We decided to market our web-site builder through Heavenly Hosts ...why not follow the link to see what they are offering?
| EasyPageCMS Web-Site Builder |
Websites that have to be maintained by your website designer are now not the most preferred method of website management. The days of "wait then pay" for your webmaster to make a change can be over.
We now have a very simple CMS that we call "EasyPageCMS" which enables you to have control over your website without needing to understand all the technical details .
- Easy to use and takes a minimum period of time to learn. If you can use a text editor and have an internet connection, you can use this software.
- Once your website has been created you can change, add and delete text and image content within any page.
- You can add new pages (typically up to 10)
- Simple Visitor statistics.
- And remember it is easy to learn and use.
Benefits to you
- No waiting for someone else to make the change that you want to do now.
- No costs associated with the maintenance of your website.
- Easy to learn. It is so easy that your site administrator could be making changes within minutes of being given login instructions. Most of the advanced features of the system can be learned in an average of less than 2-3 hours.
- Add more web pages and products to your web site in minutes. Your website menu can be easily updated to link to your new page within seconds.
- You can "play" with a page before showing it to the outside world!
|
Building your own web-site
is plainly the cheapest option and we aim to
steadily improve our "how to" section
on this within our training pages. See for example "Design
tips" and the Webcredible guidlines.
Please also read some articles on accessability,
you can find some listed in our training
pages or
read one one by Rob
Davies (who is registered blind).
But please take heed of this warning:
Having a bad website might reflect badly on you. A bad
website may reinforce
the stereotype idea perhaps that your church or charity is out of touch and irrelevant. A
church or charity website is an on-going commitment, not a one off project to
enable you to tick a box saying 'website done'.
There are three possible ways to make your church
website:
1. Get a volunteer (or volunteers) to set it up and run it
2. Use an online system
3. Pay for a web designer/agency to create your
website
All are perfectly valid solutions but each have their advantages/disadvantages.....
|
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Comment |
Volunteers |
Cheapest option. If the person is committed and knows what they are doing and possesses the relevant technical and design skills you may well have
a very good option.
|
Many know how to make a website but only few know how to do it well or how to do it in a way that someone else can easily follow in the future.
No technical support if the person becomes unavailable or leaves
the church/charity. |
What have they done before? Ask to see examples. If you don't know much
about web sites get the opinion of a few people who do.
|
| Online System |
Someone non-technical can run the website with little or no training. Content can be added as
easily as using a word processor.
For the most part you can ignore the technical .
Usually easy to change the look of your site without losing the content.
|
Most systems only offer a few templates which may or may not be configurable.
Watch out for hidden extras... especially on support calls.
|
Visit the sites made by existing users and
see what you think. Use the contact page to ask them what
they really think of the system!
|
| Custom Design (Agency) |
If you have a vision for a website that has a high specification
and functions that are particular to your church then this may be
the only route open to you.
|
Can be expensive. Shop around and
ask to see reference sites
Don't forget you will have to pay for changes and updates.
Remember you may wish to redesign your site in 3-4 years time so
calculate how much it would cost for that
period. |
You are likely to
get better results than using volunteers but it may not find it as
flexible or cost effective as the "Online" option.
Ask about e:mail/hosting options etc
Get references!!! |
|
