Churches today can interact with their community through a free church website.
Free webhosting services give churches the opportunity to explore the possibilities that running a website can offer. Free webhosting services allow a church to create a website that includes graphics, text and hyperlinks. Such a site can allow the church to maintain contact with members and supporters, promote its message and services and encourage people to view it as a community leader. If church members find that the free website moves the church in a positive direction, they may continue to develop their free website into a more sophisticated site for which the church will pay webhosting fees.
Instructions
1. Find a webhost that offers free website hosting services. Several webhosting companies offer free webhosting services. Free webhosts provide information that allows a church to quickly summarize the benefits of some of the web's most popular free websites. Information on free websites includes reviews of the data and sites about available space on each webhost, the webhost's scripting and whether the site places their ads on the free websites of clients. Churches may want to consider the possibility that advertisements---which may clash with the church's values---may come up on their free website.
2. Select a webhost that provides the options that the church needs on their website, and then sign up. Submit the church's contact information and complete the security clearance. Sign the user agreement and choose an owner username and password for the free church website.
3. Select a domain name for the church's free website. Since many churches have similar names, you may wish to include the church's name and the city or neighborhood in which it exists or the denomination that it represents.
4. Select a template for the free website from the webhost's template options. Some free webhosts have templates that offer specific colors or themes that a church may appreciate, such as a background with specific colors or graphics. If the church specializes in serving a specific population, such as young families or a rural community, choose a template that reflects the population the church serves.
5. Create the church website's files/pages. Map out the site so that the webpages will complete and complement each other. Create a different webpage for each aspect of the church, including the clergy; lay staff; schedules of services, adult classes and Sunday school classes for children; projects, etc. Insert the desired text on each page. Insert pictures whenever possible to illustrate the church's activities. Insert hyperlinks into the website's pages to create crosslinks between the website's pages, as well as hyperlinks to other similar sites such as other area churches, projects, programs that the church supports and community resources.
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