WWJU? ( What Would Jesus Upload?)

I’ve recently (re)created a church website, as I created it asked myself a number of questions about the purpose, layout, reason, hosting, software and articles that I’d post on it. These questions could be explained in these ways…

Why?

Why does the church want a website?
Why would anyone use this website?
Why am I doing this?

Where?

Where will I host the website?

What?

What is the purpose of the website?
What will it be used for?
What is the target audience?

How?

How will the website look?
How often will we update the website?
How will we choose the content?
How/Will will we advertise the website?
How do we evaluate the website?
How will we create the website?
Will we use a content management system?
If so, which one?
Will we use flash?
Will we use Frontpage?
Will we use Dreamweaver?
Will we code it the old fashioned way?

Who?

Who’s job is it to maintain the site?
Who will be able to add content?
Who will be looking at the site now it’s finished?

I’m no expert, however, since I’ve been thinking a lot about churches and websites recently I decided to write a series of posts for churches looking at creating their own websites based around these questions, you can find the list of helpful questions below in one space.

WWJU – Step 1. Check to see if your church already has a website…

There are some churches that already have up to 5 websites already in existence. (If you’re unsure just try and google your church)

Each of these websites have a number of these things in common: - a photo of the church - the postal address of the church - animated .gif files - an ex-minister’s name - an old phone number - the street address of the church - an old email address

As a church we don’t tend to look after our environment too well, we often discuss being good stewards and still litter, we talk about de-forestation and live on paperwork, we complain about mass-farming and then hold a sausage sizzle.

Think of the internet as the environment, it’s prone to litter, it suffers congestion and quite often we don’t do our part to recycle or dispose of our unwanted waste properly. Old websites, old blogs, old photo archives and old forums are litter, they are a waste of space and might, over time give your church a bad (or worse) name.

If your church does already have a website, it’s quite likely that it’s not been useful, or that people have forgotten that back in the days of their ex minister someone volunteered to put one up…

Step 1 in developing a church website is to check that they haven’t already made one, and if they have delete the thing, decide to modify it as it is or leave the site as is and claim the credit for completing the task in record time..

Once that step has been completed, it’s time to move on to step 2…

WWJU – Step 2. Do Your Research…

A while ago I started a series of posts titled “What Would Jesus Upload?” that were going to address issues that church communities may face while they are deciding to create a website. As per normal I was inundated with a tonne of “real work” and I failed to get past 2 posts in the series, typical behavior for a scatterbrain like myself.

So, as I’m home ill today I thought that it might be a good idea to pick the series up again and see if I can get through it in the next month or so…

My previous post suggested that step one was to look after the web environment and check to see if your church already has a website, people may be surprised to see that they’ve actually had a website and bulletin board since 1992 and that it hasn’t resulted in the church’s attendance rising at all.

My second step is to do some research into other church’s websites, and to perhaps go beyond that to explore other community based websites to see how they have used their website, what it looks like, what information is on it, what role it seems to serve, who the site is aimed at, if there are some features that you found particularly helpful and if there are some features that you have found that are not helpful.

Also ask questions like how long does it take to download, what do you think of the colour scheme, do you like the fonts used, is it easy to navigate through, do you think you know more about the community now that you’ve seen the website?

You might also be able to write an email to a church and ask them what they were thinking when they created the website, who was their target audience, what purpose their website serves, what the site’s statistics are like, why they chose to do something, how did they create the site, if they used a content management system, if they have any wisdom to share…

Some interesting church websites include:

If you’re still wanting to check out more websites try this website: “Great Church Websites“…

So, after you’ve checked out a number of websites, here is a list of questions for you to answer…

What did you like about the site’s design?
Was the site easy for you to navigate?
What features did you like?
What did you learn about the churches that you’ve explored?
What did you think about the site’s content?
What content did the site lack?
Was the content easy to find?
Was the content easy to read?

Doing the research should feed into the next step of your website design…

WWJU – Step 3. Ask Why?

