ChurchWebsites.org - Fresh Ideas for Your Online Ministry

Blogger’s Block

March 19, 2012

If you write a blog, then you know the pressure of constantly generating fresh content. We sure do. You've also probably suffered from blogger's block, otherwise known as being fresh out of ideas on what to write. Here are some thoughts on how to get yourself un-stuck: 1. Keep a journal/notepad with ...

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3 Types of Website Support

February 20, 2012

Your web guy, your web girl, your web company or your hosting company... they're giving you some type of support...hopefully. But what do we mean by "support"? This question came up recently around our studio, and upon further thought, the definition for "support" isn't so common. The way we see it, ...

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Online Giving: Is Your Church One of the 86 Percent?

December 20, 2011

We recently wrote a piece on the topic of online giving for the editors of Crosswalk.com. Key topics include: Just because someone is a young adult, it doesn't mean that they will default to online giving Larger churches are more prone to offer an online giving option 86% of churches do not currently ...

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Keep Your Stuff Safe: What Every Church Needs To Know About Safe & Secure Commerce (Part 3 Of 3)

December 1, 2011

Earlier in our series, we talked about SSL and payment processors. Let's wrap up this series by talking about PCI Compliance. Several years ago the major credit card providers ...

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Keep Your Stuff Safe: What Every Church Needs to Know about Safe & Secure Commerce (part 2 of 3)

November 30, 2011

Earlier we talked about securing the communication between the browser and server; today we’ll talk about how the user’s payment information travels from the web server to the payment processor. Who Processes ...

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Keep Your Stuff Safe: What Every Church Needs to Know about Safe & Secure Commerce (part 1 of 3)

November 28, 2011

In case you weren't aware, church staff training (or seminary) doesn't normally include curriculum on how to create secure Internet transactions. Yet in an age when most churches are venturing into the world of online giving or other types of eCommerce, the topic is suddenly very relevant to effective ministry. Simply ...

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QR Codes and Your Church

November 15, 2011

"What are all those little square barcodes I keep seeing, and does anybody really use them?" In the past week, I've seen these QR codes on the following items: Backlit billboard in the hallway of an airport terminal On a political candidate's tour bus Cereal box Gas pump Perfume ad in a magazine Highway ...

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When is it Time to Hire a Full-Time Webmaster for your Church?

November 11, 2011

Very few churches have a paid staff position to focus on the Website, let alone their full online ministry strategy. Most churches rely instead on a mix of volunteers, administrative staff, and maybe even a little bit of the youth guy's time thrown in for good measure. This model works well ...

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Writing for Mobile: When in Doubt, Leave it Out

November 8, 2011

A recent report by Jakob Neilsen reveals some interesting truths about the way users expect to read text on their mobile devices. The crux of the question is, as they state: How can people simultaneously want to kill time and get angry when their time is wasted? Churches should be ...

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Should You Copy Ideas from Another Church?

October 25, 2011

If "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", then copyright infringement lawsuits must be like love letters, right? Not so much. And even though churches aren't necessarily suing each other over this issue (well actually this one came pretty darn close), it's still prudent to think carefully before ...

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