From asking to a live website.
Everything that happens, in order, and what to have ready. You don't need to be technical, and if you get stuck, I'm a phone call away.
Every step, at a glance.
Your part is a few minutes of answers, then filling in your website whenever suits you. The rest is mine, and I start as soon as I can.
- You askFive quick questions about your organization. No account, no password.
- I say yesA person reads your request. Then an email should come to you.
- You sign inWith a code emailed to you. There's no password to remember.
- You fill it inOne line at a time, from a checklist. Skip what you don't have.
- You add a second ownerSo someone else can always get in if you can't.
- Two quick checksA test message to your inbox, and a look at your details.
- I check itYou press one button when you're ready, and I look it over.
- It goes liveEvery owner should get a letter by email. Change it any time after.
What to have ready.
None of this has to be ready on the first day. Your website looks finished with only the first list, and you can add the rest whenever you have it.
Good to have from the start
- An email address you check. You sign in with it, and it's where I write to you. One that belongs to your organization is best, so it stays with the organization if someone moves on.
- A computer or a phone with internet. A computer is easiest for typing, but a phone works too.
- Your street address, and an email address visitors can write to, plus a phone number if you have one.
- At least one person who leads, with their title: your pastor or director, say. A photo and a few lines can come later.
- When you meet: the day, the time, and anything worth knowing, like "Nursery available".
- A few good photos. Your building, and your people. One wide photo for the top of your home page.
- One short line about who you are, like "A family of believers in Fayetteville."
Add whenever you're ready
- Your story: when you started, and who you are today.
- Everyone else who leads: names, titles, a few lines each, and a photo if you have one.
- Your ministries: what they are, who they're for, and when they meet.
- Events, or the link to a calendar you already keep online.
- What you believe, in a few short sections.
- A link to your online giving page, if you take gifts online.
- Your sermon videos, if you post them on YouTube.
- Your Facebook, Instagram or YouTube page, if you have one.
- A second person who can also look after the website.
No photos yet? Leave those spaces empty. Your website still looks finished, and real photos can go in later. I never make pictures up.
What you'll do, and what you'll see.
Read it once before you start, or keep it open beside you. The words in quotes are the buttons and emails you'll see.
You ask for a website
Press "Ask for a website" on any page of this site. A short page opens and asks five questions, one at a time. Press "Next" after each one, or "Back" to change an answer:
- Your organization's name.
- Whether it is a church, or another kind of ministry, nonprofit or mission organization. It decides a few words on your website, like whether it shows service times.
- An email address. The person who uses it is the first one able to change the website. You can add a phone number too, if you'd like me to be able to call with a question. Only Berean Studios sees it, and it is deleted once your request is answered.
- Which look feels closest. Each look has its own layout and feel. Pick by feel: the colors on that page are only examples, and your exact shades are set for you. You can change the look before your website is published, with "Change your look" on the Site screen.
- Your state, if you like. It sets your time zone.
The last screen shows "What you're sending", with a "Change" link beside each answer, so you can catch a mistyped email address. Press "Ask for a website" there. The page thanks you and shows the email to watch for: who it's from, what it's called, and the address it goes to. You can close it then. Nothing else is needed until the email comes.
Stuck on a question? Call (719) 623-7756 or write to hello@berean.studio.
I read it, and say yes
I read every request myself. I may call, to make sure the request really came from you. It costs you nothing and commits you to nothing.
Once it's approved, an email should come to the address you gave. It's from Berean Studios, and it's called "Welcome to your organization's name's new website". It has a button, "Sign in to your website", and says what happens next.
Can't find it? Look in your Junk, Spam or Promotions folder. If it's there, mark it "Not junk" so the next ones reach your inbox. Still nothing, or want to know where your request stands? Call or write, at any time.
You sign in, with no password
- Press "Sign in to your website" in the welcome email on the phone or computer you'll use to work on your website. It opens the page where you change your website.
- If your email address isn't already filled in, type it. Then press "Email me a code".
- A second email should arrive with an 8-digit code. Type it into the page, on that same phone or computer, and press "Sign in". Or press "Sign in without typing" in that email, on the same phone or computer, and you're in.
A code works once, for 10 minutes, and only on the phone or computer where you pressed "Email me a code". Each time you sign in you get a new one, so there's never a password to remember or lose.
