It’s the start of a new year. You’re now more than ever motivated to start something and stick with it. You’ve decided that you really want to dedicate time and effort into building an amazing ministry website, but you have no idea where to start. Well have no fear, we’re here to help.
Today, we are going to kick off a new series on the site called “Where to Start?” Where to Start? will be a step by step series that helps you build a website from scratch on your own by giving you a variety of options to choose from.
Follow the Series Step by Step:
Getting Started
In this first part of the series, we are going to look at what might appear to be an intimidating topic – which backend do I choose to power my website. A website backend is an intimidating topic, even for me, a self-professed web professional. A website backend is a set of interconnected databases that work together to automatically pull content so that an average user with little to no experience doesn’t have to touch any programming.
Today, we’re going to look at a few backends (called Content Management Systems, or CMS for short) that you should look into when working on a revival of your current website, or starting one from scratch. We’ve broken the list of CMS’s down into 3 groups based on price.
Free
SkyCMS
Maybe you’ve had a lay person build your site. Maybe you’re currently on one of the web’s many template based systems. Now, you’ve discovered SkyCMS: a high-end, professional website, without the hassles or the high-end cost.
SkyCMS has all of the features you need to build and manage a great website — all with simple, familiar web-based tools — no programming or HTML needed. Create pages using text, images, links, and even video. Blogs, calendars, file downloads, interactive photo galleries, and forms are a snap. Want to collect donations, offer private members-only sections, or view your website’s traffic statistics? It’s all built-in.
WordPress
WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. In fact, we use WordPress to power NewMediaMinistry.com
More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.
New to blogging? Learn more about WordPress, then follow the three easy steps below to start blogging in minutes. Or, for the ultimate in ease of use, get a free blog on WordPress.com.
Cheap
Expression Engine
ExpressionEngine is a flexible, feature-rich content management system that empowers thousands of individuals, organizations, and companies around the world to easily manage their website. If you’re tired of the limitations of your current CMS then take ExpressionEngine for a spin…
Expression Engine is available as both a free version as well as two paying versions, $99.95 and $249.95.
Advanced Ministry
AdvancedMinistry is created by Electricurrent for the purpose of providing ministries, churches and Christian artists with an affordable web solution.
Through AdvancedMinistry we offer a web solution for churches and ministries looking to enchance their online image and manage all of their content. AdvancedMinistry also offers PowerPoint backgrounds and bulletin shells that creatively correspond to many of its web templates.
Expensive
Clover
Clover is the least expensive of the three CMS’s that are in the expensive category. Pricing is a one-time fee of $1000, plus $20 per month for hosting and support. The folks at Clover have done a magnificent job of putting together a truly solid product.
Clover features:
- Beautiful Websites
- Designed Specifically for Ministries
- Instant Delivery (Get your website today!)
- No Training Required
- Have Sermons, Videos, and Resources on Your Site
- Online Calendar
- Easiest Content Management Tool Ever
- Optimized for Search Engines
- Easily Change Colors, Page Layouts, Photos and Text
- Priced for Ministries
Ekklesia360
Ekklesia is a total church web-based solution. Ekklesia gives churches the tools to manage complex functions, through one easy system. Ekklesia makes it easy to:
Upload Sermons and communicate through email, html, documents, mp3s, bitorrents, podcasts, rss.
Manage people, from new visitors to members and centralize communication with them.
Lead new visitors towards greater community participation and take a hands on approach to the assimilation process.
Gather new visitors through search engine optimization.
Keep your site current with new content, allow multiple (non-technical) users to input events, announcements and articles for visitors to read.
Add events, allow people to rsvp, process payments for events and track who plans to attend.
Ekklesia is also expensive. Most sites start at about $3000 and can cost as much as about $15,000. If you have deep pockets, I recommend using this as you backend.
Elexio
Elexio builds custom websites and provides creative design, content management system tools, logo creation, databases systems, software development, featured add-ons and more.
Elexio empowers the work of God’s kingdom with fully customized and managed websites. We liberate Christian ministries to pursue their God-given vision by co-designing, building, hosting, and improving their web presence.
Elexio places the power in your hands. The result is that your ministry will have everything it needs to expand using the web. Plus, your staff will be empowered to communicate with your community, help people grow in Christ-likeness, and reach the lost.
