Internet Ministry Supporting Section

Creating and supporting an Internet Ministry (IM) is challenging, but the results of the invested effort can provide a big return to the organization. The IM Support Section is a review of what is required to plan, develop, and maintain an active web site.

The IM Support Section is written as if volunteer(s) will be used to operate the web site. If a company/person is hired to operate the web site, the employees of the hired company will perform the same functions that volunteers perform. Understanding the functions that need to be performed will enable you to understand what the company needs to receive from your organization and why. Even if a company is hired to technically support the web site, someone representing your organization needs to maintain a continuous process of reviewing the web site's pages that are developed by the company.

Developing and supporting an IM can be a complex and time consuming project that requires the attention of the organization's leaders. It is a must that the development of an IM be divided into phases. Using phases can make the development effort manageable and measurable for evaluation purposes. An IM should start small and progress to the final desired results.

The IM of an organization has as it main objective the successful achievement of the IM's goals through the web site. Care must be exercised to not equate the Internet Ministry with the web site. Yes, the IM has as its focus the development of the web site, but there is more to the IM than just the web site. The support of the organization's IM involves more than the actual web site.

3. Planning how the content and design of the web site's pages will achieve the IM Goals.

4. Planning the on going promotion of the web site to the targeted audiences.

3. Plan, coordinate, and conduct the support of the IM goals with the development of the web site.

4. Identify the phases and each phase's goals that will be used as a guide in planning the development of the web site.

5. Staff and train the teams' members that will support the IM and the IM web site.

6. Train organization's leaders to use the web site to achieve their assigned duties.

Unless an organization has web site experienced people working with the IM and the web site, it may take at least a year for the church leaders working with the IM to gain an understanding of managing and operating a web site. People that work with an IM need to be creative and not limited by a status quo attitude. Supporting an IM requires people that have the needed computer technical knowledge, an understanding of marketing/advertising concepts, or people that are willing to acquire the needed knowledge.

Talking with people that are already supporting an IM will help reduce the learning curve for operating and managing an IM. The head of the organization does not have the time to be involved in the day to day effort to maintain an IM, but he should be very involved in the decision making activities associated with the planning and development of the IM and the web site. The web site and its content is an extension of the organization.

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STEPS TO STARTING AN IM AND ESTABLISHING A WEB SITE

The following steps are guidelines for activities that will be executed. The actual sequence may vary according to the circumstances.

1. Select people that will form the IM Support Team which will oversee the development of the IM.

The support of the IM that will develop an active web site needs to be performed by two teams, the IM Support Team (IMST) and the Web Site Support Team (WSST). In the beginning the IMST and WSST teams can be operated as one team with the name of IM Support Team. The need for having two support teams is to permit each team to have the time to focus on their specific duties.

5. Establish a schedule of phases of when and how the goals will be obtained.

6. Decide if volunteers will technically support the web site or will a company be hired to support the web site.

10. Determine how the web site and its domain name will be advertised to the targeted audiences. The goals of each phase may influence how the web site will be advertised due to possible changing audience(s).

11. Design the web site's pages that will support the goals assigned the web site.

12. Obtain the data, photographs, etc. that will be included in the web pages.

13. Create the web pages using HTML code or use HTML editor software such as FrontPage, GoLive, DreamWeaver, etc. to create the web pages and upload the pages to the web host company.

It is hard to estimate how long it will take to develop a web site to the point that it is achieving all the desired goals. Because of the time and resources needed to develop a large active web site, it can take a few years to fully develop the web site.

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2. Establish the procedures the organization's leaders will use to identify how the web site can help each leader perform his duties and communicate the data to the IMST.

3. Review the IM goals quarterly to identify if the goals are being accomplished and if the goals need to be changed.

4. Determine how the organization's web site and its domain name will be promoted.

5. Determine if volunteers or a company will be hired to technically support the organization's web site.

A. If a company is hired, the IMST members will work with the company to ensure that the web site is developed so it accomplishes the IM goals. The IMST will secure the data, photographs, etc. needed for the web site's pages to be developed and updated.

The IMST will work with the company to establish the procedure concerning how material will be delivered to the company and how long it will take for the material to be published on the web site.

B. If volunteers are used instead of a company to support the web site, the Web Site Support Team (WSST) will be formed. The volunteers will be members of the WSST. If a WSST is formed, the IMST will communicate the information it obtains from the organization's leaders to the WSST members. The module section, Web Site Support Team - WSST, explains the duties of the WSST.

6. Review the web site's pages to ensure the web site is accomplishing the IM goals.

The ideal situation will be to select people that have experienced in working with a web site or designing computer systems. For many organizations this will be hard to accomplish, because they do not have members with this type of knowledge.

