Heal Your Church WebSite

I’ve been a bit dissatisfied with the HealYourChurchWebsite look-n-feel since early this summer. After a lengthy search of various WordPress themes, I’ve settled on Vigilance 1.16. Here are some of the reasons why along with some of the things I discovered and/or did to make it more suitable to my tastes.

What I was looking for:

I was looking for a 3 column theme that had a clean look, was configurable, and wouldn’t put be behind the 8-ball with later versions of WordPress.

I also wanted to avoid one of these themes offered by various and emerging “clubs” as they tend to focus more on ad revenue generation than providing one’s users with the ability to get things done.

In my case, my users want to get these things done:

• aggregate my posts with ease
• find stuff to help with and/or addresses specific issues
• quickly and easily link and/or copy the title or content on their blogs
• print my posts and read them offline and/or nail them to the door of their church

Some other themes I considered were:

Ashford

I had a hard time NOT using this theme. Under the hood, it is very well thought out and implemented. That said, it is suited to a slightly different audience than mine - that is small organizations or businesses and not so much individual webmasters and developers. That said, don’t be surprised if I make the switch to it one day - or at least implement it immediately on other projects.

DarkZen

From the folks at Daily Blog Tips, this theme had many elements I liked, but there were just too many sacrifices of semantic markup for SEO and/or layout to make me want to use this long term.

Copyblogger

Another theme that had many elements I enjoyed, but to me had too many ‘highly styled’ element treatments that to me, made implementation of any custom CSS a bit more hassle than I wanted.

LivingOS UPSILON

Similar to Ashford, this theme was better suited towards church and charity websites. That, and while it did have several SEO-centric elements, there was enough there that I wanted to re-code or customize that made me look elsewhere.

Fresh Editorial

Again, an attractive theme that while nice, would have locked me into some renderings that would just drive me a bit bananas.

There were other themes but the above list themes I might use for other projects - and just what type of stuff I want to get into or avoid for a personal blog such as HYCW; including:

• Has a good WordPress Admin/Configuration screen or screens
• Is easily modified via CSS and through the Vigilance Child Theme
• Does not sacrifice usability for SEO visibility
• Is coded clean and clearly enough in PHP that I can confidently make modifications
• Shows a history of active updates, participation, and interest
• offers easy upgrades

Oh yeah, one other big thing I was looking for:  easily allow my users execute on the actions and/or activities they desire, need, and seek.

Oh yeah, one other big thing I was NOT looking for:  force me to sell my first born child into some SEO club.

How I made it work:

Having some time over this past holiday weekend, I figured it was time to bite the bullet and make it happen. Here are some steps you may find useful:

Install the theme

cd wp-content/themes
wget http://themes.jestro.com/vigilance/vigilance.1.16.zip
unzip vigilance.1.16.zip
wget http://themes.jestro.com/vigilance/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/myvigilance.zip
unzip myvigilance.zip
cd myvigilance
nano style.css
nano vdean.css

As you can see, ‘myviligance’ is the name for the basic child theme for Vigilance - which I immediately took advantage of that by adding the following to the file /wp-content/themes/myviligance/style.css:
@import url("vdean.css");Oh Sure, I could have just added all my code into style.css directly, but I just felt more comfortable working this way - and was glad myviligance was set-up in such as way that I could.

Configuring the Theme

First stop was the vigilance options panel, which is immediately available after you select the “myvigilance” child theme as your default:

With it, I was able to modify things such as:

• Layout and Colors
• Top Banner Image
• Alert Box
• Sidebar Image
• Sidebar Feed Box
• Footer

Then using Chris Pederick.com’s Web Developer extension for FireFox, I got busy with the CSS:

What I did was make test changes I previewed in the “Edit CSS” panel of the Web Developer extension - then once satisfied, physically modified vdean.css either through the command-line editor on the actual Linux platform … or the CSS “Theme Editor” link provided via the WordPress “Design” tab.

Hacking the Theme

Hey, what red-blooded coder with 25 year’s experience isn’t going to make some code changes here-n-there?

