Creating a Church Web Site Tutorial
Chapter 6: Beyond the basics III: Content ideas to keep them coming back

So now you've provided content for newcomers, but you also want current church members and friends to be part of your audience. This will only work if you have a Web site that is regularly updated with information that will make them want to keep coming back. Some items to consider include:

• An event calendar
• Sermons
• Photos from recent events
  (see the Free Christian Church in Andover)
• Lectionary or Bible study readings
• Newsletters

There are several things to take into consideration when posting newsletters:

1. Do you want everything that is in the newsletter to be online, accessible to all? For example, do you want everyone to know when the pastor will be on vacation (and the parsonage empty); or who is suffering from an illness? Do you want the church’s financial reports online? If you decide that you don’t want everything in your newsletter on the Internet, you could instead post newsletter highlights. Or you could have a password-protected part of your site for members only.
   Wellesley Village Congregational Church, for example, has a members only section.
   
2. If you decide you do want your newsletter online, you have to decide on what format.
   
   • Some churches convert the newsletter to HTML format, meaning it is just like any other page on the Web site.
     First Parish of Newbury, click on "Newsletter" at top.
     
   • Others post their newsletters in PDF format. PDF, or Portable Document Format, means that the newsletter will look and print just like the original, printed version of the newsletter, and can be read by anyone with the free software Adobe Acrobat Reader.
     Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington, click on "Hancock Newsletter" at top right.

   There are several options for you to create PDF files:

   - Buy Adobe Acrobat, for $250, from Adobe
   - Subscribe to Adobe’s Online Acrobat Service. You get five free test files; after that the service costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.
   - Buy third party software for creating PDF files, such as PDFfactory from www.fineprint.com; for $50.

Now, you’ve got your Web site’s content figured out. But there are a few more things to think about…

Next: Chapter 7: A picture is worth a thousand words