Things to consider when selecting people that will serve on the IMST. The person:

How are people going to be trained to organize the IM? Some ways training can be achieved are:

Designing the IM.

Designing web pages.

Develop a network with people that are already working with an IM and web site.

3. People working with an IM needs to be willing to spend time visiting web sites so they can gain an understanding how different types of organizations use a web site to achieve their IM Goals. It is a must for the people to visit many web sites of similar organizations to learn how they use a web site to achieve their IM goals. This effort is not aimed to copying what other organizations do with web sites, but to gain perspectives of ways they can use a web site.

4. Good ideas can be gained from organizations that are very different from your organization. To make your organization's web site look different will depend on how much you borrow from similar organization's web sites. Strive to look different to visitors to the web site.

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The way the IMST is organized will depend on the number of team members and the way the duties will be assigned to the team members. There is no specific way the team should be organized, but it would be good to use acceptable team or committee organization structure.

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The organization's Web Site Support Team (WSST) is responsible for the technical support of the web site and designing the web site's pages to accomplish the IM's goals. The IMST determines the goals the web site is to accomplish and how the web site's pages will accomplish the goals. The WSST has the assignment of developing new web site pages and/or updating data in an existing web site page. The WSST team is responsible for the advance planning for future web site pages and developing new emphasis for site pages.

The WSST is responsible for reviewing the web site's pages for accuracy of data and make sure all links in pages work. The WSST members need to technically stay current on the use of cgi scripts, audio, animations graphics, photographs, etc. and work to make the web pages interesting and exciting to visit.

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The WSST members work with the web site. They need to have or will work to secure knowledge needed to operate a web site. The number of WSST members will depend on the size of the web site and how often the content will change in existing web site pages.

The head of the WSST may or may not be the web site's webmaster. The head of the WSST should serve as an advisor on the IMST.

When volunteers support the web site, the quantity of time they have to give to the web site each week will determine how quick the data in existing web pages can be changed and how soon new web site pages can be developed.

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How are WSST members going to be trained to technically support the IM web site? The organization can pay for all or some of the training or the people will be responsible for their own training.

Designing the IM.

Designing the web site including its file/folder organization.

Designing web pages.

Software used to support the web site.

Develop a network with people that are already working with an IM and web site.

3. It is a must for the people to visit web sites of organizations similar to their organization and other types of organizations to learn how they use a web site to achieve their IM goals. This effort is not aimed at copying what other organizations do with web sites, but to gain perspectives of ways web sites can be used.

The design of the web site and its pages is to be built around achieving the IM goals. The duty of the WSST members is to achieve the IM goals. Achieving the IM goals is not just the development of new pages, but it involves keeping the content of existing pages up to date. A way to cause people to become uncomfortable with the web site is for them to constantly find outdated content.

The web site's webmaster will be in charge of the physical development of the web site's pages and the modification (maintenance) of the content of published pages.

The webmaster:

Has access to the software that is used to develop and publish the web site's pages.

Has access to the pages and files used to support the web site.

Has the knowledge to used the software that is used to develop and publish the web site's pages.

Has access to the account that permits publishing pages to a web site.

Controls access of people to the original/current web site's pages.

Will upgrade the technical knowledge he needs to have to develop and publish the web site's pages.

The webmaster may or may not be in charge of the WSST, but he will determine the schedule as to when existing pages will be updated and new pages will be created. Under normal circumstances, the webmaster will be the only person that will be modifying existing pages or creating new pages.

It is possible that more than one person on the WSST can be modifying and creating pages. It takes very careful coordination of the efforts of the people. If more than one person is modifying and creating pages, it can be easy to end up with multiple copies of a page which can make it hard to identify the original/current version of the page. At all times, it is important to be able to identify which file is the current page that is published and/or is being created. Coordination of modifying and creating pages becomes more important when pages are stored on multiple computers.

Phases' tasks are determine by the IMST and the WSST. The IMST deals with the higher level planning and the WSST deals with the technical detail planning about how the WSST will actually achieve the IM goals for a specific phase.

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Serious and deliberate effort should be invested in the design of the philosophy, goals, and the desired results for the IM. Make the desired results measurable so it will be easy to determine what has to be done to accomplish the results and to evaluate the effectiveness of the web site.

The content of the web site's pages is designed to achieve the goals of the IM of the organization. The content of the pages in the web site should be designed as if the pages are marketing instruments that are used to advertise and promote the organization, its ministries, what the organization represents, and what the organization has to offer the visitor to the web site.

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Church leaders may have to develop a new way of thinking for them to plan to use a web site page to promote their church's organization functions, services, and activities. A simple method will be for a church leader to document the who, what, when, where, why, and how associated with their assigned duties and responsibilities. Do not forget to plan how the web site will be promoted to the "who."