1. I moved the tags to the bottom of the post. I know it’s less SEO friendly, but it is ALOT friendlier to my readers whom use tags as a way of finding related articles. I also added the CSS class “post-tags” to the markup for easier modification: <p class=”post-tags”>
   … Said changes needed to be made in index.php, page.php and single.php. Perhaps the use of an include file can consolidate this in future iterations of the program?
2. Downloaded and modified some of the colors of some of the icon images.
3. Uploaded a number of header images to rotate.
4. I moved the admin edit link to the top of the post, which is generally where I need it and look for it. I also gave it the class “edit-this” for easier management later:  <?php edit_post_link(’Edit This’,'<p class=”edit-this”>’,'</p>’); ?> … Likewise, changes were required in index.php, page.php and single.php.
5. In sidebar-feedbox.php, I added the class ‘rss-feed-title’ to the header tag.
6. install the Social Bookmarking RELOADED plugin in place of the Gregarious social bookmarking plug-in that stopped working after v2.3 of WordPress.
7. in search-form.php, I added the class ’search-form’ to the header tag.
8. Then in sidebar.php, searchform.php, and sidebar-feedbox.php - I changed all instances of<h2> to <h3> because semantically, I just believe that’s the way God intended it.

While these hacks mean I’ll have to do the same for future releases, I’m at least hoping that the good folks over at Jestro.com will at least consider adding some additional classes to the header tags I cited above to make for easier CSS management of various elements.

Conclusion

There’s enough available out-of-the-box with Vigilance 1.16 that most webmasters of church and/or charity websites could use it out-of-the box. And whle the same can be said for worth themes such as Tim Bednar’s Ashford, I’m hoping my choice - when finally tweaked to perfection - will provide my particular user-base the best interface needed for their required activities.

Until then, I’ve still got ALOT of modifications I need to finalize. For example, I’m not pleased with my treatment of hyperlinks, image/caption boxes and/or a few other elements associated with the post layout.

Still, this is all managable through the CSS file at this point - so suggest away.

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I believe it was the slam of a large piece of plywood falling 2 some-odd stories onto other lumber that rudely awoke me at 7:40 AM this Thanksgiving morning.  An no, I couldn’t go back to sleep as the hum of a noisy air compressor placed precisely next to the property line driving the pneumatic hammers were equally annoying. That was the scene at my home this holiday.

trash heap at 5244 levering mill rd, apex, nc

D&G Builders of Fuquay Varina proceeded to work on a new house.

A house next door being constructed on behalf of PenfieldHomes.com.

And after a few emails and phone calls to a project manager of construction who informed me that “Mexicans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving like us …”

So after telling said project manger that I didn’t want a feud, I apologized if anything we said or did offended (though I’m truly hard pressed to think of any such word or deed) and I began to think of how similar situations can impact the peaceful operation of our church and charity websites.

In other words, just as noisy neighbors and/or construction are a nuisance in the real world, so too can the virtual home of our organization’s web presence can be disrupted by inconsiderate acts.  Here are some analogies that come to mind:

1. Noise

I had an experience lately where some blogs I run on a shared server were inaccessible due to the incoming noise from a bunch of spammers and ‘bots. This was because a neighboring domain sharing the same IP had put up a BBS in an unsecured fashion.

2. Obstructions

It’s only happened once, but a truck was recently parked that partially blocked our driveway. In the same way, access to your site can be obstructed in part and/or in whole when those working on and/ror running the website ‘next door’ with an improperly parked modules and/or run-away program that consumes all the server’s memory and ports.

3. Trash

Nobody like’s picking up someone else’s garbage. My wife is no exception, as she recently found herself picking up unsecured McDonald’s bags that had blown into our yard. In the same way, neighboring website projects can also leave rubbish in the form of temporary files, no-longer used compiler settings and the like.

4. Boundaries

The Wake County, NC ‘UDO‘  defines a minimum number of feet in which a new home structure can be built next to another, how much noise is acceptable and other fun stuff like that. However, just because these rules are on the books doesn’t mean they’re going to be enforced. Meaning, it is going to be up to me to look out for instances of encroachment. In the same way, don’t expect or assume the host of your shared server is going to have your best interest in mind. They don’t and won’t. It is up to you to be diligent be on guard for those times neighboring websites and/or webmasters wander into your domain - and to work within the boundaries of good citizenship and the rules to resolve such issues.

5. Communications

If possible, establish one point of contact and a protocol for those situations where you feel you’re on the receiving end of some inconsiderate instances or situations. For example, know the correct channels of communications for your web host, and if feasible, for your IP Neighbor. Similarly, understand that email, though convenient, can lead to a breakdown that leads to unnecessary and unfortunate bad blood. Especially true when individuals on the other side are already having a bad day due to some other unrelated inconsideration. In all cases, keep track and logs of all such communiqués as you never know when you’ll need them.

