More and more people turn to the internet as their only social outlet and the only way to reach them is through the internet. Getting started is easy.

   First you'll need to make some decisions. These are basic marketing decisions that every successful website,business or organization has to ask. First is what is your objective. Write it out exactly what is it you want people on your website to do. Most church websites are simply advertisement sites hoping to get people to come to their church. The site includes things like About us, What to expect, Directions to reach us etc. Though there are subsidiary purposes like providing sermons to shut ins and keeping contact with snow birds the basic purpose remains to draw people to their church. What is your purpose or purposes. List it all out. If part of your purpose is financial or recognition by others or selling books and videos add it. Be honest with your self it's the only way you'll end up with what you really want.

    Then refine that list or description to a single paragraph. Next refine it to a single sentence. Next refine it to 3 words. Each of these levels are required. The Paragraph is your site description. Your sentence is your central theme. Your 3 words are your initial keywords.   A couple years ago a book "Purpose Driven Church" described some of this process in the context of a church. This may be a helpful resource. The more you refine your objective the more likely you are to succeed in your purpose. If your purpose is to save the entire world your website will need to be huge in multiple languages covering every conceivable situation it's an impossible purpose to actually achieve. If however your purpose is to help Married Alcoholics in the North Eastern United States get their lives straightened out with God. You now have a refined definitive goal and you can make your website fit the purpose. Over time you can expand your scope to include other groups but this refined scope gives you a finite amount of material to include in the site and a specific demographic and geographic are to work with.

    Next you'll need a Domain Name. Use your keywords you defined or do some keyword research using the central terms you defined above. Many registrars can help you with this the one I see used most often is GoDaddy.com. A Domain Name is the URL people will type to get to your site. "NYCMarriedAlcoholics.com", "NYCAlcoholics.Info" etc. The name should reflect the content.

     Once you have a Domain Name go to Flickr.com or a similar photo sharing network and select the perfect picture you think reflects the purpose of your site. This may be copyrighted so you may not actually be able to use the image but it will help to refine the type of images/ colors and graphics you want on your site.

    Armed with this you are ready to hire some help or do it yourself. If you want to hire it done it's about $300 dependent on who you have do it for you.  Spend some time on the web and find sites that look like you want your site to look. Also find some that have the same functionality you want to have on your site. Write up your purpose statement/ description/ Keywords/ Desired Domain Name Options/ either include the image(s) you have or put the links to them. Also include the urls to the example websites you found. If you want to hire ChurchHost to do it the price is about $300 dependent on what exactly you want. Email the document above to Quotes@ChurchHost.info and we'll get back to you with an exact cost.
    If you want another developer or just want a competitive comparison go to http://www.odesk.com/referrals/track/davidstrickland
Fill out the form and post your job along with all the information I above attached as a document and you'll get replies estimating cost for development.
     If you want to do it yourself for free register on ChurchHost.info this will give you a basic site. If you need help changing or adding functionality if you have any problems or want to know how to change something on your free site  just drop us an email and we'll either reply with an answer or point you to were you can get the answer.
    Some things aren't going to be free no matter where you host. Sermons take up a good amount of space and hosting them will cost. Other functionality like videos or  online testing and certifications will also cost. If you want an advanced site with advanced functionality you should budget about $20 to $30 a month for hosting charges.