Help with website for Church?

knightstyle

So with my limited IT knowledge I have been asked to help/make a website for our church. There was one hosted by servage one but this has not worked for a month or two.
So should we buy one of the shelf or try to build one?
Will need to have email access and easily updatable "whats on"type of page as well as the usual pages with details and history of the Church.
Obviously money is tight but want something decent, so all your MSE recommendations welcome.

Little_Vics

Weebly is probably your best bet. Simple to use and set up.

googler

If you were/still are paying 'servage one' to host, shouldn't the first action be to ask them why it stopped working?

InsideInsurance

knightstyle wrote: »

So with my limited IT knowledge I have been asked to help/make a website for our church. There was one hosted by servage one but this has not worked for a month or two.
So should we buy one of the shelf or try to build one?
Will need to have email access and easily updatable "whats on"type of page as well as the usual pages with details and history of the Church.
Obviously money is tight but want something decent, so all your MSE recommendations welcome.

How big is your church? Does it not have anyone more IT literate than yourself?

The host, whilst I'd have concerns from a number of points on their site, do offer the basics of what you need for a standard small business/ organisation/ group website.

It has auto install of a number of mainstream content management systems and so wouldnt take the best IT minds to set up a site with a standard free/ low cost template which others could then be maintained with someone with reasonable IT skills

saversfriend

If your looking for something simple and happy to pay about £200 per year try something like Church123. They provide templates and are pretty helpful. They also have a web builder which is easy to use. The £200 includes the hosting package.

Our Church use Church 123 and have has no problems (though I do feel that the templates are a little basic)

http://www.swanagemethodist.org.uk/

Hope that's helpful!

LondonGal

1. Have you got a domain name still? If not, GoDaddy is probably the cheapest.

2. You need a host for your domain. There's lots around. 1&! are pretty good and easy to use. A2 are good at around £3.00 per month.

3. You need simple web building software which you can develop as your ability develops (you'll be surprised how quickly you learn). I found Wordpress not only free, but easy. Templates are very adaptable and there's a couple specifically for Churches.

4. Install Wordpress (one click!), choose a them and start fiddling around.

Remember you can always undo things or start again, so have no fear of 'playing' around.

I don't know if this forum lets you pm people, but if it does, you're welcome to pm me and I'll try to help. I'm not a professional, but have built a few sites which people seem to think OK. Obviously it goes without saying I would not be charging anything at all.

InsideInsurance

LondonGal wrote: »

2. You need a host for your domain. There's lots around. 1&! are pretty good and easy to use. A2 are good at around £3.00 per month.

Lets ignore the comment that 1&1 are good.... why would the OP be better paying an additional £3 a month when they have already paid for a webhost that supports Wordpress?

knightstyle

OK, Thanks for all the useful comments, just of to the Church now so will take my Macbook and try to find a few answers. I am sure there will be more questions so see you all soon.

LondonGal

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Lets ignore the comment that 1&1 are good.... why would the OP be better paying an additional £3 a month when they have already paid for a webhost that supports Wordpress?

Fair enough - I wasn't sure if the existing hosting company was still working or not, so started from the beginning. If it's working it's daft to spend anything you don't need to. That may well be the case with the domain name as well.

tombruton87

One and One are not too terrible for domestic or small organizations. For Larger business's or organizations I would stay far away and for ny business that relies on their website. (there data centers are tier one I believe so no good for business critical activities also some other issues).

You need to ask What you want from the site, this will allow you to make a better decision on how much to spend or time to invest. Are you making the site just for information for those that currently attend. Are you hoping for it to make money i.e. rent out services such as the hall or surrounding grounds for events. Attract new people to activities run by the church reading groups, walking groups?

Have you thought about media, pictures and videos. Is this something you need to get a professional in for is there somebody with the correct equipment and skills in your church who will do this for you?

If you are just using it as an information site pics off of a camera phone should do if you are hoping to attract new people it will pay off investing in some decent pics.

Wordpress can get very complicated very quickly for somebody who does not know html, css and at least the basics of PHP when it comes to customizing stuff.

How much time do you want to invest. Or is it better to pay a designer £200-£300 quid to build it for your then you just worry about your annual domain renewal £6 and hosting about £25 for a low traffic site?

knightstyle

Well, our old website is now up and running after help from the person who set it up. http://www.gainsboroughchurches.org/
But we want to start again from scratch so need to look at costs which I find confusing. So can a new host take over our old domain name? Looking at Weebly charges they quote from $3.29 to $19.54 a month, dos this include hosting or is it just for running the website?
As i said earlier this is all new to me so does a simple up to date guide exist, websites for dummies?
Like the look of the Swanage Methodist Church but as the poster said it looks a bit basic and dare I say old fashioned.
Now the old site is back not so urgent but needs doing.