STRATEGIC PLANNING Should your congregation have a homepage on the Internet? Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Congregations and Internet Homepages

This is a location - called a site - on the World Wide Web (WWW) part of the Internet where persons can visit and find information. From the Homepage, links can send the visitor to another part of this site, or any site anywhere in the WWW.

The answer will depend on what you want to do with it. A Homepage can be used to evangelize through Bible Studies; it can edify the local and global membership with schedules and fellowship information; and it can educate through lessons, sermons, and classes, plus provide in-depth resources previously requiring personal visits to well-stocked libraries. (Back to Top)

There are about 130 million active internet users today (1999), and predictions for 350 million by 2003 (Reuters). The internet is growing - one of the early attempts to measure it was in 1994. MIT designed a 'robot' to search and found 870 web sites. One year later, there were 31,750. Another year and there were 325,900. As of April, 1999, Artcraft (the measuring service) has found 5,040,600 distinct web sites.

One of the biggest advantages is availability. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the Homepage is as close as your computer. Whereever you may travel, it is there, if you have a modem-equipped computer and phone connection. Some persons are reluctant to open their front door to 'door-knockers', or to send their home address in a mail correspondence course, in the fear someone will call. Now, in the privacy of their home, any time of day or night, they can study the Word from a Homepage. Electronic mail (e-mail) can be available to contact most Homepage sites.

Costs vary by provider and plan: the cost after set-up can be as little as $1.50 a day. Over 1,000 average size pages can be placed on the Home site for the above $1.50 a day. Initial set-up charges may be from $300 to $2,000 depending upon the complexity of the design. If you prefer a 'domain' name, the fee for the license will cost another $100 - $50 for two years, payable in advance. (Back to Top)

Unless you have a heavy-duty computer, a fast connection to the Internet "backbone", and a full-time technical staff, find a host provider. A host will provide the space and maintenance and internet connection on their computer(s). Strategic Planning is a host provider and full-service Internet Consulting Service, and will assist you in any phase of the internet activity. All you will need is your computer with a modem to connect to your local Internet Service Provider (ISP), and if you maintain your site yourself, a program to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer your page material, and you're on the Internet! Second, assign someone in the congregatiion to be the "webmaster" to organize and control the site. Working with the elders, he will layout the Homepage and site acccording to the desired purposes. Finally, maintain the site, making changes and additions as needed. Nothing turns a visitor off quicker than the dreaded "Error 404 - site not found" message on an obsolete list. (Back to Top)

An internet Domain Name can be compared to a telephone number. Everyone with a phone has a number that is distinct, unique, and anyone else in the world can call using that number. On the internet, each site has a unique number, such as 207.158.234.216 - fortunately for us humans, www.katycoc.com (the familar "DOT-COM") address gets the same Katy church of Christ homepage. Don't you agree that is easier to remember? Just like a phone number, these Domain Names are centrally controlled and assigned to prevent duplication. The exact name you want may already be taken. There is a charge for licensing this Domain Name, $35 a year with two years payable in advance, renewable. As an alternative to a Domain Name, you may opt for your site name to be appended to a provider, such as www.provider.net/yourname. Most of the features of a Domain Name are available in this arrangement, and the cost is usually less. (Back to Top)

The .com is for any enterprise and .org is restricted to not-for-profit organizations. Generally, if an organization qualifies for tax-exempt status under IRS guidelines, it would qualify to have a .org ending: example www.church-of-christ.org which is a site with listings of churches of Christ. (Warning - the Texas file alone is very large! 470K+ - and will take about 30 seconds to download) DOT-NET (.net) another suffix, is restricted to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or Internet Presence Providers. There may be new suffixes added to expand the available number of Domain Names. Like Telephone Area Codes, increasing usage means more are needed.

Certainly. There is probably enough talent in your congregation right now to construct homepages. The Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) is easy to learn, and several computer programs are available for use. Many existing documents that have been done on a word processor can be converted. In many cases, a one-half day seminar (which Strategic Planning can provide) will give a jump-start for development of your homepage.

The actual site domain name license takes about a week, and a few days more to 'propogate' the new address to all the internet nameservers in the world. If your content is ready, you can be on the Internet in less than two weeks, normally. (Back to Top)

1. Keep graphics as small as possible. A small picture may take nearly a minute to load, using an average speed home modem. There are other considerations about graphics which can't be covered in depth here, but there are many reference sites and books available.
2. Provide good content. Make the page useful to the visitor so that they want to return, often.
3. Stick to the basics - don't overdo "cutting-edge" techniques such as frames, audio clips, active-x and java scripts. Some browser programs can't handle them and you will lose a segment of your audience.
4. Only link to other sites with their permission, and respect copyrights. This doesn't restrict you from using others' good ideas, though.
5. List your site on directory and search engine sites. If you have evangelistic material, don't "hide your light under a bushel".
6. Provide links on sub-pages to return back to your homepage - don't let the visitor get stuck somewhere down the Information Highway without a return ticket. (Back to Top)