Effective Church Web Sites

Redesign Lessons Learned

2006-10-23T10:02:00.000-05:00

Check out this great lessons learned from a Web redesign from Cory Miller in Oklahoma. I just found this information but it really speaks to several points that I have made in my presentations like seeking professional help (#5) and answering the key user questions (#9).

Also, I would like to thank Brian Bailey for reviewing and offering feedback on my work on the Church Web presentation and information.

Resources from Mike Atkinson

2006-09-25T15:09:00.000-05:00

In case the permalink ever expires, here is a blog post in total from http://www.uneeknet.com/services/tips/articles/resources.php.

Essential Online Resources

Mike Atkinson

I want to list some excellent resources for you in this issue. If you are involved in any type of online ministry (including church websites), these free articles, blogs, and tools can be important contributors to your success in ministering on the Internet.

Blogs:

Websites:

CyberMissions.org
eQuip
Great Church Websites
Internet Evangelism Coalition
Internet For Christians
Online Evangelism - A guide to Web Outreach
Web Evangelism Bulletin

Forums:

Articles:

Church website-building tools:

Misc:

Church Web Site Disasters (how to avoid them) - free e-book
The Philosophy Behind Online Ministry- free webinar

CMS for Churches

2006-09-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

It seems that most churches have difficulties keeping up with their content unless they are willing to spend lots on a quality enterprise-level system.

Here are some notes that I have found on some CMS applications that may be useful for research:
* Textpattern -- favorite of some experienced developers
* Drupal -- www.Drupal.org
* Mambo
* Website Baker -- fast, easy, and the backend UI is simple (but it isn't geared towards making standards-compliant code).
* WordPress -- it's not just for blogs.
* Radiant CMS (http://www.radiantcms.com) -- too robust for most churches?
* Expression Engine

Not good reviews (from actual users/experience):
* Joomla
* e107
* Plone
* Xoops

Vendor Information

2006-09-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

These are in no way endorsed vendors or vendors that I have worked with in any way. This is just a space to list vendors that I come across or are sent to me as a place to start when researching or looking for solutions. [If I get enough vendors in the list, then I will go through and resort them into a more meaningful and user-friendly list.]

* Aspire One -- design and development
* Elexio -- content management (Intellisite), hosting, software
* Aaron McClung -- design and development
* Holy Cow Creative -- design
* forMinistry -- template-based free Web site solution, content management
* Turtle Interactive -- design and development
* Electroglyph -- design and development
* NetVisibilities -- search engine optimization
* NextEdit -- content management
* Sign Us Up -- online donations
* MyChurchCalendar(?) -- online calendar
* Accent Web Solutions -- design and development
* Kairos Interactive (Houston) -- design and develop ment, http://www.kairosinteractive.com/?
* Intereactive -- design and development, Sugarland, TX

I have noticed some poor work from the following firms (but it's always hard to tell without knowing the actual project description and how insistent the clients are):
FaithSite.com -- design and development
Jabez Networks -- design, development, content management

Unresearched listing of Web building tools (read TEMPLATES):

Articles on Church Web sites

2006-09-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

Kem Myer's "What defines a good church web site?"
Mike Atkinson's "Improving your Church Website" series
Adam Walker Cleaveland's "Worst Church Web sites" (I won't normally post this type of negative reactions, but Cleave's got some good information on his blog.)

New Blog in Beta

2006-09-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

This is the first posting to the new blog in Blogger Beta.

I created this site to support feedback and continuing communication on "Effective Church Web Sites that Shine the Light." Effective Church Web Sites is a presentation/session that I am currently leading for the Church Leadership Conference series hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC).