This all sounds great. But how much does it cost?
Ministry is a calling of passion, and most of us aren't getting rich doing it. My goal is to help you tell your story, expand the reach of your work, and create a bit of side-hustle income for me, too. (We can keep it real, since we're friends.) As I've worked with ministry partners to build their sites, we've been creative with ways to keep costs down using free web services and sticking to Squarespace for domain purchasing and web hosting.
Here's how it breaks down:
$0 - Introductory consultation.
This whole process is built on relationship. To make sure we're a good fit and that you're comfortable with the process and the platform, we start out with a free 10-15 minute Google Hangouts meeting. This time gives us a chance to meet, and gives you the chance to see how a site is built and easily updated. You can schedule your consultation by clicking here.
$550 - One-time fee for our collaboration and site creation.
This fee covers all the steps. I'll take you start-to-finish through the process of creating your ministry site, including our introductory conversation, helping you collect and develop your content, and teaching you how to update/change your finished site as often as you'd like. I'll build a landing page (a page visitors will see while your site is under development) and a completely customized site with up to four sections (pages) and an additional contact page so folks can reach you. If you want, you'll be able to add as many of your own additional pages and sections as you can dream up.
Discounts are available for seminary students, members of Young Clergy Women International, and others. Contact me for more information.
$192 - Paid annually to Squarespace for site hosting (Or, $23 monthly. Your choice.)
This is a fee you pay directly to Squarespace, and it's paid every year (or every month if you choose). This covers the web hosting for your site. I'll help you get this set up if you'd like. Once it's purchased, you own all the rights to your site and have complete control over the hosting. I'll walk you through adding me as a site collaborator so I can do the design work. Squarespace offers student discounts, too. Click here for a breakdown of their pricing.
$0-20 - Annually, after the first year, to Squarespace for a custom domain name (the ".com" part of a site).
Squarespace takes care of hosting *and* domain purchasing, so you don't have to worry about renewing and connecting a domain to your site. The first year of your domain is included when you purchase Squarespace hosting annually. If you already own the domain name you want to use, you can redirect it to "point" to your Squarespace for no additional cost.
$0 - There are a couple of free tools you'll need.
Google Account - Our initial meeting, planning session, and training session once the site is complete will all take place using Google Hangouts.
Dropbox or Google Drive Account - I've found that a shared Cloud folder works brilliantly to share content that you want to include on your site. We can use either service if you already have an account, or you can create one for free. Visit Dropbox.com or drive.google.com.