The UMC Web Press team guides local church volunteers, staff and pastors in setting up church websites using the free WordPress (website management) tool and plug-ins (additional programs that enhance web site experiences such as calendar, photo slide show, site security, etc.) that create attractive, interactive and unique websites for local congregations.
Local congregations get:
- Free website hosting for sites developed through our process.
- Management of the local church’s domain name in relationship to the website.
- Access to stock images for backgrounds and website headers.
- Managed regular updates to the WordPress installation and related plug-ins.
- Testing of plug-ins to ensure they work with new WordPress updates.
- Routine site back-ups and security checks.
- Technical assistance and answers to questions after sites launch.
Local congregations:
- Purchase and renew domain names. If you already have one purchased, we handle pointing it to your new site once the site is live, and if you don’t have one purchased, we can do so on your behalf easily.
- Gather and prepare content, including photographs and written material, for their website.
- Attend a 1.5-hour online training workshop via GoToMeeting.com. GoToMeeting allows you to see your screen and Christine’s screen, and ask questions while Christine goes through the training with you. This training session can be attended by more than one person. After the training, you are given as much time as you need to customize your site. Christine is available to answer questions and help create such things as cross-and-flame header images if requested. When you feel your site is ready, we take your site “live.”
- Pay a set-up fee of $150, which covers initial set-up of the site and the workshop.
- Pay a basic annual maintenance fee of $60 a year, or $5 a month, which covers ongoing maintenance and technical support.
- Pay for any intensive technical support or design work requested.
Local congregations can get started by completing an online interest form.
We’re proud of the work we do and we’ve seen churches that have previously not been tech-oriented end up with good-looking, easy-to-update sites. I think you’ll find that we offer a website solution that will be a good fit for your church needs.