Anyway, those are my thoughts this Thanksgiving morning as I ignore the slam of pneumatic hammer guns and the humming whir of the air compressor and set my thoughts onto some delicious Greek Chopped Meat Stuffing and football.

Well that and all the wonderful ways in which I’ve been blessed, including my family, my friends, my job, my church, and also the hundreds of visitors to this site - many of whom have sent me private messages of best wishes. Thank you all. I’m very grateful for every remembrance of you (Philippians 1:3).

And with that, here are some links to some other related articles I’ve posted in the past. These include some practical advice on “how-to” implement some of the safeguards, countermeasures and logging I’ve mentioned above:

• Who is my IP Neighbor? And just what is his domain up to?
• How to block a range of IPs from spamming your church website
• find-a-bot.sh - a nice little script to ID bots bugging your website site
• How to block spambots by user agent using .htaccess
• How to quickly check your error logs for oddities
• How to secure your church’s dedicated Linux server
• How to block a range of IPs from spamming your church website
• When good Hosts providers go Bad
• Turning Spam Pings into a HoneyPot

Now if you don’t mind me, I’m off to E-Bay and/or Craigslist to find an affordable ANSI S1. 2-1962 sound level meter to leverage. I’m hoping I don’t need it but one never knows.

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“According to Pew, almost half of adults said they needed someone to help them set up or learn how to use their gadgets. Once they finally get them going, however, things aren’t all smooth sailing—44 percent of adults with home Internet connections reported service failure sometime in the last 12 months.”

With apologies to Ars Technica’s Jacqui Cheng for so shamelessly ripping her pithy headline “Study reminds us why we’re always fixing our parents’ PCs” - I only do so because she’s so on target to point out the relevance of a recent Pew Internet & American Life Project report entitled “When Technology Fails.”

So Dean What’s your point? Glad you asked …

Just a quick reminder that any technology we introduce into the operations of our church and/or charitable organization is going to have an infrastructure cost. Here are some specifics from the aforementioned PEW, that though specific to a home setup, translate easily enough to the IT operations of our own religions institutions:

• 44% of those with home internet access say their connection failed to work properly for them at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 39% of those with desktop or laptop computers have had their machines not work properly at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 29% of cell phone users say their device failed to work properly at some time in the previous year.
• 26% of those with Blackberries, Palm Pilots or other personal digital assistants say they have encountered a problem with their device at some time in the previous 12 months.
• 15% of those with an iPod or MP3 player say their devices have not worked properly at some time in the prior year.

Consider the first bullet point in terms of operational impact. The internet goes down. Here’s how home users react - which I suspect would be similar to how your pastor, music minister and/or church secretary might behave:

• 38% of users with failed technology contacted user support for help.
• 28% of technology users fixed the problem themselves.
• 15% fixed the problem with help from friends or family.
• 2% found help online.

What that tells me is that those of us running a church and/or charity website, because of the our conspicuous computing prowess, may in fact be part of that 53% (38%+15%) contacted when anything from a printer to an internet connection goes down.

Yeah, okay, so I get those calls - what can I do about them? Glad you asked!

Some suggestions of how I’ve kept my part-time work as a church webmaster from turning into a full-time IT support desk:

1. Identify other members of the congregation willing to help with non-website related IT issues
2. Learn what service contracts the church has, and be willing to remind individuals (in a grace-driven and loving way) that’s where the call needs to go
3. Establish a help/ticket system. I like Mantis Bug Tracker, but there are just as many others out there that get the job done.
4. Establish an internal Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and/or WIKI system that can be used for quick reference.
5. Get buy in for the above four points from the church staff. If they don’t enforce said policy, then you’ll quickly run into a polity issue.

I know I can’t be the only one whose experienced this - so let me know what you’ve done to remedy this situation.

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Ever get that annoying email from a church, friend, and/or family member who ‘accidentally‘ sent a rant to everyone in their address book and/or a group-related email directory? With the recent election, my wife and I have been getting more than our fair share.

