WHY CREATE A FREE WEBSITE WITH WEEBLY?
Because some say, “If a church or Business is not online, It does not exist!” Get your church online to be found! Control the message of who you are and invite guests to come to your worshiping community. Share the good news of the Kingdom.
Because it is Easy!
Difficulty: Easy to Medium (Evan can walk you through it on the phone if you run into problems.)
Because it is Fast!
Time Required: 1 hr per page if you already have the pictures you want. You can spend more time if you wish.
Because it is Free!
Cost: Free for websites ending in .weebly.com. $25-40 a year if you purchase your own website “domain name.”
Is this Right for my church?
- Yes, even a one-age, nice-looking website with helpful basic information and good pictures gives potential visitors peace of mind.
- Spending more time to make a fuller website can be helpful to visitors as well. If your congregation has a trustworthy, gifted person willing to be the “webmaster,” then you can offer more to potential visitors while helping the webmaster serve Christ.
- Do you have to use Weebly.com? No! This is just Evan’s favorite, which he thinks allows the fastest, easiest website creation that still looks as dazzling as ultra-expensive options. Churches of every size and budget may want to check it out.
- Examples of website created from weebly:
HOW TO CREATE A FREE WEBSITE WITH WEEBLY:
The first step will be registration:
1) Go to www.weebly.com and enter your name, email and a new password and hit the “sign up. It’s free!” button.2) Title your website (not the same as your web address…you can change the title at any point)
– answer “type of site questions” however you want…I’m sure it’s for Weebly’s internal use and curiosity.
1) Go to www.weebly.com and enter your name, email and a new password and hit the “sign up. It’s free!” button.2) Title your website (not the same as your web address…you can change the title at any point)
– answer “type of site questions” however you want…I’m sure it’s for Weebly’s internal use and curiosity.
3) when asked to CHOOSE YOUR WEBSITE DOMAIN simply pick the first option: Use a Subdomain of Weebly.com
then, pick the WEB ADDRESS NAME you want. Example: wildwoodpres would be good using www.wildwoodpres.weebly.com
then, pick the WEB ADDRESS NAME you want. Example: wildwoodpres would be good using www.wildwoodpres.weebly.com
*Note: for a more professional look, you can buy a website domain name for between $20-40 a year. This gives you a website without “.weebly.com” at the end. Non-profits traditionally used “.org” at the end, but it’s also quite fine to use “.com” or any ending you wish. There are some advantages to buying your domain name from a local provider, or you can buy it through Weebly’s options.
4) When the blank website comes up, notice how it’s on the ELEMENTS tab already.
- Click on the EDITORS tab and put in the email addresses of those you want to allow to work on this website. You can put my email on there if you want me to do any hands on work (I’m happy for y’all to do it all yourselves, but if you put in my email, you can always take me off later). My email is pastor@sspchurch.org
5) Play around and get it looking the way you want...it’s that easy.
You can sign out and return to keep working, your work will be saved.
For Google Calendar integration, read this!
Finally,
6) To get the website up and running, you must eventually pick a Theme.
- To do this, go to the DESIGN tab and select a theme you like.
- Be thinking of what would look cool for main picture or banner (which could be the same for all your pages…or can change if you wish). Some of these are typically VERY wide, but you can also put a series of smaller pictures together.
- Be thinking of whether you want just one page, or multiple pages…and what would be on the pages.
- You add pages by going to the PAGE tab and simply “adding” pages or subpages.
- Example of additional pages:
- Directions to the church
- A letter from the Pastor or Session
- A history page
- a calendar of activities page / newsletter highlights
- Contact Us – Mail, phone, email, directions
- Photos page (PHOTOS ARE IMPORTANT!!)
- There are options to add custom HTML. Weebly automatically makes all websites mobile-friendly (so people can see your website easily on phones and tablets).
Check it out and play with your site then you will get a sense of what it can do and whether it is right for you and your congregation.
To “save” your progress you basically just click ” publish.”
– When you are ready, simply start printing your website’s address on your bulletins, newsletters, business cards, Google Place page, Presbytery and PC(USA) page, Facebook, church signs and fliers.
Contact me if I can be of help to you.
– Evan Harrison