store (e-commerce)? Does the CMS provide tracking statistics for your site? Will you need forums, chat rooms, or a live chat support tool for your site? Do you need a WYSIWYG editor or is a basic text editor sufficient? Along with the consideration of the list of features the CMS currently has available, you should consider whether or not the CMS has the capability to add custom features for you should you need them in the future.

Support

Most CMS providers will help you get your initial site set-up and designed (as mentioned above, some may charge you a hefty set-up fee, just for that purpose), but what do they offer you once you’re up and running? Consider the number of support hours you anticipate needing a month and look for a CMS that has double that amount. Other support considerations include on-site training for users of your system, online documentation, and an online knowledge base or user forums.

FTP Access

With basic web hosting, pages are updated using FTP access. Most CMS hosting plans do not include FTP access to your site. This can be problematic if, for example, you need to bulk upload pages or images, or if you ever need to migrate your site to another provider. Look for a CMS provider that will offer you FTP access to your files, or at minimum some FTP space on their server in another location.

Ownership vs. Leasing

Most CMS providers retain the rights to the structure of the CMS (while you own the content that you place within their system). In other words, they’re leasing you their software application. If you need to own your CMS, expect to pay a lot more money and make sure both you and the CMS provider are clear on the need. Don’t assume that a custom-designed CMS will be yours to own.

Ease of Use for Advanced Designers

Another consideration is the ease of use for an advanced website designer. Chances are, the volunteers who step forward to help maintain content on your CMS will have some web design experience. As such, if they’re restricted by a CMS that doesn’t allow them to “do their thing,” they might be frustrated. Look for a CMS that has, at minimum, the capability to edit the source code for the page.

Trial Period

Does the CMS provider give you a trial period or unlimited demo login so that you can take the CMS for a test drive before you commit? If not, keep looking. You might want to have potential web volunteers take a look at the CMS as well.

This list of things to consider isn’t exhaustive, but hopefully it will give you a starting point in selecting a CMS. Carefully evaluate your needs and don’t hesitate to ask lots of questions to the sales person at the CMS provider you’re considering. Making a successful choice of which CMS to use can take you a long way towards having a website that is successful in drawing guests to your church and intersecting with members of your congregation.

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Chuck Scoggins is Creative Communications Director at Calvary Church in St. Peters, MO and President of 374 Designs. His latest project is Serve15 and you can email him at chuck@374designs.com.

June 16, 2008 · Filed Under Church Media, Church Websites, Web 2.0, Web Site Design

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How to Keep a Great Name.

Last month I received a panicky call from a concerned Search Engine Optimization expert named Chris that regarded one of my client’s domains that somehow got placed on the auction block. Chris has no connection to me or my client – he’s just a Christian who didn’t want to see a great church unknowingly loose their domain name. His concern revealed that my client had let the domain expire on accident and here it was getting bids for over $500 by hungry SEO wizards!

Why would so many people be bidding up this church domain you ask?

Domain authority, age, and Google page ranking. This site was a few years old with a lot of incoming links and was well ranked with Google. Any person who purchased it would have the immediate benefit of a well ranked domain (for a little while) by using a common strategy that involves putting up some quick content pointing to the SEO wizard’s target site; the site they want to be higher ranked.

Long story short, we were able to rescue the domain from the auction block just in the nick of time before it would have been gone, and I’m sure, at the mercy of some hefty ransom to get it back.

Domains are an extremely vital piece of your church website, yet for some reason they go un-managed or ignored until there is a problem. I’d like to share a few tips for making sure your domains are safe and secure -hopefully eliminating the potential risk of your domain being stolen, expiring, or being lost.

1. Consolidate

If you are like me or many other churches you probably have a handful of domains such as the main domain, the alternative spellings, the youth domains, and the events of the past. Get all of your domains transferred to one single account. There is nothing worse than hunting around for five logins and passwords just to renew one domain

2. Access control

Who has access to your domains? Who is responsible for making sure they get renewed? It may be you or someone else, or even someone you may not even know! Whatever the answer, get your domain management on someone’s job description and under the control of a key executive leader. This person needs to be around for the long haul, dependable, and trustworthy. I would also suggest having access to this data be shared with an emergency back up person.

3. Track your expiration dates

Knowing when a domain expires is your job – not the web company! Don’t rely on when your registrar tells you either. Sure it’s in their best interest to remind you for a renewal but technology glitches happen. Add your domain renewals to your calendar. Even if you registered it for 5 years, check on it every year to be safe. Review your contact info and ensure that the person responsible for managing the domain name is keeping up with it.

These simple steps and a 15 minute check each year can save a lot of heartache and money! Build your name, protect it, and keep it!

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Matt Adams runs factor 1 studios, a web design firm dedicated to building awesome websites for churches, non-profits and small businesses across the country.

June 4, 2008 · Filed Under Church Media, Church Websites, Internet Ministry, Web 2.0

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The Pros and Cons of Website CMS (Part Two)

In Part One of this series, I talked about the importance of great design and content – as well as what a content management system is. In this second part, I want to share the advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) of using a CMS platform.