Now you’ve done some research, you’ve been able to gather some kind of idea about some church websites out there, what purpose they serve, what you found helpful and what you didn’t, what features you liked and didn’t, and hopefully you’ve been inspired…

But before you start going “I want a site that looks like that one” there’s still a number of things to consider.

This step is about asking the question “why.” For some the question seems to be insignificant, the answer has been “because they have one” and, to tell you the truth, when you look at the quality of websites out there it shows…

Here are three questions that you will need to ask:

Why does the church want a website?
Why would anyone use this website?
Why are we doing this?

Question 1. “Why does the church want a website?”

I’m going to be harsh here, most church websites that I’ve visited have convinced me to never attend their services. If these churches believed that a website would be a good promotional concept, that it might actually be an evangelistic activity then they’ve actually got it all wrong.

A good website might attract people, but a bad website will definitely push people away.

I would say that if the church cannot come up with 5 GOOD reasons for creating a website then they shouldn’t do it. That being said, Google has become one of the primary search engines for local churches and, sites like the White Pages have become less utilized, so if you are to be found via the internet then you will need a website.

So, why does your church want a website? Do they know yet?

Question 2. “Why would anyone use this website?”

This question is probably one of the most important questions to be asked in the entire project, as it asks who the target audience is, it asks a question as to the purpose of the website and of it’s target audience. One of the great assumptions is that people are already looking for you on the internet, that you’re so important that people actually care, which unfortunately they don’t.

Church websites could have four different types of users:

Those who are already a part of the congregation.
Those who are not Christian but are searching for a faith community.
Those who are Christian but not a part of the congregation yet are searching.
Those who are looking for like-minded communities or resources

So, why would people use the website? Here are some possible answers…

Because they have recently moved into the area and are looking for a faith community
Because they have recently met a Christian and are thinking of attending a community
Because they are looking for an article or an essay
Because a friend gave them the url to look at
Because they are a part of the church community and use it to stay in touch with people and the community life
Because they are a part of the community and the site offers them some resources
Because they find the site interesting and it’s regularly updated

When you were doing your research you looked at a number of websites, who were they aimed at, who are their target audience and why do you think people use them?

Question 3. “Why are we doing this?”

This question flows from the previous two, but this question will solidify the purpose for the website, this is the final reason for the website being created.

If it’s simply advertising then it needs to be designed well and answer some specific questions.
If it’s being created to become a community space then you’ll need to look into systems that will enable the community to be involved…
If it’s to evangelize to those who are not Christians yet, then you really need to think about how you’ll attract and keep people there…

WWJU – Step 4. Ask Who?

I was going to go straight to asking “what”, but it came to mind that one can’t really answer that question unless they have a solid answer to “who?” “Who are you creating the website for?” is a question that I’m afraid many churches simply don’t ask seriously.

We’ve already asked some of these questions previously while we were asking “why” but now it’s time to narrow the target audience down.

Questions to ask:

Who will the site be aimed at?
What is the age of the target audience?
Is the target audience already a part of the church community?
Does the target audience live in the vicinity of your church?
Is the target audience new to the area?
Is the target audience christian or not christian?
Is the target audience linked to government organisations or other work places?
Is the target audience looking for a church?
Does the target audience speak english?
Is the target audience still at school?
Is the target audience employed?
What is the marital status of the target audience?
Does the target audience have children?
What is the theological stance of the target audience?

Make a list of the characteristics of the target audience, this will help you discern site design and content in the next step…

While you’re asking “who” you might as well ask a few other “who” questions that will feed into the process…

Who’s job is it to maintain the site?
Who will be able to add content?
Who will develop website code of conduct?
Who will edit and proof read articles/information before they are uploaded?
Who audits site information?
Who do you want to link to your site?

These questions are important as they will help you discern what you’d like to create the website with, how much training will be required, what protocols will need to be in place for the website…

Perhaps we’ve got enough information now in order to go ahead and ask “What?”

WWJU – Step 5. Ask What? (pt1)

What will you use to create and manage the website?

