Building a Church Website on WordPress

Chris Wallace @chriswallace"Partner & Principal Creative

What I’m going to coverReasons to choose WordPress for a church website.!

The state of open-source/WordPress for churches.!

The pros and cons of WordPress.!

Available church themes and plugins.!

Selecting a web host.!

How to get help from people in your church.

Why use WordPress for a church website?• Freedom!!

• People already know it (think volunteers, staff, contractors).!

• Tons of resources, tutorials, help.!

• Fewer & lessened recurring costs.!

• Customize anything.

A Brief History of WordPress and Churches

Before 2011

What made WordPress hard to use for Church websites?

• Few church-specific themes!

• Not easy to add church-specific content!

• Church themes with custom post types INSIDE themes!

• No integration with Church Management System

What’s changed since 2011?

• In 2011, churchthemes.net introduced 4 church themes with built-in framework for sermons, people, and location management.!

• In 2012, WP for Church introduced Church Pack with staff, ministries/groups, photo galleries, and events. !

• In 2013, churchthemes.com introduced Church Theme Content plugin with sermons, people, locations, and events.

Today’s church website options

DIYCost Skills Required Time to Launch

Hosted $1,000 up front$50+ monthly

content entry, training, working

around constraintsweeks / months

WordPress website hosting ability to click a mouse as few as 20 minutes

Do-It-Yourself your life

design, development,!content entry, tech support, QA, teaching pastor how to

use the Internet, etc.???

Where are all the WordPress open source

church things?

WordPress.org Plugin Repository Comparison

number of plugins tagged

‘slider’

number of plugins tagged

‘church’

364 28

srsly?

What’s worse…

A lot of these plugins aren’t actually for churches.

OK, so what about themes? Gotta be a bunch

o’ church themes.

There is literally one free theme on WordPress.org & it’s called “Church.”

?????

Still, WordPress is a great foundation for a

church website.

Step 1. outline features needed for the website.

What most churches need:Pages!

Blog!

Social!

Volunteer/Staff login!

Image Galleries

Sermons and Series!

Events!

Staff!

Locations / Directions!

Small Groups!

Contact Forms!

Tithing

What WordPress handles:Pages!

Blog!

Social!

Volunteer/Staff login!

Image Galleries

Sermons and Series!

Events!

Staff!

Locations / Directions!

Small Groups!

Contact Forms!

Tithing

Step 2. Pick your plugins.

Why use the Church Theme Content plugin?

• Data portability!

• Content won’t just “disappear” when switching themes!

• Themes should control appearance, not post types!

• Consistency in features!

• One-click plugin updates

What does the CTC plugin add to WordPress?

• Sermons & sermon series (with video, audio, PDF)!

• Staff bios & groups!

• Events!

• Locations

Other church plugins

• Church Theme Content Integration - FREE Syncs events from Fellowship One to CTC plugin.!

• PrayBox - FREECan be used for small groups & community.!

• Scripture Highlighter - FREETurns scripture references into clickable links that open & highlight the verse.

Other plugins for churches

• Woocommerce - FREEPowers more than 10% of all e-commerce websites. Good for music, apparel, books, and more.!

• BuddyPress - FREECan be used for small groups & community.!

• Ninja Forms - FREECreate powerful forms for volunteer, contact, and other types of forms.

Other plugins for churches

• Edit Flow - FREEEasy way to manage content publishing process and approval.!

• AkismetAutomate comment spam deletion.!

• The Events Calendar - FREE and Pro versionIncludes extensions for selling tickets, Eventbrite, and community events.

Step 3. Pick a WordPress theme or create your own.

Commercial Church Theme Options

CTC Themes Non-CTC Themes

churchthemes.net churchthemer.com

churchthemes.com wpforchurch.com

boxystudio.com ThemeForest

Theme tip: Start with a theme that uses the

CTC plugin.

Theme tip: Pick a theme that can easily be customized

and includes support.

Step 4. Find a hosting company that does everything for you.

Good WordPress web hosts

• Pagely$24/mo+!

• Flywheel$15/mo+!

• SiteGround $9.95/mo+

no page view limits

free migration

low cost

Step 5. Install WordPress + theme + plugins.

Pro tip: the hosts I recommended earlier will install WordPress for you.

Step 6. Get people involved.

Tips for involving other church staff/volunteers

• Subscribe to WP101.com training videos to teach them WordPress.!

• Send a call for help to your church. Never build a church website by yourself.!

• Give people responsibilities and train them. Require their participation. Set up processes.!

• Find key stakeholders early and educate them on how the website works before you build it.

One more thing: we need contributors.

Thank you! Questions?Slides available at:

slideshare.net/chriswallace7Twitter!!

@churchthemesnet!@liftux!@upthemes!@chriswallace

Web!!

churchthemes.net!liftux.com!upthemes.com!chriswallace.net