However, we are now being charged substantially more by our service providers. So, effective January 7, 2025 we will be increasing prices for hosting, domain names, and email.

And since we’re changing prices, we decided to simplify things by rounding prices to whole dollar amounts.

Here are the new prices for 2025 and beyond.

Hosting

• Gold Hosting – 1 month: $36
• Gold Hosting – 1 year: $360
• Gold Hosting – 3 years: $920
• Silver Hosting – 1 month: $27
• Silver Hosting – 1 year: $270
• Silver Hosting – 3 years: $700
• Bronze Hosting – 1 month: $20
• Bronze Hosting – 1 year: $200
• Bronze Hosting – 3 years: $510

Domain Names

• Domain Name Registration – 1 year: $45
• Domain Name Registration – 3 years): $120
• Domain Name Transfer: $49
• Domain Name Redemption: $179

Email

• Email 1-3 addresses – 1 month: $5
• Email 1-3 addresses – 1 year: $50
• Email 1-3 addresses – 3 years: $130
• Email 4-15 addresses – 1 month: $13
• Email 4-15 addresses – 1 year: $130
• Email 4-15 addresses – 3 years: $330
• Email 16-50 addresses – 1 month: $30
• Email 16-50 addresses – 1 year: $300
• Email 16-50 addresses – 3 years: $750

Misc

• Full Service Support (for custom designed WordPress sites): $29
• WP-EZ 1.0 Usage Fee: $10/mo

If you are still using WP-EZ 1.0, we encourage you to migrate to WP-EZ 2.0 to spare yourself the WP-EZ 1.0 usage fee. Learn more about migrating on our Migration FAQs page or learn how we can build an affordable custom WP-EZ website for you.

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post New Prices for 2025 appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

We’re Here to Help

Some of you who partner with OurChurch.Com for your website or marketing services have been impacted far greater by Hurricane Helene.

Others of you may be in a position to help those in need, coordinating relief supplies or volunteer teams.

Whatever your situation, good communication during a crisis is critical. This includes having up-to-date information on your website, and being able to reliably send and receive email.

If there is anything OurChurch.Com can do to help you communicate more effectively during this crisis, don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know via help desk or phone 727-723-2454

To Support Those in Need

If you want to help those in need but aren’t sure how, Samaritan’s Purse is a fantastic Christian organization that has been providing disaster relief for more than 50 years, and is already at work helping those impacted by Hurricane Helene. They are led by Franklin Graham (Billy Graham’s son), and are dedicated to not only meeting physical needs, but also providing the emotional and spiritual support people need.

My wife and I support them financially because we trust the money will go to provide what is most needed to those most in need.

Read Samaritan’s Purse Starts Five-Site Response to Hurricane Helene to learn more and to donate.

Volunteer Opportunities

If you want serve those in need, Samaritan’s Purse has volunteer opportunities in Boone, NC, Asheville, NC, Pinellas Park, FL, Perry, FL and Valdosta, GA

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Help after Hurricane Helene appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

As the holiday season approaches, I want to introduce you to Vanco Online Giving, the exclusive giving partner for OurChurch.com

“We are excited to partner with OurChurch.Com and bring our online giving solutions to even more churches and faith-based organizations,” said Dan Gretz, Vice President of Partnerships at Vanco.

In our digital age, people seek convenience and flexibility in all aspects of life, including giving to their church and the nonprofits they support.

Vanco Online Giving offers:

• Security: Our secure and user-friendly platform ensures members can give confidently.
• Accessibility: It’s mobile-responsive for convenient giving anytime, anywhere.
• Customization: Tailor donation options to your church’s needs.
• Integration: Seamlessly integrate it with your website.
• Reporting: Access powerful tools to track your church’s financial health.

This holiday season, boost attendance and generosity with easy online giving, fostering community engagement. Vanco prioritizes security and trust, and their platform is trusted by thousands of churches nationwide.

Special Limited-Time Offer!

Sign up in the next two months (September or October), and get November’s processing for free!

Getting started is simple, and Vanco’s dedicated support team is ready to assist you.

Elevate your church’s giving, increase engagement, and foster a sense of community this holiday season with Vanco Online Giving.

