Creating a Congregation Website
Step-by-step instructions, guidelines, and resources for creating an online
presence for your congregation:
Does my congregation need
a website?
Probably. More and more folks are looking for information online
- and our congregation listing averages more
than 200 hits every Sunday morning. "Why
Should UUs Get On-Line?  ," by Margy Levine Young, offers more information
about all kinds of online communication, and how it can help your group.
How do we get a website?
The Basics
Your congregation doesn't need its own computer; internet access is
frequently available at public places like schools or libraries, or
a member of your congregation may be able to help out.
Free & Easy
FreeWebspace.net is a guide
to services that provide free webspace. Many of them don't place ads
on your site, and also provide easy tools for creating your site. Companies
like GeoCities and Tripod
put ads on your site, but are very easy to use.
For Love or Money
There are lots of places out there that will let you pay for website
hosting; budgetweb.com is a
budget guide to finding web space services. With this option, you might
also consider buying your very own domain name (http://yourchurchname.org).
You may need a more sophisticated webmaster if you choose to go this
route, but we can help:
Your Website Address
You can have a uua.org address!
We offer fourth- or fifth-level domain name service to UU congregations. Your site can be hosted anywhere and still have an address that
connects you to the online UU community (like http://www.auburn.msd.uua.org/ )
- once you've got a website set up, just apply
for domain name service.
What kind of information
should we include on our site?
A Basic Checklist
Thanks to Ted Pack of the Stanislaus UU Fellowship (CA) and the websters
list for these recommendations:
- congregation name and complete meeting address (and mailing address,
if different)
- the name of the building you meet in, if different from your congregation
name
- directions to your building - include text instructions and perhaps
a map: MapQuest
- telephone number
- web editor email address
- congregation email address
- fax number - if your congregation has email but no fax, services
such as efax.com and callwave.com will give you a free fax-to-email phone number
- meeting times and schedule of other services for adults and children;
upcoming sermon topics and RE topics are a nice addition (see "Guidelines
for Church Electronic Newsletters")
- accessibility information: Is your meeting place wheelchair accessible?
Is there handicapped parking? Are there large-print hymnals? Headphones
in the sanctuary?
- what to wear; especially for children if your RE program has activities
unsuited for "Sunday Best" clothes, but important info for the comfort
of all first-time visitors
- short statement of beliefs - some people may have surfed onto your
page not knowing what the heck a Unitarian Universalist is; write
your own intro, and/or include links to some of the following:
- a link to the UUA (banners provided)
- a link to your district
Better Left Out
Ask permission before posting:
- personal information about your members (phone numbers, addresses)
- photos of your members
Congregation Input
- "Pagemake "
is a web utility designed to make it easy for church committee members
to publicize their work on a church's website. Contact Bill Griffeth
at webweaver@uc.summit.nj.uua.org
 .
- Be sure to include a link so visitors to your site can email your
webmaster.
Newcomer FAQ
A Newcomer FAQ (sample , sample ) might be helpful to first-time visiters. Here are
some questions that people want answered even before they visit one
of our churches for the first time. Even a seemingly
simple thing like letting people know what to wear can help new people get
up the courage to visit.
Consider including a Newcomer FAQ page with answers to the the below
questions:
"What Newcomers Want to Know Before First Visit"
- What should I [and my children] wear to this church? [This is by
far the most frequent query.]
- Is there childcare/Sunday School during church?
- If my child doesn't separate well, can she or he stay with me in
the service?
- Are there any [insert race] people in this congregation?
- Are people of [race] welcome in this congregation?
- Are there bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgendered people in this
congregation? Are they welcome?
- Are there people in the congregation who believe [insert belief
here]?
- What goes on during the worship services?
How can we make our site
more accessible?
- Try to reduce download time so folks with slow connections don't have
to wait long.
- When using tables, be aware that reading browsers (as opposed to viewing
browsers for sighted people) read content across rows, not down columns.
- When including images, be sure to specify text for the alt tag: alt="photo
of dogs running" or alt="*" (for a bullet, for instance).
- WebXACT is a web-based tool
that analyzes web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities.
How can we make our site
pretty?
When designing your site, remember that large images and scripts
tend to slow downloading time. Just keep your audience in mind: do they
have slow modems? can they get quickly to the information they find vital?
We have a website!
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