There are a couple of ways that you may wish to create your website, but before you decide on what to use I’d like to encourage you to think about getting the website created professionally by someone who knows what they are doing, and who does this kind of thing professionally. Your previous questions should be very helpful to a professional and will allow you to be very specific in what you want out of a website.

If you’re in Australia I’d recommend Redfish Bluefish as a good web design and creation company. The people behind Redfish Bluefish have had a number of years creating and designing websites for community use, using the CMS “Site Wrangler” and “WordPress”. They’ve also had a number of years working with church communities, creating websites like the MRN Website, More Praxis, Hold This Place, among many others.

If you don’t decide to employ a professional to create your website then I’d implore you to make sure that whoever you choose to create your website knows what they are doing, both in design and in coding, a poorly designed and created website can do more damage than good.

What will you create the website with?

HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is possibly better suited for static web pages, ie sites that don’t have a habit of changing regularly, if you’re setting up a basic one page website that has your details, a map, contact details, worship times that you’re not planning on altering much this may be a good way to go.HTML can be rather difficult to manage if you’re wanting to constantly make changes, adding articles, sermons, news, items… So this is why I’d suggest sticking to html for static pages, and moving to something more powerful if you’re wanting a dynamic website.Programs like *cough* Frontpage and Dreamweaver will help you create and update html webpages, Mozilla Firefox and notepad can also be used to update html pages.

FLASH

I’d suggest not creating church websites in flash, if only because it’s hard to update and time consuming, but there are a few other reasons. Google doesn’t traditionally handle flash websites well, as the sites are mostly image vectors rather than text. And navigation on flash websites can also be an issue with time being an issue it can take a while to download and access.If you’re using flash then choose to use it for features on the website, websites like the ooze uses flash for pats of the website, not all of it.If you are choosing to use flash for the website then it is really important that you’re asking someone who knows what they’re doing to create it.
There is another reason which is a bit controversial. Apple is not currently putting any efforts into working with Flash, which means the iPad’s, iPhones and other devices will not be supporting flash in the near future.

CMS

CMS, (Content Management Systems) is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content. A content management system is frequently a web application used for managing websites and web content, though in many cases, content managementI’m a big supporter of the CMS for churches that are wanting to create a dynamic website that is easy to manage and update regularly. CMS’ allow people to log in to the website with a variety of security levels to update, add items, redesign and keep the site changing. There are a variety of CMS’ around including Mambo, WordPress, postnuke and drupal most of which have a community of users attached to the software that are able to support and assist people who are choosing to use the CMS. These communities are around to help with tech support, answering questions, updates, modifications…I’d suggest that WordPress would handle most of the needs of most churches, allowing people to update information, use static pages, keep news up to date, upload images and documents, etc… I’ve used Mambo before and have found that it’s probably too sophisticated for most Church communities to use while phpnuke is used a lot I’ve found that I’ve had to do too much work on it in order to make it usable. This particular blog uses wordpress, but you will need to do your research on what CMS to use, once again this is where a professional company like Redfish Bluefish would come in handy to help you choose what CMS to use and to help you design it to a professional standard. I’d suggest that it’s churches unwillingness to to their research properly and take the creation of the website seriously that has lead many of them being useless and/or badly designed.

Here are a few websites that you can check out if you’re considering using a CMS.

Papers:

How to evaluate a content management system – Jan2002

Websites:

OpenSourceCMS
- This site was created with one goal in mind. To give you the opportunity to “try out” some of the best php/mysql based free and open source software systems in the world. You are welcome to be the administrator of any site here, allowing you to decide which system best suits your needs.
The CMS Matrix
- This site is provided as a community service to everyone interested in looking for a means to manage web site content. Here you can discuss, rate, and compare the various systems available on the market today.This site works because of community involvement. Please rate any systems you’ve used and discuss them in the forums. If you notice any errors, please report them via the feedback form located on each CMS’s listing page.
Comparison of content management systems
- This is a list of content management systems that are used to organize and facilitate collaborative content creation. Many of them are built on top of separate content management frameworks.
How to evaluate a content management system
- This article outlines some of the lessons that we have learned when assisting clients to chose a CMS. It offers ideas and tips, and provides an approach for identifying your business’ actual requirements for a CMS.

