Blog

September 12, 2019

Closed for Fall Break 2019

It's time for our Fall Break, so we'll be closed Monday, September 16 through Friday, September 20. While we'll still be notified of server emergencies, any other questions will be answered when we reopen on Monday, September 23.

August 30, 2019

Closed for Labor Day 2019

We will be closed on Monday, September 2 in honor of Labor Day.

August 28, 2019

Form Builder Upgrade: Choose the Recipient and Avoid Spam

While our form builder (included in our Website Builder) already allowed the creation of drop down lists for visitors to select, that feature has been upgraded with a new option which is useful especially on your Contact Page. Now instead of just a list, it can be a list of ministries or staff, and based on the visitors choice, the completed form details can be sent to a specific individual or ministry. 

This allows the user to chose where the contact form is sent, whether individual staff or a specific ministry. And, while the user makes their choice in the form, the email address is not revealed, limiting spam from bots that search your page for email addresses. You'll find this upgraded feature when editing the List of Items in your Form Builder.

August 13, 2019

Choose a Creative Domain Name Extension for Your Church

Everyone knows most websites today end with .com (or .org, plus a few others), which are called a Domain Name Extension. But now there are over 1,500 different domain extensions!

With so many different possibilities, we think a few really stand out for church websites: .church, .life, .faith, and .family to name a few. Whether you're a church plant about to begin your website or have an existing church website, you might want to consider instead using these new domain extensions because:

• Some extensions may be easier to remember and look great in print. Shorter domain names are easier to say, print, and remember, so the extension can help.
• You can get closer to the website address you originally wanted. When first choosing your church's domain name, you may have found what you wanted was already taken with a .com at the end. But with all of these new extensions, you may be able to get what you originally wanted, or even make your website address shorter or easier to remember.

Use your imagination, and if you are not sure where to look, we personally use www.name.com for our own domain name registrations and can highly recommend them (we are not an affiliate). Keep in mind that some of the extensions (such as .church) might cost more than your current .com registration.

July 15, 2019

Shouldn't I Use Stock Photos on Our Church Website?

Stock photography has been such a help in building websites that look great, and churches and ministries have made great use of this resource over the years. But are there times when using a stock image isn't a good idea? Over at the Church Juice blog, they bring up four reasons not to use stock photos—and three times when you should use them.

"The Good and Bad of Stock Photography" — Church Juice

P.S. Don't forget (when it is time to find a stock photo) the Resources Tab at the top left of your OCS Dashboard, where we have a growing link list of free images, videos, and more.

July 03, 2019

Closed for Fourth of July 2019

We'll be closed on Thursday, July 4 and Friday, July 5 in honor of Independence Day.

June 18, 2019

Beware of Fake Invoice Scams for Your Website Domain Name

Churches need to be aware of two Domain Name mail scams involving some official-looking "invoices" that aren't really bills at all. So here's the rundown of what to know:

You get a piece of paper in your mail that says "Notice," "Bill," "Service," or "Invoice." What's really happening? Scammers want you to mistakenly pay for a service that you never ordered from a different domain registrar or you don't realize that their service is not required.

So far there are two different scams:

1) Your Domain Name is about to "expire"

Looks pretty official, right? Except if you read the entire "Notice," especially the three areas circled in red. Seems odd that they have to state that you're "not obligated to renew" with them, that the "notice is not a bill" despite it looking like one, and they're making it easy "should you decide to switch your domain name registration." That's because they're not your domain registrar; they're trying to get you to change to them and usually their price is considerably higher than what you're currently paying.

We've talked before about the importance of not letting your website domain name expire. But most known domain registrars (GoDaddy, Name.com, etc.) do NOT sent you a paper invoice. They will send an email to you ahead of time 30-60 days from your expiration date. Note that this paper "notice" is conveniently wanting you to change to the new registrar earlier than they know your current domain registrar will alert you.

2) You need to pay for a "Website Listing Service"

Yet another paper in the mail that looks a lot like an official bill. But it's really an advertisement for a service that, in our opinion, is not necessary. Check out the area circled in red. "Domain name submissions to the leading search engines." Huh? Your website and domain name are already listed for free by the major search engines (Google, Bing, etc.), no submission required.

"Domain name listed...on high traffic websites." Why would you need that when the major search engines can already find you? "Submission to social media sites." If your church already has a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account, what use would this additional "submission" be?

Neither of these "notices" or "services" are required. You do not have to use them.

What you can do?

• Be familiar with the name of your current domain registrar (you can check this here; while you're there make sure your email contact info is up to date!) and make a note of when it does legitimately expire.
• Look for an email notice from your current registrar.
• Read all the way through mailed documents like this; if they keep having to state it's "not a bill" and "if you decide to switch," then it sounds like you're not doing business with them in the first place.
• Find out the names of the search engines, "high-traffic websites," or social media submissions that a "listing service" say they will provide.

Older Blog Entries • Newer Blog Entries