Questions or ready to learn more?

Go to https://www.ourchurch.com/online-giving-for-churches/

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Increase Giving This Fall appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

One Community Now Pack-A-Sack Food 4 Kids is a kid-friendly school-based program designed to help address the problem of chronic hunger among school age children in Pasco County (north of Tampa, FL).

Each sack contains 10-12 different food items designed to provide nutrition and calories for chronically hungry school children on weekends.

For every new organization that begins a website hosting service, OurChurch.Com will donate 5 meals to the Pack-a-Sack program. For each new organization that begins a website design or search marketing service, OurChurch.Com will donate 50 meals. 

In addition to donating, OurChurch.Com staff volunteer their time to purchase the food and put together the sacks for the children.

Patti Templeton, Director of One Community Now shared her thoughts on the partnership:

Thank you for this wonderful news to support Pack A Sack!  Corporate and individual support is so important to help in the fight against childhood hunger, especially as prices continue to rise and the need continues to grow. We are grateful for companies like yours that see the need to give back to their community and we pray you will be blessed as you are blessing others. 

OCC President Mark Steinbrueck and his family have served with One Community Now for years, and added…

I’m excited to see OurChurch.Com and our clients live out our faith by helping local families in need by partnering with One Community Now!

To join us in helping Tampa Bay area families, order and build your new DIY website.  Or complete the form below to schedule a call to discuss how our web design or SEO services can help you live out your mission online!

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post OurChurch.Com Partners with One Community Now to Feed Hungry Kids appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

That’s why for any organization that puts on events – including churches, schools, musicians and speakers – having an up-to-date calendar of events on the website is an important part of maximizing participation.

Our development team, updates our WP-EZ Website Builder several times each month. Most of the time these updates are security updates or minor design changes that go unnoticed.

We recently updated the calendar feature in our WP-EZ Website Builder. The changes were significant enough to that we felt the need to explain them in  this article.

WP-EZ uses the All-In-One Events Calendar by Time.ly  Time.ly has made some big changes to this plugin.

First, if you were using the WP-EZ Calendar feature before July 1, 2023…

• You will need to register a free account with Time.ly before you can update events on your calendar.
• Other than that, the appearance and administration of your calendar is unchanged.

If you add the WP-EZ Calendar feature after July 1, 2023…

You will also need to register a free account with Time.ly.

Your calendar, the calendar editing tools, and your calendar data are all on the Time.ly website.  You may not notice because the calendar your visitors see is embedded in your website. And the calendar editing tools are embedded in the WP-EZ Admin. But they do look significantly different.

This complicates things for us because we are now supporting two different calendar systems, but it’s still our top priority to make things as simple as possible for you, our users.

We updated our calendar help pages and video tutorials.

• The “How to Add a Calendar” and “How to Add an Event to Your Calendar” pages now have two video tutorials on them, one for users who created their calendars before July 1 and one for those who created their calendars after July 1
• The “How to Change the Style of Your Calendar” and “How to Edit and Delete Calendar Events ” pages have a video for those who created their calendars before July 1 and a link to the Time.ly help center for those who created their calendars after July 1

We’ve also updated the calendar training in the WP-EZ Training Center.

And for those of you who prefer to use Google Calendar, and want to embed your Google Calendar into your WP-EZ Website, we created a help page and video tutorial that show you how to add a Google Calendar to website.

Remember…

People won’t show up for your events, if they don’t know when they are. Put a calendar on your website, and keep it up-to-date.

Got any questions about the WP-EZ Calendar?  Post them in a comment below.

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Updated Calendar Feature in WP-EZ Website Builder appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

If you get something free that doesn’t help you get where you want to go, then what good is that?

For more than 25 years, OurChurch.Com has provided some form of free website service. But as of today, we are no longer giving the option to build a free website, and on October 1, 2023 we will discontinue existing free websites.

OurChuch.Com’s mission is to help Christian organizations live out their mission online.

We decided to discontinue free websites because we came to the conclusion that free websites are actually hindering the mission of the organizations that use them.