And while I’ve written about how to address ‘Christian SPAM‘ in the recent past, I wanted to share with you my most recent response to what I sub-categorize as Christian SPAM email bombing runs (CSEBRs):

- - - § - - -

Hi {name withheld to protect the guilty};

Next time we get together, make sure I spend about 5 minutes on my laptop showing you 5 cool — and free — things about the web that don’t rock like it’s 1995. For example:

• Twitter - a “microblog” mechanism that lets you post 140 characters on any topic you want as often as you want. This is especially great as you’re standing around bored, upset, amused, and/or excited about things while equipped with nothing more than your cell phone. For an example, check mine out at http://twitter.com/deanpeters - no great shakes, but I’ve got enough subscribers whom seem interested.
• Facebook - a social networking service where friends and families can subscribe where you can post thoughts like the ones below and then engage people in dialog and/or banter as they can post comments, etc .. It’s also a nice place to throw out some family pix. If you’d like, I can also show you how to “plug-in” a Facebook app that update to your “wall” every time you post on Twitter (synchronization is an amazing thing). Here’s a link to my profie http://is.gd/6MgW … note how I used the http://is.gd mechanism to shorten the URL.
• Blogger.com - now I know Twitter and FaceBook have obviated bloggery to some degree, but I still love it as it allows me to venture deep into topics I enjoy such as healing church websites and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Moreover, less constraints on what I can post - and if you like, you can make some buck$ via instruments like Google’s adsense. Oh BTW, I’ve got my WordPress-driven blogs set up with the ‘twitter tools plugin‘ to update my Twitter and Facebook pages when I post. Best thing, again, people can subscribe to your blog’s RSS feed to keep up to date.
• Google Reader - note I’ve mentioned subscribe 3 times now. All of the above allow individuals to subscribe either through the site’s syndication feed (RSS) and/or through email alerts with links to the juicy and compelling content. And not just from annoying friends like me, but any blog, news wire, newspaper, microblog and/or social network to which you’re inclined to observe.
• BCC - finally … and I can’t stress this enough … if you must use email, that’s cool. But please, do me and others on your distribution one favor - use the BCC mechanism to distribute the email. Blind Carbon Copy is cool in that it’ll protect your friends, family and loved ones from nasty spammers and idiots like me from exposing their email addresses “into the wild.“Oh, and if you use a free email service like gMail, you can create categories for both incoming and outgoing email addresses - which is really handy when you quickly send out email broadcats to select groups of your address book (using BCC of course).

Anyway, have a great Sunday - and give  {spouse name withheld to protect the innocent} a hug from us.

Your (annoying) friend;

Dean

- - - § - - -

Feel free to use any portion of this email to respond to Christian SPAM email bombing runs aimed in your direction. Or better yet, just send them a link here.

I’ll be glad to respond to their rationalizations and excuses by explaining how the are endangering the tax exempt status of their church by dumping a political kvetch on the Sunday school rolls.

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Last week, while attending the MS PDC 2008, Ray Ozzie got all jumbo-tron’d at me about Azure and cloud computing. Here’s what it means to you and your church computing operations - now that I’ve had a bit more than a week to catch up on work and think it all through.

First, I suspect some of you are wondering “Dean, what is cloud computing?” Glad you asked.

For the purposes of this conversation, and to avoid all the jargoneeze this IT buzzword is currently enjoying, the could is a metaphor for the Internet.

Cloud computing is effectively outsourcing applications, services, and/or infrastructure you might otherwise host in-house.

For example Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud, or EC2 for short, basically is a service where you’d rent a fully-managed computer to host your applications - that is accessible via the Internet. What you lose in paying rent is theoretically recouped in terms of not having to worry about the hard and soft costs of systems administration, housing, and/or securing such a computer in the basement of your church.

What Microsoft’s Windows Azure will provide is platform for developers to create applications that will leverage the following services via the Internet:

• Live Services - where everyone logs in, so this is where you’ll see social networking apps happening. Single Sign On (SSO) federation as well.
• SQL Services - where the data is kept, though right now, the service is not much better than someone else hosting a MySQL database for you. There are no triggers, stored procedures or other fun stuff yet available.
• .NET Services - while you’ll eventually be able to use PHP, Ruby, Java, and a bunch of other languages, currently this is where you create ‘federated’ applications that run locally and/or on the cloud itself (hosted by MSFT).
• SharePoint services - still a future thing, but basically taking what is effectively this Intranet service and providing some or all of its functionality outwards.
• CRM - also a future thing, but also taking this customer relationship management (CRM) system and providing some or all of its functionality outwards.

