Church on a Budget? Free Web Hosting Options

 It has been my experience that many churches cannot and do not have the funds for a full fledged out website with their own hosting and domain name. Sure the prices have gone down to a manageable $100 a year for a good hosting company like Ipowerweb, but even still that is not pocket change for most struggling churches. Luckily, there are many free options out there for a church to get a voice out. There is Blogger, Myspace, Angelfire,  Yahoo User Groups, Google Frontpage, and the list goes on. While it would be good for every church's internet ministry (you have one of those right?) to be involved in more than just one option, it probably is best to begin with one and there is not one ideal for every church and their situation.

Blogger: The gift for the rambler

Blogs and blogger is probably my favorite of all the options simply because I like to write about nonsense. If you are looking for a place where the pastor can have an outlet to speak to the community for devotionals, Bible insights, sermon refreshers or whatever then Blogger is the way to go. It is the medium of choice for free-lance internet journalists and writers. The set-up and maintenance is user friendly and posting new writing cannot be simpler. As with most free hosting there are predesigned templates that the church can choose from and not have to worry about the design (unless they choose too). Whats really great is the comments section at the bottom of each post. Members of the congregation can add their own opinions, additions and viewpoints to keep the conversation going. I have seen some comments going years after the original posting was done. The main drawback though would be that the preacher or whoever uses it needs to be constantly updating it at least on a weekly but preferably on a daily basis....

Next Time: Myspace and AngelfireTags: internet church, myspace, blog, blogger, angelfire, web hosting

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