Images.faithclipart.com



Sharefaith Church Websites

Welcome to Sharefaith church websites. This document will help guide you through choosing, creating, and using your new church website.

Web vocabulary

Hosting – Hosting is the service that stores your website. Truepath is our exclusive hosting provider. They are a Christian company located in San Diego, CA.

Domain Name Server (DNS) – Your domain name is the web address people type in to get to your website (e.g. “”). Your domain name is controlled by a service that points web browser to your site’s hosting service. Your domain name and hosting are often provided by the same server.

Website or website theme – The website or theme is what people see when they visit your website. It lives on the hosting server, and is powered by a content management system (CMS) called Wordpress. Sharefaith’s sophisticated design and website controls run as a website theme on Wordpress.

Getting started

1. Browse the available website designs on our Church Website page at . You can click on each website picture for more information, or click “Live Preview” to browse a sample site.

2. Once you’ve picked the design you want your church website to have, click the “Build Website” button. Note: You must have an active Sharefaith account and be signed in.

3. A box will appear with information about our exclusive hosting partner, Truepath. Click “Continue To Hosting.”

4. Truepath’s website will open, displaying a picture of the design you selected. Hosting is provided at an extremely competitive rate of $19.99 per month. This hosting plan includes plenty of storage space (24 GB), and enough email addresses for your entire staff (2,000 accounts). Your new account will include your selected website template, plus all the latest website technology needed for your church website.

5. Choose a Truepath Username. This is the username that Truepath associates with your hosting account. You will use this username if you ever have to access any server controls like file access (FTP), domain name settings, or email account settings. This username is only used when logging into or your website’s files.

6. Select Your Domain Name. If you already own a domain name (e.g. ), you will enter this domain name in the box provided. Select the option, “I already own this domain.” If you would like to buy a new domain name then you may enter it and pay for a new domain registration. The cost for a new domain is $18.99 for the first year.

7. Enter all your contact and payment information.

8. Choose your payment plan. If you pick monthly payment for your hosting, then Truepath charges a $15 setup fee. If you choose to sign up for a year of hosting, the setup is free.

9. Click “Complete Order.” Your website will soon be up on the Web. It may take up to an hour. If you are purchasing a new domain name, it may take as many as 4-6 hours (in rare cases, up to 48 hours) for your new domain to be recognized and set up on the Internet. You will receive an email when your site is ready for you to edit and customize.

Editing Your Website

Your Sharefaith church website makes it easy to edit pages and organize your content. There are a number of settings and options that you need to be aware of. All of the instructions in this section have to do with the admin control panel.

Website vocabulary

Page – A page is the main content that is available through the top navigation menu. Pages can contain other pages, referred to as sub-pages. Only pages and single level sub-pages are visible in the menu.

Posts – A post is content that can be displayed independently of the menu structure. Any post that is in the HomePage category will be displayed on the home page in reverse chronological order.

Categories – Posts are grouped into categories. Each post can be assigned to multiple categories. “HomePage” and “Uncategorized” are the two default options.

Publish – The act of making a post or page live on the site.

Logging in and changing your password

1. When your website is ready to edit, Truepath will send you an email with the login information. In this email, under the “Sharefaith Church Website Control Panel Login” you will see your login address (it should end in “wp-admin”), your username, and password.

2. When you log in, you’ll see the Sharefaith logo in the center. The left sidebar features a list of control panels.

3. Click the Users control panel. You will see a list of users including your own username.

4. Click on your username.

5. You can change any of the personal information settings on this page, including your email and password settings.

Creating a new user

If you want more than one editor on your website, then you should create a new account for each additional editor. For security purposes, we discourage against giving everyone the master admin username and password. The template is designed to assign multiple users on the site, each with varying privilege levels.

1. Click on the Users control panel.

2. Select “Add New” at the top.

3. You may now enter the new user’s settings. The following information is required:

a. Username – create a name that the user will use to log in.

b. Email – enter the user’s email address. They will receive their new account information at this address.

c. Password – create a password; the user can change this once he or she logs in.

d. Roles

i. Administrator has full control over the website

ii. Editor cannot change website settings, but can edit any page or post.

iii. Author cannot change website settings, and can only edit and publish pages/posts that they created.

iv. Contributor can write a post or page, but cannot publish.

v. Subscriber is not a used option.

Customizing your website

Additional tutorials are available through . Click on the Church Websites tab then click on the tutorials button. Or navigate directly by going to

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download