By now, I suspect some of you are asking yourselves “Dean, what does this have to do with my churhc website?” Glad you asked.

If you are blessed enough to be part of an über, mega-church complex that benefits from having your own IT operations, developers, and product support:

• you can save money in infrastructure costs by leveraging some of Azure’s services
• you can save time in having applications hosted via Azure’s servers
• you can save collaboration headaches by developing applications via the Azure platform
• you can save user login complexities by leveraging Azure’s security federation

If you’re part of a smaller church or charity organization, it likely means that sometime in your future may find yourselves subscribing to any number of “software+service” applications via Azure, such as:

• a social network
• a content management system
• a customer relationship management
• an office suite

On that last point, office suite, bear in mind that Microsoft is very good about eating its own dog food. Meaning, expect more product offerings by the Bellevue behemoth to also leverage or become part of the Azure platform - specifically Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel across a variety of platforms in a number of collaborative contexts.

In fact from what I saw last week, they already are - but more on that in the very near future when I blog about what I learned about the upcoming Windows 7 at the MS PDC 2008.

Finally, some of you may be wondering, “where can I learn more about Windows Azure?” Glad you asked:

• Video of Ray Ozzie’s Day One Keynote in both WMV-HQ and MP4 formats.
• Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed - ZD|Net, Mary-Jo Foley
• Microsoft’s “What is the Azure Services Platform?” page
• Cloud computing - WikiPedia
• C|Net - Microsoft launches Windows Azure
• What cloud computing really means - InfoWorld
• The Register - What Ray Ozzie didn’t tell you about Microsoft Azure
• Microsoft Azure Aims to Re-define the OS - ReadWrite Web

Here are also some recent blogs on the topic I found worth noting:

• Microsoft Azure Vs Google App Engine - Jon Paul Davies
• About.com - Is Microsoft Azure a Last Ditch Effort?
• Microsoft’s Azure is So 1997 (and Why I Love it) - Mashable.com
• C|Net Negative Approach - Microsoft’s Azure–I remain perplexed
• Microsoft Azure - Contribute or Cannibalize? - Enterprise 2.0 Essentials
• Perils of Parallel - Microsoft Azure Just Says NO to Multicore Apps in the Cloud
• Microsoft’s Azure is not Hailstorm, but what’s the point of it? - Guardian UK
• InfoWorld - Making sense of Microsoft’s Azure
• Windows Azure from a Developer’s Perspective - Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life

Interesting stuff, no?

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I cut you man! Seriously, it’s rare that I review a non-church nor charity website, but this site was so chock full of great lessons in what not to do on your church and/or charity website, I couldn’t help myself.

The basic message today being: don’t let fear of copyright violations drive your website design.

Site review

So first, let’s analyze and review what we’re up against, starting with the annoying Flash animation introduction that’s so important and relevant to the site’s conversion goals that we’re offered a “skip intro” hyperlink.

Oh but wait, that’s not all. After the little show of factories and knives, you are presented a copyright statement which you MUST agree to before proceeding.

From the language, I’d surmise that the folks presenting the site are likely worried about the images and text of their items winding up on E-Bay.

Basically sending the message “before you proceed, we know you’re here to rip us off.”

Oh but wait, click on the menu choice labeled “home” and you’re forced to agree with the copyright statement a second time.

Basically sending the message “hey, we know you lied to us, so let me hear you agree again!” in the form of a copyright notice splash page a user has to accede to each and every time they “go home.”

Oh but wait, click on their “What’s New” menu choice and there’s even more fun.

Click on any images of the new knives, note I said click - not just right click - and once again with you’re threatened with both criminal and civil penalties that could range as high as $150,000.00.

Basically yet another message to their users “stop being the crooks we know you are or we’ll cut you up in court.”

Oh but wait, view the source and you see that the site is made search engine hostile by displaying the images of the knives as background images to individual tables, and then overlaying that with a hyperlink to their copyright message via a transparent .GIF image that spans the size of the table dimensions. And don’t expect any use of ALT or TITLE tags to compensate.

Basically a way of telling search engines and individuals with accessibility issues that they’re not wanted nor loved.

Oh but wait, click on their videos page and you get blasted with a single, un-streamed QuickTime video that on my fast computer connected to a T1 froze.