Because free sites don’t have their own domain name and instead have a URL like https://freesites.ourchurch.com/m/MyChurch/ they rank poorly in Google and other search engines and are very difficult to find.

What good is a website if you can’t find it?

In addition to that, there is a negative psychological factor that comes with free.

Often, people don’t value what they don’t have to pay for.

We have observed that most people who start building free websites don’t finish them. And those who do finish them, usually don’t update them.

Looking at this from the opposite perspective…

People tend to value something more when they pay a price for it.

By discontinuing free websites, we are challenging those of you who might otherwise sell yourselves short to invest in yourself and your God-given dream!

Our Bronze website package costs as little as $7.42/mo for the first year (less than the cost of 2 cups of coffee in most places), and it includes our WP-EZ Website Builder and the help of our amazing support team.

Existing free sites will continue to be supported through Sept 30, 2023. So, if you currently have a free site, you have until then to upgrade.  To upgrade your free site:

1. Login to MyOCC
2. Hover on the Services menu and click “My Services”
3. Click on your Free Account
4. Click the “Upgrade” button

And if you are looking for an affordable, easy-to-use new website for your Christian church, school, ministry or business, check out our WP-EZ Website Builder!

Comment and discuss

•  What’s your experience been like with free websites? Have they helped you live out your mission online and reach your goals or have they fallen short?

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Free Websites to be Discontinued appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

One principle we teach our clients is…

The best way for an organization to communicate with its clients and supporters is to use the media they already use.

For example, if your people use email, email them. If your people use Facebook, post to Facebook.

The vast majority of people today use text messaging, so we are giving our clients the option to receive billing notifications and announcements via text, if that’s most convenient for you.

To update your notification preferences:

1. Go to https://myocc.ourchurch.com and login.
2. On the top right, hover over the “Hello [your name]” menu option and click “My Profile.”
3. Scroll down. Then add your “SMS Phone Number,” and check the checkboxes for “SMS News Messages” and “SMS Billing Messages.”
4. Scroll to the bottom and click the “Save Changes” button.

We promise not to inundate you with lots of texts – just once or twice a month when we have a change to our services to let you know about, and when you have a payment due. And it only takes a minute to update your preferences.

Comment and Discuss

•  Comments and questions about text billing and news notifications?

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Get OCC News and Billing Notifications via Text appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

OurChurch.Com is excited to announce a new partnership with Vanco, a leading provider of online giving tools and services.

Through this partnership, OurChurch.Com customers will have access to Vanco’s advanced online giving tools, including mobile giving, text-to-give and recurring giving options, all of which will be seamlessly integrated into OurChurch.Com’s web hosting and design solutions.

“We are excited to partner with OurChurch.Com and bring our online giving solutions to even more churches and faith-based organizations,” said Dan Gretz, Vice President of Partnerships at Vanco.

Gretz continued, “OurChurch.Com has a strong reputation for providing exceptional web hosting and design solutions, and we look forward to working together to help organizations better serve their communities.”

In addition to the fantastic, easy-to-use online giving tools Vanco provides, Vanco is ideal for small and medium sized churches and nonprofits because they have…

• no setup fee
• no monthly fee

The only costs are a small per transaction and a standard % fee with each contribution, which donors are encourage to cover.

Exclusive Offer!

To kick off this partnership, any OurChurch.Com clients that switch to Vanco by July 31 will receive free processing during the month of August.

For more information and to request a demo, go to https://www.ourchurch.com/online-giving-for-churches/

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post OurChurch.Com & Vanco Partner to Increase Giving appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

To celebrate we’re doing blog series called “25 Stories From 25 Years” in which we share two stories each month from organizations we’ve worked with over the years, past and present…

25 Stories From 25 Years

1) Partnering with OurChurch.Com has been extremely vital to the success of our web ministry. -Jonathan Johnson, Grace Baptist Church in Tyler, TX.  Read and watch Grace Baptist Church’s story.

2) The results have been amazing! Our web traffic has increased significantly which has turned into a lot of new business! -Kevin Shipp, Grand Vista Pools in Trinity, FL. Read and watch Grand Vista Pools’ story.