THE PROS

1. Quality through templates

The natural structure of a CMS assures that quality is maintained. Most CMS’s use a format where a master administrator controls the “look” of the site including the fonts, colors, navigational structure, content, and special widgets such as site-wide search engines, online giving, or flash banners.

The administrator also has many other options including the ability to set an approval process before a content item can be published or “made live” to the site. This keeps all aspects of the website up to church standards.

Additionally, most companies that offer a CMS platform can provide you with professional design services to “skin” out your site with a custom look or offer an array of pre-designed templates they plug-in and modify to your needs.

2. Functionality

While the quality of your design layout is improved using a solid CMS, the functionality of your site also increases! An example would be a media upload editor, which optimizes media files as they are uploaded to a server, can help increase quality by helping to assure images load quickly and are sized properly. Publish dates assure that updated content gets published at a specified time, though perhaps written weeks earlier. Using time-out date features, contributors to the site can set their content items to expire to assure that no out-of-date content is left on the site.

3. Ease of Use – No Web Development Knowledge Necessary

Almost anyone can edit their website content using a web-based “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editor built into the CMS. Adding event information or a news article is as simple as using a word processor. Other features such as those listed below, also can be simple to use after a thorough training session.

4. Features & Plug-ins

One of the greatest advantages of using a quality CMS is the ability to choose a variety of features or plug-ins to use on your site including:

  • Discussion or collaboration modules
  • Seamless blog integration
  • E-Newsletters
  • Flash or Rotating Banners
  • E-Invitations
  • Online Giving or E-Commerce
  • Audio, Video, and Podcasting

Many systems already come with these “bonus” features so there is no need to purchase different components like what was required in the past.

THE CONS

There are a few disadvantages to using a CMS however. While these are far outweighed by the advantages, fairness demands that we consider a few.

1. Restrictive For Web Designers

Though CMS’s add an element of control for those who are not web savvy, they can be restricting to administrators who have a deep understanding of website design and limit the creative options.

2. The Price

CMS platforms can either be purchased outright and set up on an internal server or “leased” from the CMS provider through a monthly / yearly fee. The first option usually lacks tech support, updates, or training. It requires more involvement and can be more of a hassle or expense. Leasing is a better option because you can get customer support or training but it is way more expensive than a typical monthly hosting plan.

3. Learning Curve

A few systems are fairly easy to learn and many others are more complicated. If the administrator or team member has some knowledge of computer technology and are web savvy, the learning curve will be quicker than a non-techie or non-trained person. Either situation will require a fair amount of training but it is much better than learning all the ins and outs of web design. My advice is to choose a company that provides on-site or online training along with good documentation and manuals.

All things considered, the benefits to a church using a content management system and having a well-designed site far outweigh these minor disadvantages. In part three of this series, we’ll look at how to choose a CMS for your church.

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Chuck Scoggins is Creative Communications Director at Calvary Church in St. Peters, MO and President of 374 Designs. His latest project is Serve15 and you can email him at chuck@374designs.com.

June 3, 2008 · Filed Under Church Media, Church Websites, Web 2.0, Web Site Design

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The Pros and Cons of Website CMS (Part One)

Church websites are an essential piece to the church communication process. In fact, The Pew Research Center states that 64 percent of the nation’s 128 million internet users use the web for religious or spiritual purposes – and nearly 6 out of 10 Protestant churches now have a dedicated website.

If church websites are one of the most effective ways to reach our audience, wouldn’t it make sense to create them to meet the viewer’s expectations?

As a designer, I could write about how a majority of church sites make my stomach turn because they were designed poorly, but during this three part series I really want to focus on the backbone of a website which is the Content Management System (CMS).

We know that content (along with great design) is extremely important to keeping your audience engaged and coming back. It’s like a garden. If you keep it cultivated, watered, and weeded it will bear fruit or vegetables. If not, it will become useless and waste space. The same goes for your church website.

What exactly is a content management system?

A content management system, in general, is a computer software system for organizing and collaborating in the creation of documents and other content. The content management systems I will be discussing are web applications for managing websites and web content.

CMS provides a structure by which churches can use templates to control the “look” of a site; it allows multiple users at various administrative levels to organize the content while maintaining quality. CMS programs are available in various price levels, complexity, and features. They are an optimal choice for large churches (with various departments and potential administrators including volunteers and paid webmasters) and for small churches alike.

There are also advantages and disadvantages to using CMS’s to manage a church’s web site, which I will discuss in part two of this three part series.

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Chuck Scoggins is the Creative Communications Director at Calvary Church in Saint Peters, MO. He also contributes at Church Web Adviser; a publication that provides smaller churches with webmaster tools to accomplish big things with their sites. Chuck is not a Barry Manilow fan.

May 28, 2008 · Filed Under Church Media, Church Websites, Web Site Design

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