This information about the church's organization will be given to the IMST. The IMST members will work with the church leader to identify the content that will be placed in a web site page. After the information is given to the WSST to develop the appropriate web site's pages, the WSST members will work with the appropriate church leader about the actual design of the appropriate pages to achieve the desired results.

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It takes planning to effectively use a web site. Last minute planning will not work. To effectively use a web site requires leaders to plan at least three months ahead. Yes, this is not the way most church leaders plan.

An organization leader should follow the following list of activities as they work to better use a web site to achieve his goals. If a leader has more than one elected position in the organization, he will perform the following list of activities for each position.

1. Identify several goals you believe God is leading you to achieve in the next four to six months.

3. For each goal, identify how the web site can be used to help achieve the goal.

4. Plan what will be included in a web page to achieve the goal such as text, photograph, etc.

5. Identify when the content will be placed on the web site and promoted from the home page. Establish a schedule when data is to be placed on the web site and removed.

6. Do not forget to remove the material from the web site after the goal is completed. Some of the data associated with the goal can remain in the web site as historical data to give visitors to the web site a view of what happens in the organization throughout the year.

7. When a goal is completed, evaluate how the web site was used and was the effort successful. Decide if the same approach should be taken in the future or how the approach should be changed in the future.

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It theory, a web site can be visited by any person in the world that has access to an internet account. From a practical viewpoint, a visitor to a web site will know the web site's address or on purpose will use a search engine to locate data contained in the web site's pages.

People will not visit the web site without knowing its address. The best approach is to invest the time and effort to put the web site's address in front of all the organization's members, clients, potential clients, etc.

All printed material created by the organization should include the web site's address. The web site's address is as important as the organization's phone number and street address. Keep the web site's address in front of people.

The content included in the site's pages can cause people to visit the site. People need to know the content they can expect to find when they visit the organization's web site. Effort needs to be made to tell the target audiences about the web site's content. Marketing concepts need to be used in developing ways to communicate the web site and the value of the web site.

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Few churches promote themselves so this will be a new way for a church leader to think. A simple thing to do is to look at the methods businesses use to get their message and product in front of potential customers. A good thing to do is study a basic book on marketing that can be obtained from a local library or bookstore.

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This is a hard thing to estimate due to the potential variables. Some variables are:

The number of people involved in creating and maintaining the web site's pages.

To hire a company to support an organization's web site can be expensive. Some companies charge a specified fee for a package of web site services it provides and will charge additional fees for services not included in the package. Some companies may charge by the hour no matter the type of services.

Perform searches on internet to find people/companies that support web sites. From internet searches performed using several internet search engines as of December, 2001, the hourly rates charged by people and companies that support web sites, can range from $30.00 to $150.00 with the mid range being $50.00 to $80.00. Some companies can have a minimum charge for developing a web site. The fee charge per hour does not necessarily indicate the skill level of the person working with the web site. Comparing the companies is more like comparing apples to oranges instead of comparing apples to apples.

Because hiring a company to support a web site can be expensive, most organizations will have to depend on staff members or volunteers to provide the technical support for the web site.

If you are going to pay a person or company to support the web site, it would be good if you can secure a company/person that is recommended by someone you know. This will give you some confidence in your decision.

It is possible to have the web site supported by someone that you will never meet in person, and they may be physically located many miles from where you live. Communication with the person/company will be through a few phone calls, but most of the communications will be through e-mail and transfer of files.

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An ASP provides computer services to its customers. This is called outsourcing the function the ASP provides. This is not a new concept to businesses. Now ASP are targeting churches as their customers. This allows churches to have access to computer-based resources that they cannot afford to provide themselves.

Data can be entered at anytime and information can be accessed at any time. Access to the data if needed can be controlled by passwords. This adds flexibility to being able to access the information other than when the church office is opened for you to call.

An ASP uses an internet web site for data to be entered and for reports to be accessed. The ASP processes the data and the results are accessible through a web site. This is a way to make sure church leaders are using the same data and reports at a given time. The reports and data produced by an ASP can look like they are part of a page of a church's web site even though the web pages that contain the data are maintained by the ASP for the church.

Having a company handle all functions associated with operating a web site is the same concept as having an ASP. A church is already using an ASP when it pays a company to host its web site. The company that hosts the web site is normally not referred to as an ASP. The use of ASP by churches will probably increase in the future due to the ease of use and reduced involvement by church leaders and volunteers to maintain the data needed to support the applications an ASP can provide.

Some functions an ASP can provide a church are accounting functions, recording contributions, attendance functions, financial reports, mailing lists, calendar for the church and each of its organizations, pictorial directory, etc. Payment is normally a monthly fee that is based on the services provided.