WWJU – Step 6. Ask How?

I have recently wondered if I should have written “How” prior to “What”, there are a few reasons for the debate, I guess it would be hard to choose a content management system over a static website if you’d decided that you wouldn’t update the website regularly, or if you had a person who would update your website monthly who was a great flash web designer with too much time on their hands…

But in the end I’m not sure if it matters too much, although it does need to be said that if the people updating your site are luddites then the simpler the system you use the better for them…

So, what “How” questions come to mind?

How will the website look?

You’ve discussed who you’re aiming at, so start dreaming about the site’s look, thinking if you’re wanting the site to be colourful, business like, plain, minimal… It’d be best to get a designer to do this job and put together a few ideas for you as far as design goes, if you do go ahead with a designer, then I’d suggest waiting until the next step as it might be handy for the designer to know what content you’re thinking of including…

How often will we update the website?

Big question, if you’re thinking of being able to update the site on the fly then you’ll really need to start thinking about content management systems that allow you to do that, and to start thinking about the role of the people looking after the website, do we pay them, is there anyone that can do this with ease, how do we train people to do this?

How will we choose the content?

Content is a massive issue for churches, what if a person wanted to publicise a pro-slavery function on the website, or links to websites that then link to dubious content? What defines content worthy of being on the website? What about privacy issues, do we include people’s contact details or do we choose to use the church’s email and contact details as the front for all articles and activities? And what about photographs of people, how do we seek permission? Do you want to set up a team to oversee the website (which might slow down the ability to update on the fly) or do you wish to set up some guidelines and follow them?

How/Will will we advertise the website?

Simple question, hard answer. One such way would be to let your local council to link to your site under community services, many of whom probably already have your address and phone number on the database. Askig members who blog/have websites to link to your website might also encourage google to pay the site more attention. Some denominations have a list of churches with websites on their Synod/Assembly websites, ask your denominations to co-link your site, are you using WordPress or Drupal? have you considered TEchnorati or other such sites?…

How do we evaluate the website?

Evaluation… Who uses the site, do people use the site, do people find the site attractive, how high is it’s google ranking? Most Content Management systems allow for plugins or scripts that will assist you in finding stats on your website including how many visits per week the site receives, how people find the site (ie what are they searching for on Google), how many times documents are downloaded. You can also use other ways to find out what people think about the site, include polls on the front page, ask people for their opinion, include spaces for people to tell you if they found you via the website in your visitors sheets… Just how will you evaluate the website, is it by membership increases, google ranking, visitors to the site…?

How will we create the website?

Continue the discussion about if you want to hire a professional designer or not, many people will say “let’s get a young person to do it, which may or may not be a good idea to start with, especially if design isn’t their strong point.

Will we use a content management system?

If so, which one (WordPress, Drupal, Mambo, Phpnuke, another system)? Will we use flash? Will we use Frontpage? Will we use Dreamweaver? Will we code it the old fashioned way (by using notepad)?

If you decide on getting a website designed professionally for you, then lots of this you can discuss with the people involved, redfishbluefish for example could show you sites using SiteWrangler or WordPress and find out what you think of the system and what they offer. Having experts talk you through this is rather important, and sometimes their support can be much faster than you creating your own, they can give you benefits and cons for each aspect of the site, they can also allow you options of using flash for parts of the site etc etc etc…

Time to think about the content…

WWJU – Step 7. Ask What? (pt2)

Now it’s time to talk about content, be aware though that the more content you want to include the harder it will be to continually update when things change. Also keep in mind that some stuff you might want to include may just mean that the designer may have to do more work than you’d like to pay them for, like if you wish for a decent looking photo gallery, or galleries, are there financial issues to consider, will it mean that you’ll need to pay for a larger space to host the website, what if you use a secondary site like flickr to host your images, can the designer allow for images to be taken from there?

