{"id":10900,"date":"2013-11-20T23:49:29","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T07:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/?p=10900"},"modified":"2017-10-19T12:26:11","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T19:26:11","slug":"train-volunteer-update-church-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/train-volunteer-update-church-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Train a Volunteer to Update Your Church Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most visible manifestations of your church’s ministry is your website. It\u2019s worth having one, and it\u2019s worth doing it right. As you invest time and resources into the best church website you can have,<\/a> you\u2019ll find yourself needing help from volunteers. We\u2019ve assembled a list of the best seven tips for training volunteers to update the church website.<\/p>\n

How to Train a Volunteer to Update Your Church Website<\/h2>\n

1. \u00a0Choose your CMS wisely.<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m going to start this discussion with something that has little to do with volunteers, but everything to do with your website\u2019s CMS. What is a CMS? It stands for \u201cContent Management System.\u201d Basically, it\u2019s how you get your website on the Internet, how you change stuff, how you add content and update things. There are really complicated CMSs, and there are really simple CMSs. If you have a complex or outdated CMS, it will make the task of updating a church website really difficult.<\/p>\n

Not everyone in your church will be able to code their own content, or bust out amazing lines of CSS. If you want to have help on your website, your website\u2019s CMS needs to be user friendly.<\/p>\n

We recommend WordPress. WordPress is the most popular, most enduring, and most used CMS in the world today. It is also very powerful, simple, and inexpensive. That\u2019s why Sharefaith\u2019s church websites are built on this platform.<\/p>\n

Once your CMS is in place, you\u2019re ready to get volunteer help on the website.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Keep one person in charge.<\/strong>
\nA website needs a central person to coordinate things. Usually, this is a \u201cwebmaster\u201d or\u00a0\u201cadmin.\u201d This is the person who holds the master key to the church website. He or she can assign users, make backend changes, and control major functions of the website.<\/p>\n

Make sure that this person is in place before you start training volunteers. A website, like any organization or committee, has a hierarchy in order to keep things secure and organized. One person should be the go-to for both technical issues and managing responsibilities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Select the tech savvy.<\/strong>
\nYour most obvious choice of help on the church website will come from the tech luminaries in your church. These people are the perfect source of help, especially if you\u2019d like to make changes to the way that the website works. If it\u2019s a question of plugins, templates, code, or databases, these are your go-to people. A person of tech-savviness is a helpful resource for any church.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Select the non-tech savvy too<\/strong>
\nDon\u2019t overlook the not-so-tech-savvy people, though. A website isn\u2019t all about code. It\u2019s about content. And content is about putting words together to create a compelling message. If you\u2019re looking for someone to write blog posts, devotionals, announcements, or other content, look to those who may not have the technical qualifications, but who have other skills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Maintain oversight and review of submitted material.<\/strong>
\nOne of the helpful things about most websites and CMSs is that you \u2014 the administrator or webmaster \u2014 can approve any new content or changes before publication on the website. This is a good safety measure for ensuring that all the website\u2019s content is up to par before it goes live.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of how this works. Let\u2019s say one of your volunteers has written a blog post. When finished, he or she can press \u201csubmit for review\u201d on the article. At this point, that article moves over to you. You can choose to approve it for publication or make any necessary changes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Create an editorial calendar.<\/strong>
\nOne of the smartest ways to keep on track with updating a church website is to create an editorial calendar. Editorial calendar sounds kind of jargony, but it\u2019s not that complicated. Basically, it\u2019s just an agenda of who\u2019s writing what and when. The power of an editorial calendar is that it keeps a steady supply of web content being published on a regular basis. This is helpful for a whole lot of reasons, not the least of which is your sanity and peace of mind.<\/p>\n

You can create your editorial calendar the low-tech way \u2014 a good old fashioned calendar and a pencil. Just jot down the topic and author on the appropriate date, and let the right people know.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. \u00a0Recruit more than one volunteer.<\/strong>
\nA website is not a one-man show. It\u2019s helpful to have the perspective of several people. There are practical reasons for this. For example, if someone is sick or on vacation, you\u2019ll want some replacement help. Additionally, it helps to have the various vantage points of other people. One person may be gifted at backend management, one person may be a skilled graphic designer, while yet another person is a talented writer. A church website will benefit from the expertise from each of these people.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s church culture, a website is imperative. Just as important as having a website is keeping that website updated. Getting the volunteers trained and involved is a crucial part of your web presence and ministry.<\/p>\n

What are some other tips you have for updating and managing a church website?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most visible manifestations of your church’s ministry is your website. It\u2019s worth having one, and it\u2019s worth doing it right. As you invest time and resources into the best church website you can have, you\u2019ll find yourself needing help from volunteers. We\u2019ve assembled a list of the best seven tips for training […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4148,4142],"tags":[1157,1903,1904],"class_list":{"0":"post-10900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-church-technology","8":"category-outreach-ministry","9":"tag-church-website-tips","10":"tag-managing-church-website","11":"tag-training-a-volunteer"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/11.21.13_TrainUpdateWeb-480.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Train a Volunteer to Update Your Church Website - Sharefaith Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2013\/11\/train-volunteer-update-church-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Train a Volunteer to Update Your Church Website - Sharefaith Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most visible manifestations of your church’s ministry is your website. 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