Greetings in Christ, and thank you for purchasing a one-page website from ChurchSEO.io. This blog post will cover the process of building a website with us.
Check out the video walking you through the process:
Process Overview
In broad strokes, this is what the process to building a website looks like:
- You – Review Information Needed
- You – Assignment of Responsibility
- You – Information and Content Gathering
- You – Information and Content Submission
- ChurchSEO.io – Draft Build and Delivery
- You – Revision Requests
- ChurchSEO.io – Revision Build and Delivery
- If necessary, one more round of revisions.
- ChurchSEO.i0 – Deploys website via Carrd and Namecheap
- You – Change Email, Payment, and Autorenewal Settings
- ChurchSEO.io – SEO Work (optional)
- You – Continue to Maintain Your Website
The Process in Detail
1. You – Review Information Needed
After payment, you will receive an email with a link to an online form. Review that link as soon as possible so that you can begin to gather the information and content needed to complete the site.
2. You – Assignment of Responsibility
Assign one person to be the primary contact person and final decision maker (same person). This will be the person that ChurchSEO.io looks to for assistance and guidance in completing the website.
Ideally, this person should be given not just responsibility but also authority to make decisions about the site. While he should consult with others, including the pastor, other church leaders, and applicable committees, “Design by Committee” must be avoided.
When soliciting feedback from stakeholders in the congregation, the primary contact and decision maker will receive some good and valuable advice. However, some of the advice and suggestions that come back will inevitably run counter to a functional website. We design our websites with tried and tested aesthetic, search engine optimization, user experience, conversion rate optimization, and copywriting principles in mind. Part of your job is being the voice of the congregation to ChurchSEO.io but also helping to articulate to the congregation the principles at play in the site.
This person also needs to have personal resilience and sensitivity to others. Personal resilience is necessary because it will take significant work to coordinate on the church’s side of thing and also because you will have to navigate complex social dynamics at your church to help pull this off. That brings us to sensitivity. For somewhat baffling reasons, changes to church websites elicit outsized and often irrational emotional reactions from members. I’ve even encountered church members who get worked up over a small change in a metatitle, an html tag. Being able to sensitively convey to people that their opinions are valued while also having resolve to carry out what needs to be done is the balance this individual will need to exercise.
3. You – Information and Content Gathering
Now is the time to start gathering information and content for the site. This is usually the longest part of the process, and some churches even stall out here.
It is advisable to start recording submission information in a document that you can then cut-and-paste into the form. While the form will retain information for up to 30 days for logged-in users, do not count on that. Be ready to submit the information in one go, from a document that you have used to assemble it.
Here are a few notes on some of the information and content being requested:
Pictures
Good pictures are critical for a successful website, but they are also one of the biggest hangups for churches trying to complete their site. Start working on gathering good pictures right away.
The best thing is to hire a professional photographer with experience in capturing both events and building.
However, if hiring a photographer is not in your budget, you can also in-source this within your church. Smartphones take excellent pictures these days, and young women (Millenial and younger) are often excellent photographers. This can be a good way to involve young women in your congregation.
To give us access to the photographs, a cloud drive like Dropbox or Onedrive is best. Make sure to set the access permissions to allow anyone with the link to access them.
If your church has a logo and stylesheet, submit it in the cloud drive along with the pictures.
We do not need a large number of photos for a one-page site, but the following ones are essential:
- Exterior front of the church
- Church sign by the road
- Sanctuary shot (wide)
- Chancel shot
- Pastor head shot
We will not be able to use every picture you give us, but we may be able to utilize some of the following pictures as well:
- Pictures representing your featured ministries (see below)
- Picture of children
- Picture of the pastor preaching
- Picture of entryway
- Picture of parking lot
- Picture of fellowship time
3 Ministries
You will have the ability to submit information for 3 ministries. Think things like Youth Group, Grief Share, Bible Study, and Food Bank for these.
4. You – Information and Content Submission
Once you have gathered the necessary information and content, submit it via the form. A link to the form will have been provided to you via email.
5. ChurchSEO.io – Draft Build and Delivery
Once you submit your information, we will build a draft of a website and deliver it to you to review. This process usually take a couple of weeks.
6. You – Revision Requests
You will have the opportunity to review the site and submit requested revisions.
7. ChurchSEO.io – Revision Build and Delivery
ChurchSEO.io will work on requested revisions and re-deliver.
8. If necessary, one more round of revisions.
We allow two total rounds of revisions, if necessary.
9. ChurchSEO.io – Deploys the Site.
Your website will be deployed utilizing 3 accounts that we will set up on your behalf. Login information for each of the accounts will be provided to you via a PDF.
Burner Email
We will set up a burner email acount that we will in turn use to set up your Namecheap and Carrd accounts. Ideally you will only utilize this to access the site and then change email addresses to one you regularly check.
Carrd
We will build your site on the Carrd platform, and you will continue to use that to maintin your site.
Namecheap (Domain Name Service – If necessary)
If you do not have a domain name, we will purchase one on your behalf on the Namecheap platform. If you already have a domain name that you are happy with, we will arrange with you to obtain delegate access to your domain name service in order to configure it to work with Carrd.
10. You – Change Email, Payment, and Autorenewal Settings
This step is absolutely critical. If you fail to do this, you risk losing your domain name and your website.
Once everything is set up, we will send you a PDF of login information to the burner email account, Namecheap, and Carrd. Once we do that, make sure that your change the critical information in Namecheap and Carrd so that you do not lose access to your domain name or website.
In both Namecheap and Carrd, you will need to update the contact email address. Make sure that this is an email that you check regularly. That way if your form of payment needs updating (or any other matter), they can get into contact with you.
Payment
Save a form of payment in both Namecheap and Carrd. This will ensure that they can charge you as necessary to autorenew.
Autorenewal
Set both Namecheap and Carrd to autorenew. Don’t depend on your memory or personal organizational skills. Automate!
11. ChurchSEO.io – SEO (Optional)
If you purchase an SEO package from us, we will then get to work on fulfilling it. We may need you to follow through on a couple of steps to ensure access to your Google Business Profile.
12. You – Continue to Maintain Your Website
You fully own your one-page website and are responsible for maintaining it. That being said, we usually grant ourselves delegate access on your site in case you need assistance.
Tips
- Start working on pictures right away. This is usually the biggest hangup for churches.
- Collect information in a document to then cut and paste into the onboarding form.
- Design by committee will kill the effectiveness of your site. Committees should be consulted, but authority needs to flow through one individual.
- Changing the email, payment, and autorenewal settings once you take ownership of the site is critical.
