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Entries Tagged as 'Building a Better Church Website'

How to Add “Live Chat” to your Church Website

August 26th, 2010 · No Comments

Would you answer the phone at church if you knew it was someone calling for directions or worship time? 
Of course you should.
Now imagine that same person has come to your website, instead of calling the church. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the pastor or church secretary answer THAT “call” too? 
Of course it would.
The answer [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website

Still think Facebook is low-brow?

August 4th, 2010 · 2 Comments

Pastor Friend: “Why on earth should our church be on Facebook?”
Neil:  “Because that’s where an increasing number of your members are –everyday.”
Pastor Friend: “Our kids maybe, but our adults? It just seems so vapid, a colossal waste of time.”
Neil:  “Sigh….”
National Public Radio just released the results of their survey of their on “fans” who follow [...]

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Tags: Advice & Ideas for Pastors, Staff and Leaders · Building a Better Church Website

The Church Website LITMUS TEST

June 24th, 2010 · No Comments

Recently a pastor asked me, “how do I know if my webpage person knows what they are doing?“  
Sometimes, the answer is obvious, like the Wayside Womens Association webpage…

A favorite “bad site” from my “bad sites” article linked below.

The pastor’s next question is usually, “Neil, will YOU look at our webpage for me and tell me [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website

Creating a Church Website in Wordpress
Advanced Notes

May 7th, 2010 · No Comments

My original article about creating a church website in Wordpress has proven very popular, — just what the doctor ordered for many churches that have stale websites.  This post adds some advanced notes to that discussion. (Note:  that original article  points to my full article on the subject at http://www.sundaysoftware.com/wordpress.htm) 
Wordpress is website-creation software that gives churches a [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website

Sermon Audio on the Church Website

January 17th, 2010 · 5 Comments

We’ve been using a little digital recorder in the pulpit to record the pastor’s sermons and posting them on our church website. And so far, so good.
We bought the Olympus WS-400s at Office Max for about $60. It has a built in microphone, two recording quality settings, and 1 gb memory for up to 170 hrs [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website · Tech Tips for Church Staff (and you)

How to add a “Donate Now” button to your website

November 22nd, 2009 · 3 Comments

Recently I’ve been investigating how to add a “Donate Now” feature to four different non-profit websites which I help maintain. One is a church, another is a local soup kitchen ministry, another is a school for the disabled, and the fourth is rotation.org -the free Sunday School lessons site.
There are many options, all of them pretty [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website · Tech Tips for Church Staff (and you)

Put Your Church Library (Easily) Online

November 5th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Do you have a church library you’d like  to be able to BROWSE online, search for resources, and request materials?
Would you like for users of your church library to get automatic emails about new resources?
Would you like to do that FREE and EASY?
…then read this article:
Church volunteers and librarians frequently email me asking “how to put their [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website

Domain Name & Voluntech Blues

April 28th, 2009 · No Comments

Elsewhere in this “building a better church website” thread I’ve mentioned some good tips about domain names (web addresses) for your church. But now I want to address WHO should register the domain name, HOW it should be registered, and why it’s important for the church to GET CONTROL of the domain name account from the beginning.
Case [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website

Creating a Church Website in Wordpress

April 13th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Creating a Church Website with Wordpress
an article by Neil MacQueen, Sunday Software
Below is the ABBREVIATED VERSION of the article originally posted at www.sundaysoftware.com/wordpress.htm
This article will be updated at www.sundaysoftware.com/wordpress.htm
Why suggest Wordpress as a way to create a church website? There are a lot very good reasons…
First, I’m a realist. I’ve created several websites and two [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website · Other Published Articles by Neil

An Email Newsletter for your Church

March 24th, 2009 · No Comments

For a lot of reasons…..  It’s time your church had an email newsletter. In fact, maybe it’s time your church got RID of its MAILED newsletter.  Many have, –sending out one or two email newsletters a month, and placing print copies of the email newsletters on tables after worship for those who don’t have email or [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website · Tech Tips for Church Staff (and you)

Online Resources for Building a Better Church Website

July 12th, 2008 · 1 Comment

I’ll keep adding to this list…
http://healyourchurchwebsite.com/    A blog with some funny stuff, insight, and technical helps.
www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/web_sites/ This site is awesome, and it has edgy truth about Church websites too.
www.sundaysoftware.com/webpage.htm  “Building a Better Church Website”  …my main article on the subject. Read it.
http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/tw_tips.php  70 Tips for Church Websites.
Click here to Subscribe to free email notifications every time [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website

Code Snippet: “Email a link to this page to a friend”

May 14th, 2008 · No Comments

Code Snippet: “Email a Link to this Page to a Friend”
Helping members share church website information with each other and their friends is not only a nice thing to do, it’s a form of evangelism. So, say you’re putting up a page about the children’s group, or upcoming church concert or picnic.  Add this code [...]

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Tags: Building a Better Church Website