Basically saying “yes, we know there’s this thing called YouTube out there, but we’re old school.”

Oh but wait, go the knife care page and you get a short snippet instructional videos or providing a link to their knife care PDF they offer on their downloads page.

Basically saying “if it was hard for us to make this site, so it should be hard to find related stuff all in one convenient place.”

Oh but wait, click on their “Newsflash” link on the upper right and you’re taking to a related site.

Basically saying “we wanted to create a navigational experience that simulated what happens to a kid who is sent to camp, following by his parents moving without providing a forwarding address.”

Oh but wait, other pages aren’t so insidious, however they’re also not that useful in terms of conversion goals.

Basically, you can click to enlarge an image when you’re not getting hit up with a copyright threat - but even this is problematic. Meaning, if you want people to buy your new knives, then why not transport them to a sales or shopping cart page when they click? Or at least provide that option somewhere. Duh!

Oh but wait, after scuttling the sites usability and accessibility, click on the “Press” menu option and you’re sent to a page entitled “links” where they offer downloadable images of their products!

Basically saying “never mind that we have inconvenienced and confused you everywhere else …”

Lessons learned

Okay, so what five things can we learn from this site that are applicable to our church and charity websites?

Taking a page out of the pulpit, let’s try to remember these items using the acrostic “K.N.I.F.E.”

1. Know - Figure out who these honest users are and speak to them, rather than ignore their needs to threaten the idiots.
2. Navigate - Don’t make your users have to think. Instead, make sure your menus, page titles and hyperlinks work consistently and easily.
3. Invite - On the web, overdone copyright paranoia translates to honest users as unusable and annoying.
4. Find - Determine what are you trying to get the person to do when they visit your site, then lead them to that goal.
5. Examine - You’re not your user, so don’t assume that your message and/or navigation schema will make sense without engaging in some user and use case testing.

By the way, a bit hat tip to long time, über HYCW cult member, Don Elbourne. As a result of his input, he’s being elevated to “level 5” status with all rights, privileges and honors that go along with said rank.

Don offers several sites worth visiting including:

• Lakeshore Baptist Church
• Rebuilding Lakeshore to the glory of God (after the hurricanes)
• Pastor’s blog: Locusts & Wild Honey
• The Coolest Church WebSite, Ever! (the link actually is to my review, then to his site)

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So how did Google become a verb? Glad you asked … it did so by building an organization around intelligent people who understood how to grow the corporate needs around what the customer wanted. Put in more “Christian” terms, it’s about satisfying one’s self by first serving others.

Now I know what some of you are thinking, “Dean, Google is a mammoth, for-profit, corporate entity, how does this relate to my organization?”

Glad you asked …

Here’s yet another list of 5 things you church and/or charity can learn from Google that apply to your charitable operations and/or church website:

1. It’s about not NOT being different like everybody else

In part 2 of LifeChurch.TV’s multi-part series on ‘What the Church should learn from Google,‘  Bobby Gruenewald’s begs the question:

There were already very strong and well-funded search competitors like Yahoo, Lycos, and Alta Vista. Contrary to modern-day perception, Google did not invent the search engine; instead they perfected it. But, have they actually perfected search?

While I entirely disagree with Bobby’s answer, he asks the right question in a day in age when many churches are shedding their uniqueness in their quest for mega-church status … just like every other “community church” in their neighborhood.

Similarly, in 1998, just about every search engine on the block was busy becoming different like everyone else by becoming a portal.

In both the cases of community churches and portal-ized search engines, they stopped focusing on what the customers really wanted and needed, instead they constantly re-invented themselves, junking up their place with all sorts of distractions … when all seeker really wanted was answers.

Google on the other hand Google realized that they would become everyone’s home page if they gave people what they wanted and needed … useful and relevant answers; sans spurious distractions and spam.

2. It’s knowing that you are not your user

Google knows its less about the technology, and more about the judicious use of selective technology to help their seekers find useful and relevant answers.

This is why along with a herd of capable coders, Google hires Interaction Designers whose job description reads:

“Focus on the user, and all else will follow”. That’s one of the key philosophies behind everything that Google does, and we’re looking for Interaction Designers to help drive the design process for new Google products and features. As a UI Designer, you will work closely with engineers and product managers throughout all stages of the product cycle. If you’re a critical thinker with a good design sense, a strong technical background, and an eye for making things better, and if you’re looking for a job where your work can have an impact on the web experience of millions of Google users, then this is the role for you.

