This will be a very interesting task because there are a lot of sites with Christian Fellowship in the title.  We are going to try and get our site to show up on page 1 of a Google search.  We will record the process and progress of the journey on this site.

As you start the SEO process there are three concepts that you need to know.  The search engines respond to time. content, and links.  Time will take care of itself.  Content will be taken care of by writing a consistent stream of useful articles.  Links are perhaps the hardest part of the three and we will be discussing how to get links in the articles ahead.  This series of articles should help you with the success of your own web ministries.

Our Key West Vineyard Community Church site is now very close to being complete. We have added some of the finishing touches that make a site functional. All of the important information about the church is available on the front page. This includes the times of the services, phone number, address, and a map to the church. We have added some pictures do that people who visit the church after visiting the website will have an immediate connection. We have started a church blog. We have also linked to some other websites by RSS which provide constant fresh content to the site. Here are a couple of screen shots of the site today:

The site has also been indexed by Google and is showing up on the search engines. It is currently in position 2 of page 1:

In our next phase of development of the site we will begin to utilize the blog to get the site to show up on more general Google searches. We will try to get the site to show up as a result for “Key West Churches” and “Churches in Key West”. This process is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and it is an important part of being a church webmaster.

Plugins

Plugins are a wonderful addition to WordPress sites. They allow you to customize your site so that it does what you want it to do. We are going to activate three plugins at this time. The first plugin to activate is Akismet. This plugin actually comes with your WordPress installation. You just need to activate it. You also need a WordPress API key which you can get for free at WordPress.com (there is an article about this process on My Newbie Blog). The Akismet plugin is a spam blocker. You will need it to keep spammers from ruining your site.

There are two more plugins to install at this time. The first one is the Verse of the Day (VOTD) plugin. This plugin is a nice addition to the site as it automatically updates the site with a new Bible verse every day. It is easy to install in a widget on your sidebar. The other plugin to install is the Contact Form 7 plugin. This plugin provides a form so that people can contact you. This is much better than putting an email address on your site. If you have an email address written out on your site, you can almost guarantee you will get spam on that email account. If you have to give an email address on your site, spell out the @ as [at] and the . as [dot]. For example johnqpublic[at]gmail[dot]com.

Once your plugins are activated, add the VOTD widget to your sidebar and start a page called Contact. You can see how it all works at the Key West Vineyard Community Church site.

To get pictures for the site we bought a 27 shot disposable camera for $3.99, took the pictures, and had it developed onto a CD for $3.22. If you have a digital camera and are able to upload pictures onto your computer that would certainly work as well, but it has been my experience that getting pictures can sometimes be a sticking point in getting your website developed. Using a disposable camera and getting a CD is a very simple process.

We are going to want to do a couple of more things to your website today. Login to your site and go to the WordPress dashboard. Click on the Settings tab. Click on the Permalinks tab. You need to change the permalink structure from the default setting to a custom setting that looks like this /%postname%/

We also want to change the privacy setting so that people and search engines can find the site. Once Google locates the site it will be indexed which means that it will start showing up on Google searches. Initially, you are just looking for your site to show up when someone seaches for anything close to your church name on Google. It sometimes takes several weeks to get your site indexed, so go ahead and change the privacy setting. By the time your site gets indexed you should be ready for traffic.

Now, you need to write an article (200-300 words) describing what your church website will be about. Once you post that first article, the search engines will begin the process of indexing your site. We will pick it up from there in our next article.

This is the standard Kubrik theme that comes with WordPress. One of the nice things about WordPress is that there are a lot of avaialble themes to change the way your website looks. Many themes are avaialble for free. If you want to get fancy you can buy a premium theme for $50 - $150 dollars or you can even have a custom theme developed for $300 - $1000. We are going to use a theme from Solostream.com for this site.

In order to develop your church website with WordPress you are going to have to learn how to download and upload files. I want to encourage you to read a series of articles I wrote on how to create a blog at www.mynewbieblog.com. Go to the My Newbie Blog site and read the articles called 50 Things To Do to Start a Blog from Scratch - Parts 1,2, & 3. Once you read these the articles you will be familiar enough with the basics to continue setting up your church website. My Newbie Blog is filled with useful information about most of the topics you will need to master in starting your own church website. We will continue working on our example site in our next article in the series.

In the Beginning…

Sorry, I always wanted to use that. There are a couple of things you need to think through as you start a website. The first question will help us answer the second question. The first question to answer is, “Will I use one of the free blog services available, or will I have my website hosted?”. There are some excellent, easy to use programs available to create your website and you will never have to pay a dime (or a penny). They are absolutely free. My two favorites are Blogger.com and WordPress.com. (I have written an article about how to create sites using these programs in an article on My Newbie Blog site called “More on Starting Free Blogs“). For churches with no budget for Internet ministry this is a great option.

If you are able, however, I would recommend you use a hosting service for your website. It will allow for a lot of options in the future that the free blogs won’t. You can have your website hosted for $50 - $80 dollars a year depending on how much space you might need and what web hosting company you use. I use GoodNewsDomains for my web hosting. They have reasonable rates and have always provided me with excellent technical support (technical support is another advantage of using a web host, the free blog services don’t have live tech support, you have to use their forums for help which can take a long time). Once you decide whether you will be using a free service or a web host we can move along to the second question.

