February 24, 2021
Preview Your 3.0 Website Tool
Wouldn't it be great when building your website to preview the entire site before going live? Now you can with our new Website Preview Tool in 3.0.
No more viewing one page at a time, even your menus work in the full site preview so you know exactly how it will look live.
You get a link with private access code that can be shared with others to preview your website. This is a great way for teams, groups, or committees to give feedback before going live.
Look for the URL link and your private access code on the upper right of the 3.0 dashboard.
This is just one of 30+ design updates, bug fixes, and new features all released for the 3.0 Website Builder in the last few weeks. Look for the list now on your OCS 3.0 Dashboard.
February 16, 2021
Planning VBS or Bible Camp? We've Got You Covered
If spring is almost here, then summer isn't far behind. You're starting plans for Vacation Bible School (VBS) or camp, and that means registration begins soon. Our tools have you covered, including child check-in, payment tracking, group texting, and more. Check out all the details at our post, "VBS: Plan, Communicate, Promote and Organize with Our Software"
February 10, 2021
3.0 Banner Control Updates
The 3.0 Website Builder will be leaving Beta soon, and we're working quickly through the fix list of last things. First up: you get even more control over your banners.
- Ability to turn off or change animations for banner title, text, and buttons
- When using just one banner, progression arrows will no longer show
Both changes show in your account today, and more banner upgrades will release soon.
Keep an eye out for more 3.0 Website Builder updates in the coming days and weeks!
February 03, 2021
Online Giving Reports Upgraded
For those using our Online Giving, we've added several improvements and upgrades for your year-end giving reports:
- Report generation now in seconds, even with large quantities
- Batching now eliminated, option to run all reports at once
- Print only active members with tax deductible donation for year
- Choose giving reports based on individuals, or combined by families
And be sure to check out a new option that makes reports available for each family with access to the member portal. To enable this, you'll see the instructions on the report screen in the Giving tab under Reports.
December 08, 2020
Live Video Streaming Now Available
Due to popular demand, we've been working in beta on Live Video Streaming that can broadcast directly on your church website with NO third-party branding or commercials.
Now out of beta, we're making it an add-on option for all our OCS clients. We appreciate our beta churches who helped us develop a powerful yet easy online video streaming solution.
All you need is a free app on a smartphone, and setup for streaming happens in just minutes.
Our software includes:
- Broadcasting on your church website
- One-time copy and paste player embed code
- No third-party branding
- Stream from smartphone or webcam
- Download videos after streaming in multiple quality formats
- Live streams become available for VOD playback immediately after feed ends
- Viewership statistics
We're pleased to be able to offer live video streaming at $40 per month for up to 5 hours of streaming and 50 hours of watching; each additional hour streaming, $7 and each additional 50 hours viewing, $8. No contract, pay monthly.
To get started, please contact Mark via our Contact Form or text us at 877-715-4627.
November 19, 2020
New Online Focus: 5 Things to Get Your Church Website Ready for Christmas
More than ever before, your church's online presence is vital, especially as we approach Christmas. Since 2015, we've offered a quick list of details to check on your church website in expectation of visitors during the Christmas season. In 2017 we expanded to Ten Things for Your Church to Check on your website, and if you're not familiar with the post be sure to give it a quick glance for some still-helpful tips. This year we're offering a new, more specific list that's focused on your online presence during this extraordinary time.
1) Check Domain Expiration/Update Contact Email
Your website is your contact point, and if your domain name expires that means your website is inaccessible to everyone. We've talked before about how important it is that you manage your church domain name and update your contact email with them. The quick take is: a) make sure to renew your domain name before it expires, and b) check that your contact email is up to date with the domain registrar (we're not your registrar, just your webhost).
2) Test Menu Links
Click through all your menu items on your website to make sure they actually go to a webpage. You'd be surprised how often this gets overlooked, and an important informational page may be left out in the cold.
3) Review Email and Group Texting Lists
Email and text notifications are essential during this season of special services or bad weather cancellations. Now is a good time to review your church contact lists for duplicates, updates, or deletions.
4) Focus on Live Video Streaming
Watching church live online has grown in demand, and your church may already be streaming. Give your stream a quick review for any issues (image quality, audio level, framing the image, lighting, etc.). When streaming extra Christmas services, remember you'll be using more bandwidth than normal with a larger online viewing audience. If you're happy with your streaming, that's great! If you're looking for a streaming service that is unbranded and embedded on your website, we're now offering Video Streaming Packages to our current OCS clients starting at $40 per month. To learn more or get started, use our Contact Form or text us at 877-715-4627.
5) Update the "What to Expect" Page
We've talked before about creating a special page to help visitors understand what to expect at your worship service (style, dress, parking). In this exceptional time, be sure to update your page so new visitors are aware if your church faces in-person situations such as social distancing, masks, etc.
September 25, 2020
The All-New Church Texting 3.0 is Here
Click above to view the Walk Through Video for an overview.
The all-new Church Texting 3.0 (formerly Group Texting) is here! We're pleased to reveal the ground-up rebuild of our popular Group Texting platform, now with the following features:
- Texting from a phone number, not an email address
- Select your own private number, not shared with other churches
- Receive responses and have them forwarded to multiple other cells phones (such as staff)
- Reply from your phone to responses using your church texting phone number
- 400 character count text message allowance
- Send rate: 10 texts per minute
- Unsubscribe text included
- Send immediately or schedule for later
- Detailed and searchable logs with status for each number
- Send automated welcome text when adding contacts
- Improved Group Subscription Management, allowing you to add all contacts to new group with just one click
Though this is new software, your current Group Texting contacts and groups will now appear in Church Texting. Just log in to the OCS3 Beta to start using this today.