Once you're in, that phone or computer stays signed in for 30 days, and the 30 days start again each time you use it. Someone who makes a change most weeks rarely has to sign in again.
Reading your email on a phone but want to work on a computer? On the computer, type app.berean.studio into the bar at the top of the screen where web addresses go, then type your email address there.
You fill it in, one line at a time
The first time you sign in, a short welcome takes you through the four things needed to publish, one at a time: an email address for your contact form, the people who lead, a second owner, and a test message. Each one has Save and continue and Skip for now, and Take me to the full menu is always there. Then Keep going shows the optional things visitors look for next, to pick from in any order. Stop whenever you like: everything saves as you go, and Pick up where you left off at the top of the Main menu brings you back.
The same things are kept on your Main menu, in a list called Getting started, in two parts. Needed to publish is the few things your website can't be published without: an email address for your contact form, the people who lead, a second owner, and a test message. Add when you're ready is the rest: your address and phone, when you meet, a photo for the top of your home page, one line under your name, your story, and so on. Work down it from the top, any time after the welcome.
An organization that is not a church sees "What we do" where a church sees "Ministries", and nothing about meeting times.
- Press a line to open the page where you fill it in.
- Type, or add a photo straight from your phone or computer. Big photos are fine: they're made smaller for you.
- Press "Save". Your website shows the change a few seconds later.
- Press "See your website" any time to see it the way a visitor will.
Everything under Add when you're ready is optional. Skip anything you don't have or don't do, and come back to it whenever you like. Your website isn't published yet, and search engines are asked to leave it alone until I've checked it with you.
Stuck on a screen? There's a Help page inside, and you can always call (719) 623-7756.
You add a second owner
Every website should have two owners. If one person loses their email or moves on, the other can still get in. On the People page, type their email address, choose Owner, and press "Add this person". An email should reach them saying how to sign in.
Anyone else who helps can be added as an Editor. Editors can change what the website says and shows, but can't add or remove people.
Two quick checks
- Send yourself a test message. Press "Send a test message to your contact address" on Getting started. Your website has a message box, its contact form, where visitors can write to you, and what they write comes to your email. The test sends one the same way, with a 6-digit code in its subject line. Type the code in, and you know messages reach you.
- Check your details. "Check that your details are correct", near the end of the list, opens one page that shows your address, phone, service times and leaders the way a visitor reads them. If it's all right, press "These are correct".
You ask me to check it
When you're happy with it, press "Ask Berean Studios to check your website" at the bottom of Getting started, then "Yes, ask". Your website stays as it is while I look. Nothing is published until it has been checked.
Before it can be published, your website needs an email address for its contact form, with a test message confirmed; at least one person under "The people who lead"; your details confirmed; and a second owner, or a reason there is only one.
Then one of two things happens. I publish it. Or I email every owner a short note saying what to change first. Make the change, and press the button again.
It's live
Every owner should get a letter by email. It says what I promise: your website is free and stays free, it's backed up every night, everything on it is yours, and how to reach me.
Your website starts on a free address of its own, like yourname.berean.studio. It keeps working even if you add an address of your own later.
- Change anything, any time: service times, events, photos, announcements. Press Sign in at the top of this website, or go to app.berean.studio, on any phone or computer. Type your email address, then the code emailed to you. Change it, and press Save.
- Tell people where to find it: put the address on your Google listing, your newsletter or bulletin, and your social media. The Help page shows how to update your Google listing.
Your own web address, if you want one
You don't need one. If you already own an address, like www.yourname.org, or want to buy one, it can show your new website instead.
- Buying one usually costs ten to fifteen dollars a year. You pay whoever sells it, not me, and you buy it in your organization's name so it stays yours. I'm glad to sit with you while you buy it.
- Connecting it: on the Site screen, open "Your own web address" and type it in. Then one or two lines get added where your address is kept. I can do that part with you on the phone.
- Your email is never touched. Only the website part of your address changes.
The usual snags, and what to do.
The email never came.
The code didn't work.
I opened the link on my phone, but I want to work on the computer.
We don't have good photos.
Someone else wants to help.
We don't have a computer.
Ready when you are.
Five quick questions to start. A person reads every request.