And it was evening and morning…

Sorry. Once we decide our hosting question we need to turn our attention to our domain name (url address, the www.whatever.com, web address). If you use one of the free blog services they will work you through the domain name process. All of the domain names for those free sites include the free host name, for example, if you started a site for “yourchurch” on blogger.com the domain name would be www.yourchurch.blogspot.com (that is another drawback to the free sites, long domain names, but they are free). If you are using a web host you have more flexibility with your domain name. I suggest you use a domain name that best describes your church. The domain name you choose will have an impact on search engine results in the future. You will want people to be able to find your church website by searching for the name of your church on Google. If you use a nickname, or initials, your church website won’t show up on the search engines. If your church is called First Community Church and you are in Fargo, you will want a domain name that is www.firstcommunitychurchfargo.com Don’t try and shorten it to FCCF.com or FCC.com as this will never show up on the search engines. It may be easier to remember but the only people who will ever find your site that way are people who already have the web address. You want people who are searching for churches in your area to be able to find your church on Google. Once you decide what domain name you want, go to GoodNewsDomains and see if it is available. A domain name will cost you about $10 a year. (For a detailed description of how to get a domain name and a web host read an article I write called “Create a Blog You Can be Proud Of“.

And then He rested….

For the rest of our articles in this series we will be setting up a hosted church website for “Key West Vineyard Community Church”. We are setting this site up as a sub-domain to this main site. It allows us to set up the site for free and yet gives us the advantage of being a hosted site. We can do that because our main site, Church Web Master is a hosted site. That allows us to set up as many as 25 sub-domain sites for no extra charge. Since we are using this site as an example, this works best for our purposes. If we were setting the site up as a stand alone site we would use the domain name www.keywestvineyardchurch.com and we would use a web host. The rest of the articles will be written assuming you have a domain name and a web host.

The Internet and the blogosphere have opened up amazing ministry opportunities. Along with the traditional church website, you can now make an impact for the Kingdom of God with a variety of other Internet applications. You could start an online daily bible study (check out God’s Daytimer), you could start an Internet Ministry reaching out to people all over the world (check out Internet Pastor Online), you could start an online small group (check out Christian Book Club), the potential is virtually limitless.

We are here to help you make the most of your Church Website and Web Ministry. Ministrering on the Ineternt is very affordable as well. If you are willing to do the work, you could read through the articles on this site and develop your own church website and web ministry for free! The free option is a lot of work, however, so we suggest you let us help you. Our prices are very reasonable and you will enjoy our service. We look forward to partnering with you to advance the Kingdom of God.

Here are the sites we are currently developing:

• Internet Ministries
• Web Ministries
• Online Ministry Site
• Internet Ministry Online
• Internet Ministry Site
• Web Ministry Site
• Ministry Online
• Christian Ministry Online Network
• Christian Ministry Online Organization
• Online Christian Ministry Information
• Online Christian Ministry Network
• Online Christian Ministry Organization
• Online Ministries

We can customize one of these sites to fit your church perfectly.  For example, the Internet Ministries site we are developing at www.internetministries.org could easily become Vineyard Internet Ministries.  Since the site as been on line for a while it will cause your new web ministry to show up more quickly on the search engines.

Church Website Consultation: $ 200 for 2 Hours

Our Church Website Consulting services can be anything you want them to be. How to add video sermons to your site, how to add audio sermons to your site, how to set up ministry blogs, how to make your website search engine friendly, how to increase traffic to your website, technical help, church website review and critique, etc. The minimum cost for this is $ 200. We can break the consultation services in to 2 – 1 hour sessions or 4 – 30 minute sessions.

Church Website Rescue Package: starts at $ 50

If you hit the wall with your church website and nothing seems to be working we can help you. We will connect by Skype or phone to analyze the situation. The minimum cost to you to fix things fast starts at $50. If the problem is more significant we will advise you of the final cost before we start, to allow you to budget.

If you would like to arrange for consulting or rescue use the contact form or the Skype button below:

Church Web Master Online Package: $ 210/year

This package is a great deal for busy pastors. We become your church webmaster online. We get you an appropriate domain name, and set up and maintain your church website for you. All you have to do is send us emails every week or two with your most current information and we do the rest. Your website will always be current and updated. We will also feature your church on one of our church directory sites (a $120/year value, if we don’t have a church directory established in your area, we will start one).

Get Started Church Website Value Package: $ 500

* Assistance in choosing a suitable domain name (a domain name will cost you $10/yr)
* Assistance with a hosting provider (hosting will cost $50-$80/yr)
* Complete set up of church website
* Training on how to work with your website done via Skype or telephone (max 2 hours)
* Two years on one of our church directories (a $240 value)
* Installation of free tracking software
* Free email support

Custom Church Website Packages

We will work with you to custom design a website for your church. You can tell us everything you would like to see on your church website and we will provide you with a quote. We can include:

• Blogs for all areas of ministry
• Safe church social networking
• A page for your sermons on audio
• A page for your sermons on video
• Training on how everything works (by phone or Skype)
• Maintenance services and more

Use the contact page for information on any of our Church Website Packages.