Not sure if you should use Publishing for your church's web experience? The answer to one question will help you determine how to use Publishing best!
There are certain benefits to using your own website alongside Publishing:
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Custom domain: Your own website will allow you to customize your domain. Every Publishing domain has
.churchcenterin its URL, which is not customizable. -
A more customizable design: Publishing is limited in how it displays information.
If you already have an established website, you can still use Publishing as a place for your members to access specific information on Church Center, such as built-in pages or pages with lists of events. If needed, you can link back to your website from Church Center for easy access.
Here are some reasons to link to your website from Church Center:
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You already post information on your website and would like to avoid managing it in two locations.
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Your church does not have an app, and you want people to be able to access your website from the Church Center mobile app.
Publishing already has a built-in Home page, so if you want to add a link to your website instead, you need to delete the built-in page from your navigation. Then, you can create a separate navigation Item for your website.Â
To delete the built-in page, hover over Home, and select the 🗑️ trash icon.
To add a link to your website as your Home page, select Add nav item, and then add your church's website.
Enter the label as Home or a related title and select an icon.
If you want members of your congregation to access your giving, groups, event signups, etc., you can create a presence on Church Center using Publishing. Publishing can be used as a simple web experience, even on the free pricing package.
There are a few steps for using Publishing as your web experience.
Create pages to display the most important information you want people to access.
Here are some examples of the formatting you can use:
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Use headers to break up the flow of the page.
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Use images to show what you're referencing, and place them right, center, or left on the page.
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Use grid blocks to group similar items, such as staff photos and contact information.
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Use content blocks to display events from Calendar and Registrations, and to allow easy access to Giving funds.
Newly created pages do not automatically update with your changes; you need to save changes to see them.
When you select Save draft, administrators can preview the page in View mode, but it will not be updated live until you select Save & Publish.
If you want to stay on the free plan of Publishing, you can customize the built-in Home page to reflect your church, including adding links and other important information for your members.
If you want to include more than the built-in pages, upgrade your pricing package and begin adding custom pages.
Format each custom page to hold the most important information.
For your pages to show, you have to add them to the Navigation.
Add the four most important pages to the top. The rest will be in the More menu. Reorder these pages by dragging and dropping them into position.
Tip
You can add any URL to the Navigation.
Once your web experience is ready for people to view, there are a few ways to help people find it. Here's how to get the share link for your site:
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Select the Customize page from the top navigation.
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Select the Mobile app tab at the top of the page.
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Scroll down to the Church Center app setup link section.
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Copy the URL or download the QR code.
Now you can share that link on social media, include it in an email newsletter, and add the QR code to your bulletin.
People can also access your Church Center pages through a web search. Use search engine optimization practices to improve visibility for your custom pages.