3) People can go to Google and we come up
 immediately as one of the Christian schools in the Tampa area which has been a huge benefit.-Jennifer Snow,
Family of ChristChristian School in Tampa, FL. Read and watch How One Christian School Doubled Enrollment Using Online Marketing

4) [OurChurch.Com] takes all of the guess work out of [our website], because we’re good carpenters, terrible website people. -Chris Haas, Haas Brothers Custom Staircases, Odessa, FL. Read and watch more: How Did This Old School Business Saw Their Way Into The Modern Era?

5) OurChurch.com has made website building and administration a breeze. – Kim Morris, Bethel Baptist Church, Prospect, NY. Read “Let the professionals handle it!”

6) We are so satisfied with our new digital look and feel it represents us as we go forward. Thank you, OurChurch! -Jaime Albaugh, First Church Middleton, OH. Read Web Design Spotlight: First United Methodist Church, Middletown, OH

7) The website by OurChurch.com has been a blessing to the church in so many ways. It helped us navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic event. -Pastor Tom Durrance, Wimauma Church of God, FL. Read “Website helped us navigate the pandemic.” 

8) You can find people that do SEO, and people that understand church, but very rarely a thorough knowledge of  both. -Pastor, Dr. Greg Crocker, Crosspointe Church, Sanger, CA. Read Marketing Spotlight: Crosspointe Church

9) With the help of our website… we have increased enrollment by 23 students this school year. -Justin Gingrich, Ignite Academy, Palm Harbor, FL. Read New Website Helps Ignite Academy Dramatically Increase Enrollment

10) SEO is like landscaping… the initial work has the most noticeable impact, but if you don’t do routine maintenance, the results of the initial work will be lost.  Read Search Marketing Case Study: The Value of Ongoing SEO Management

11) Guest blog articles produced on average an 8 place improvements in search results in Google and Google Mobile and 16 place improvements in Bing. Read Nonprofit Improves Search Rankings with Guest Blog Articles

12) OurChurch.Com enabled me to reach all the countries of the world. -Makko Musagara, dStrengthening of Souls in All Nations. Read “OurChurch.Com enabled me to reach all the countries of the world”

13) Search engine optimization: you need to have it, it’s well worth it, and they [OurChurch.Com] do it right. -Jack Scalfani, Knott Avenue Christian Church, Anaheim, CA. Read Case Study: Church Growth Through Search Growth

14) There’s no better way to improve search rankings than creating great content, and there are no shortcuts to great content. Read How This Church in San Diego Went to 3 in Google.

15) Mark made building the website effortless… I am impressed with OurChurch.Com -Kathy Carter, Ark Christian Publishing.  Read Building an Ark was Effortless

More stories being added every month…

Thank you God!  And thanks to the thousands of Christian organizations who have trusted us with their websites and search marketing over the last 25 years!

Has OurChurch.Com impacted your Christian church, ministry or business?  We would love to hear your story either in writing or, even better, in a short video testimonial, and possibly publish it as one of the 25 Stories. For more details, check out Your Story Matters. We’ll Reward You for Telling It.

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post 25 Stories From 25 Years appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Kurt previous worked with OurChurch.Com for more than a decade (2004-2015), during which time he led our SEO department.

In 2015, after completing several years of seminary training, Kurt left OCC for full time pastoral ministry with Family of Christ Lutheran Church in Tampa. Since then, he has planted and continues to lead a new church near his home in Wesley Chapel, FL, Faith Lutheran Church.

Kurt brings a wealth of SEO knowledge and experience back to our team. We’re excited about the impact he will have helping the churches, ministries and business we serve live out their mission online.

As we discussed his return, Kurt shared…

“During the over 10 years I worked at OurChurch.Com, previously, I had the great joy of helping many churches and ministries reach more people for Jesus and expand their ministries using search engine optimization as well as enhancing their online presence. I look forward to doing that again as I rejoin the OurChurch.Com team.”

If you’d like more info on our Christian SEO services, click the link or request a free consultation in the form below.

Post a comment and give Kurt a warm welcome back to the OCC team!

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication. 

steinbrueck.org

The post Welcome Kurt Back to the OurChurch.Com Team! appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.