An internet browser software is the only software needed by the church and its members. The ASP provides any special software that is needed. Just connect to the ASP web site.

A potential problem can occur if the ASP goes out of business. Will your organization be able to obtain the data that has been entered into the databases controlled by the ASP? This situation needs to be covered in the contract.

It is beyond the scope of this document to deal with the technical aspects of organizing, designing, and operating a web site. There are many good books on the market that deal with these topics.

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It is beyond the scope of this document to deal with the technical aspects of organizing and designing web pages. There are many good books on the market that deal with these topics.

3. Establish the design of how the web site's pages will be grouped together.

There is a need to have a variety of people, Reviewers, that will review pages before they are published and after they are published. The purpose of the Reviewers is to provide feed back to the designer and developer of the pages. The Reviewers will express how they react to the design of each page and the content of each page. The Reviewers should not know the goals of each page. The Reviewers' responses to each page will help evaluate how effective the design of the page and the page's content is achieving the goals for the page.

The Reviewers need to reflect a variety of age ranges, different experience levels of internet surfers, representatives of targeted audience groups, use different types of hardware and software to access the internet, etc. Reviewers should not be a member of the IMST and WSST teams. The Reviewers will report their reactions to the web site's pages to members of the WSST's members.

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1. Develop and maintain list of new pages and content changes to existing pages to be performed in the next two to three months.

2. Keep a planning schedule for adding new material to the web site and changing existing web site's pages.

3. Establish who will be responsible for securing/writing material for new pages and for securing/writing material that will be used to change content for existing pages.

4. Establish who is responsible for creating new web pages and updating existing web pages.

5. Plan who will take the pictures for each meeting or activity and when the pictures will be given to the person that will enter the picture into the computer. If a digital camera is used, keep a schedule of the camera's use. If pictures have to be developed, determine who will pay for the cost of developing the pictures.

6. Identify several people to serve as Reviewers who will review and evaluate the web site's pages. It will be good if the reviewers are not involved in the actual creation of the web pages.

8. Review the web site's pages once a quarter to determine if the web site is supporting the IM mission statement and review existing pages to determine how they can be better designed.

9. The IMST and WSST members will frequently meet to coordinate IMST's future plans for the web site with the WSST's production schedule.

10. Review the service and response time provided by the ISP and web host company.

11. Review the IM mission statement once a quarter to determine if the mission statement needs to be changed.

12. Provide training for the organization's leaders so they can better use the web site to achieve their defined IM goals.

A new web site page can be planned and developed to emphasize a subject that is not currently a part of the web site or expand an existing subject/section. Review this module's segment, Designing & Organizing A Web Site's Pages, before starting the planning for a new page. To obtain the most from the new page, make sure appropriate planning is done to make sure the new page will be able to achieve the goals it is to achieve. Not spending the appropriate time to plan the page can reduce the effectiveness of the page.

If the new page is part of an existing section of the web site, make sure its' content interfaces smoothly with the other pages' content and it contains design attributes such as format, color, graphics, etc. used in other pages with which the new pages interfaces.

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If a page contains static data, little or no effort will be dedicated to this page after it is published until the data changes.

If a page contains data that is continually changing, the page will require constant attention to make sure the data is accurate and timely. Attention needs to be given to developing a schedule for changing the data. A member of the IMST should have responsible for obtaining the data and determining when it needs to be added to the page. The IMST member will co-ordinate with the WSST members when the data will actually be added to the page.

If a page is to contain the same information as a weekly newsletter or Sunday bulletin, the content should be given to the WSST as soon as possible. It will be good if the web site contains the content when the content is placed in the hands of the church members.

The expense of starting and supporting an IM will vary with each organization. A good approach to identifying the cost of starting and supporting a web site is to talk with representatives of several organizations that operate a web site that are similar to your organization. The representatives will be able to tell you the expenses they had in starting an IM and the yearly expense to support the IM. Some expenses that will typically be faced by an organization are:

Computer with modem.

Telephone line for the internet connection if required.

Account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for access to the internet.

Cost to host the web site.

Cost of the company that supports the web site's pages if the pages are not supported by volunteers.

Cost of the software used by the volunteers to prepare the web site's pages, manage files on the computer of the company that hosts the web site, creates graphics, creates audio segments, creates video segments, etc.

Digital camera, scanner, and software to modify photographs.

Resource support books about web sites, web pages, software, etc.

Cost of training volunteers to develop, operate, and support the web site.

Purchase of sets of graphics and photographs to include in the web site's pages.

Cost of promoting the web site.

Continuing costs of supporting a web site will be the cost of hosting the web site, ISP internet account, upgrading software when needed, upgrading computer hardware when needed, etc.

SUPPORTING AN INTERNET MINISTRY SECTION