Do you want to include a forum for the people in your community to discuss issues, bible studies, books, sermons, music? If so, how much will this feature cost you to run/design?

So remember there may be cost ramifications to some of your dreams, but I find it easier to dream away then ask, then decide… who knows you might be surprised by the cost…

So, continuing the dreaming…

Do you want to include information about the history of the church?
Do you want to include information about the programs of the church?
Do you wish to include information about public transport around your community (especially how to get there)
Do you wish to include maps (and if so do you draw them yourselves, use a secondary website or pay to use them from elsewhere?
Do you wish to include photo galleries of members of the congregation?
Do you wish to publicise special events and/or training activities regularly?
Do you wish to provide information on staff and team leaders?
Do you want a dynamic calendar for events?
Do you wish to link to other local sites and/or events?
Do you wish to upload Sermon papers and/or Audi, is podcasting in your vision?
Do you want a special section that only registered members can access for discussion/information/downloading minutes and agendas?

Is there anything else that you’ve been thinking about including on the website?

Write them all down, every single bit of it…

Then I highly suggest you chat with someone who knows what they’re doing to find out what they think about the content, your previous thoughts on content management systems, evaluations, people you’re trying to serve…

These people will then allow you the space to think about what is truly possible with the time and money you currently have, you can always add to the site later if you’d like…

Send them off to create a couple of designs and possibilities for you to check out…

WWJU – Step 8. Ask Where?

Once again, having a designer would help you find an ISP that would have all the abilities you’d need to run your website. Don’t assume that because you have an iprimus or testra internet service that has a 20MB webspace that you can use that to host the website.

Why not?

Quite simply, many of these deals don’t allow for mysql databases, php, css, all they really allow for is hosting of images and html based websites that don’t use content management systems.

Look into site hosting plans that will, in the end serve what you’ll need to run your website, many of these will also look after your domain hosting (including email redirection) as well as your site hosting. Companies like webarama and enetica come to mind.

Once again, the message is “do your research.”

WWJU – Step 9. Ask How Much?

In reality you should probably be thinking this at the beginning of your dream scaping, but in practice by discussing your needs and dreams for your website your church or community may become aware that having a website is actually an important decision and may actually cost more than they had originally thought…

I’m gonna suggest that many church websites either remain static, close down, go out of date, become badly designed, get forgotten, become useless quite simply because there was no continued budget line for their website.

No continued budget line means that money is not there when the hosting plan needs to be updated/paid.
No budget line means that money is not there to continue the payments for the website’s domain, domain redirection and email direction.
No budget line means that there’s no money there when the website is in need of a redesign to meet the new needs of the community.
No budget line means that as you continue to upload podcasts and images you might find your site reaching the maximum space and not being able to increase it’s hosting space.

There needs to be an understanding that the original website design and setup will cost money, but that there will also need to be an ongoing budget line for the continuing management, growth and updating of the website.

How important is the website, how much are you willing to spend on it’s creation and management?

WWJU – 4 Questions About Church Web Sites

I was browsing the internet this afternoon, catching up on a number of blog’s ive not had the time to read for a while and saw a post on the church marketing sucks blog on questions for churches that are wanting to create their own websites. I thought the questions were good enough to add to the WWJU series, so here they are…

With all the technology available to us today, it is often easy to lose sight of what we are trying to accomplish with a church web site. In order to regain perspective, I believe that we all need to sit down from time to time and ask ourselves the following four questions:

1. What is the purpose of your church web site? 2. Does the church web site fit in with the mission of the church? 3. Who’s going to be using your church web site? 4. Why are you working on your church’s web site?

Read the entire post over at church marketing sucks

WWJU – Websites and Articles

Before I end the WWJU series (well, I think I’ve finished it) here are a number of websites that might be of interest as you and your community are considering the development of a website for your church/community.