question

[pitts47150]

I would like to start a web page for our church. I just don't know where to start. There is one catch, it has to be free. Does anyone have any ideas on how to do this. All Ideas welcome. Please and Thank You these are the magic words, right. Yes i did watch Barni with my kids when they were little.

[Billy n NC]

Here are a few answers to your question.

Free Websites are not free. Usually. Most of the non-profit hosting sites will tell you free but then they take 15 - 20 % of your screen with junk advertising.

Thats the quick answer.

There are 3 parts to a website.

1. Domain Name Yourchurch.org/com/net etc godaddy.com $9.99 per year.

2. Webhosting The site that provides a server or host computer with your website on it. There are some free ones but most require banners to be displayed on the top of your website.
Fees vary I pay $5.95 per month for my sites. A little less if you pay by the year. I use www.bizland.com Charter membership.

3. Web Design Are you going to do it yourself or pay someone. There are quite a few freebie web design packages available. The company I use Bizland provides a free designer called SiteDelux.
http://www.bizland.com/product/sitedelux.bml


More questions.
Is the site going to be static? Basically an online brochure.
Or are you going to update events etc.


I am sure there some completly free sites out there but most will slap banners on your site.

Do not accept a free domain name with your hosting. VERY BAD.
Its a long story but if your hosting company provides you with a free
domain name. What happens if the hosting company goes away (broke,bankrupt etc). I know it took me 3 months to get it straightened out.

[Full Quiver]

blogspot.com

[EagerBeaver]

Here are a few answers to your question.

Free Websites are not free. Usually. Most of the non-profit hosting sites will tell you free but then they take 15 - 20 % of your screen with junk advertising.

Thats the quick answer.

There are 3 parts to a website.

1. Domain Name Yourchurch.org/com/net etc godaddy.com $9.99 per year.

2. Webhosting The site that provides a server or host computer with your website on it. There are some free ones but most require banners to be displayed on the top of your website.
Fees vary I pay $5.95 per month for my sites. A little less if you pay by the year. I use www.bizland.com Charter membership.

3. Web Design Are you going to do it yourself or pay someone. There are quite a few freebie web design packages available. The company I use Bizland provides a free designer called SiteDelux.
http://www.bizland.com/product/sitedelux.bml


More questions.
Is the site going to be static? Basically an online brochure.
Or are you going to update events etc.


I am sure there some completly free sites out there but most will slap banners on your site.

Do not accept a free domain name with your hosting. VERY BAD.
Its a long story but if your hosting company provides you with a free
domain name. What happens if the hosting company goes away (broke,bankrupt etc). I know it took me 3 months to get it straightened out.

Billy is right on with this one.

A major reason where I believe many COGOPs I have been involved with fail with their internet outreach is because they fail to invest in a good website...which require money and the time/resources to create something good that is visually clean and reflects well on the church as a whole.

I back Billy up and urge you to NOT go with a free website. Homestead, Angelfire, etc. don't even think about it. Not the direction you want to go.

At the very minimum, if you have a web-savvy person in your congregation who is willing to donate time, you should only have to pay around $75-100 a year to maintain a website. That's it. Otherwise you could pay a web designer to do your site.

What I would do is look into something like WordPress.com's premium service or do what I do...which is sign up a domain name through HostGator.com and sign up for their simple package. I am paying only $5 a month and I have modified templates for my own website to where it is a clean design, doesn't break the bank and isn't ugly. (And it only took me the better part of a day to get it up and running.)

The internet is a huge resource for outreach!

[Penny]

What I would do is look into something like WordPress.com's premium service or do what I do...which is sign up a domain name through HostGator.com and sign up for their simple package. I am paying only $5 a month and I have modified templates for my own website to where it is a clean design, doesn't break the bank and isn't ugly. (And it only took me the better part of a day to get it up and running.)

Is that 5.00 for the name and the server?

[Tim Elston]

And don't forget to put the address and service schedule on your site. Nothing drives me crazier than wanting to visit a church on Sunday morning at the last minute and not being able to find that simple information.

Also, I recommend not going with Go Daddy. Besides the fact that their advertising is lewd, they get away with their cheap price by not offering good customer service. And if your webmaster is relatively inexperienced, good customer service is useful.

[Penny]

One thing that bugs me with Church Web page, they are not updated. You have things on there that are 2 mts old... that bugs me soooooooooooooo bad

[Susie Hamilton]

And don't forget to put the address and service schedule on your site. Nothing drives me crazier than wanting to visit a church on Sunday morning at the last minute and not being able to find that simple information.

You go to church?????

[Tim Elston]

You go to church?????

No, but I have occasionally gotten up on a Sunday morning wanting to be with people. On the rare occasion that happens, it would be nice not to have to pass up a church I'm curious about because they don't list what time their service starts.

[EagerBeaver]

What I would do is look into something like WordPress.com's premium service or do what I do...which is sign up a domain name through HostGator.com and sign up for their simple package. I am paying only $5 a month and I have modified templates for my own website to where it is a clean design, doesn't break the bank and isn't ugly. (And it only took me the better part of a day to get it up and running.)

Is that 5.00 for the name and the server?

To answer your question Penny it cost me $15 to register the domain then $5 per month forward.

[Ilovebigcats]

I'll make you one for $10. That will buy the domain... I will do the rest for free. I use Wordpress like Beav said. You would be able to log in and change anything if you want to.. or it can just sit and look perty with basic info.

But Danny is right... You can customize a blogspot without ads for free and make it look pretty nice.

I made this one for our Small Groups leader.. he hasn't done anything with it.. but it is at least started. lol

I made this one for the school at church.

I made these two for The Rock House and the staff.

I made this one for the new youth class.

I like to do it. I am a beginner but some of them look pretty good, I think.

[Mole_J]

You can use http://www.freehostia.com which has a free package you can use with no banners. You do have limits on diskspace and traffic space.

This is my website: http://www.molej.com

I would use Wordpress. There are some nice and clean templates you can use. It is very easy to use and get something set up.

[Penny]

Wendy those are great, I can see why Dr Ron loves you guys

[Billy n NC]

What I would do is look into something like WordPress.com's premium service or do what I do...which is sign up a domain name through HostGator.com and sign up for their simple package. I am paying only $5 a month and I have modified templates for my own website to where it is a clean design, doesn't break the bank and isn't ugly. (And it only took me the better part of a day to get it up and running.)

Is that 5.00 for the name and the server?

Penny there are companies that will give you a small host site along with like 5 megs of disk space etc.

The company I use is $5.95 a month and gives you

200 gig of diskspace
unlimited email accounts
WordPress, phpBB, GBook Included
FrontPage 2002 Extensions
Dreamweaver Compatible
Flash, Shockwave, Midi, Multimedia Support

And you can have multiple domain names etc.

http://members.bizland.com/bizland/charter.bml


But I would not have my domain name and host name by the same company. I did this once.

I had several webs that I did this once.. They went out of business. The Websites just shut down over a weekend. Tech support would not answer.
Sales office would not answer. Even though I owned the domain name they had the registration info.

I had to fax all kinds of documents etc over a period of weeks with the Interenet Domain office to prove who I was and to get the domain names transferred into my control.

[pitts47150]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Now I at least have an idea about it. We don't have anyone in our church that is really into the internet. I do get on and send out e-mails to them that have e-mail addresses. I just thought it would be nice to get our Name out there some how. I'm not real good at it either. I'm learning though, slowly but surely. Thank the Lord for that. If He didn't help me I don't know what I would do. Well Thanks Again