So along with the geeky guy who does your church website, does your church and/or charity team him/her up with individuals whose focus is on the seeker?

If so, are they working alone in the vacuum of an empty classroom … creating SiteMeter like situations?

If the answer is the latter, then I highly recommend a quick read the Macromedia Developer Center article entitled “Ready, Set, Go: Usability Testing” as a place to start. It might also be a good idea to test your site across multiple browsers.

3. It’s about innovation, not instant perfection

In the 2006 post ‘Things We Can Learn from Google‘ at Second Wind, author Tony Mikes quotes Google vice-president for search products and user experience Melissa Mayer’s “The Nine Notions of Innovation.”

One notion relevant to churches and charities - some of which can tend to be run by “Type-A” personalities - simply reads:

Innovation, not instant perfection. Google launches early and often in small beta tests, before releasing new features widely.

I don’t know of any churches that do that with their programs. It’s been my experience that if a new program falters in anyway, a host of detractors come along to point out its failures and drive the poor volunteer or staff member getting started out the door.

Instead, I might recommend more consideration given to Ms. Mayer’s 9th notion:

Don’t kill projects — morph them. There’s always a kernel of something good that can be salvaged.

Amazing … that grace thing … isn’t it?

4. It’s about looking after infrastructure … theirs and yours

One Google’s lesser known secrets to their success is the fact that in many ways, they’re just like Wal*Mart. That is, they understand the value of not only BUILDING their own servers, but also the power source that keeps them humming, as cited in this article in the San Francisco Gate entitled “Google to spend hundreds of millions on developing renewable energy:”

Google Inc. says it will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop renewable energy as part of an ambitious plan to clean the environment and reduce the company’s own power bill …

… Google also hopes to license any technology spawned from the effort to other companies so that they, too, can reduce their reliance on more polluting forms of energy while saving money.

They further extend this philosophy to their user base by providing product on platforms that replaces the most expensive and difficult element to maintain  - the IT guy.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again:

Microsoft Office doesn’t just cost you $139 per user, it also costs you in money and man-hours required to manage keeping the various products up-to-date, secured, and backed-up on computer hardware that often requires additional disk and/or RAM with each iteration of Office and/or the Windows operating system.

Why bother with all that hassle when Google now provides the education edition of Google Aps to non-profits with current 501(c)(3) status in the U.S.?

So my question is this: what has your church and/or charity done to reduce the cost to congregants in terms of time, travel, money, etc … ?

5. It is about keeping it simple, stupid

Now here’s a point where I feel LifeChurch.TV’s Bobby Gruenewald and I agree, where in his first post of his Google series he asserts:

Make your user interface simple!

Amen! And a thought which neatly closes the circle with my first point, but is such an important point that it bears repeating. Here are three ways to make it so:

• When it comes to the 20% doing 80% of the work in your church and/or charity? Facilitate them, don’t burden them with a bazillion bureaucratic power games.
• When it comes to the to the seeker at your door, make it easy, open it for them rather than place a buncha junk in their path.
• When it comes to your church website, facilitate the congregants and volunteers, and don’t put a bunch of junk in the way of seekers.

The Big Finish!

Here are some other relevant links on the topic of what churches can learn from Google that I found while researching this post:

• Think Christian - What The Church Should Learn from Google
• What Google Teaches Us that Has Nothing to Do with Searching - InfoToday
• Micro Persuasion - Radical Transparency: Three Lessons Apple Can Learn from Google
• Top 10 Church Website Design Mistakes of 2007 - Heal Your Church Website
• 42 Topics Blog - Marketing lessons from Google
• What We Can Learn From Google’s Success - Justin Khoury
• Software by Rob - Starting a Technology Company: What We Can Learn from Google
• Yo Dawg, McLean Bible Church Busted - Heal Your Church WebSite
• Non-Profit Tips - 5 Things About Google Apps That Concern Me
• 5 Things we can learn from the office candy machine - Heal Your Church Website
• Collide Magazine - The 21st-Century Potluck: Web 2.0 & the Church
• Celebrate Google’s 10th birthday: try a search from our early days - Google

Bottom line? “… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” - Matthew 6:33

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