Parish Websites, Email and Video
Parish Websites, Email and Video
Parishes are responsible for their own websites and/or digital media presence (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.), however the guidance below is provided to avoid some of the pitfalls.
Hosting of Websites
The following summarises some of the issue’s parishes have historically experienced:
- It is often the case that parishes have access to an enthusiastic and capable volunteer who takes the lead in developing a website. This is fine for a while, but may result in the website falling into disrepair and passwords being forgotten, when the volunteer moves on.
- The development and ongoing maintenance of Websites can also be costly.
- Some parish websites have had their websites hacked, due to an inability to maintain appropriate security updates.
- Some parishes have been attracted to “free” websites in return for advertising space. This may not reflect well on the values of the church.
The Diocese has an ongoing relationship with Hostaway, who host a large number of parish and diocesan websites. The benefits of using Hostaway are:
- The Diocese pays the hosting cost for websites using the perth.anglican.org domain naming protocol.
- The Diocesan Digital Content Coordinator can assist in the recovery of forgotten passwords.
- Hostaway can provide any number of generic email addresses for parish use (e.g. info@(parish).perth.anglican.org, rector@(parish).perth.anglican.org, treasurer@(parish).perth.anglican.org ), however there is a collective mail box quota limit of 2Gb.
- Hostaway have a range of free website templates, which may be suitable if a parish only wants a simple website.
- Hostaway can provide a content management system (Wordpress) update service for $200 per year, for sites they host1
- Hostaway can provide competitively priced SSL certificates2; for the sites they host1
In most cases, if parishes use a third party to develop a website, it can still be hosted by Hostaway.
While responsibility for the administration and maintenance of parish websites rests with each individual parish; the Diocesan Digital Content Coordinator can connect parishes with Hostaway and provide basic support in respect of setting up and maintaining Hostaway websites. The Diocese is unable to provide support or assistance in relation to parish websites outside of the Hostaway environment.
Church Directory
Parishes are encouraged to keep relevant pages in the Diocesan website Church Directory up to date. The idea of this directory is to provide basic church/parish information and point enquirers to church/parish websites and social media.
For parishes without websites, the directory could become a basic alternative.
Domain Names
Domain names should follow the Diocesan naming protocol: www.(parish).perth.anglican.org.
If a parish has an existing website and the domain name does not follow this naming protocol, parishes can redirect the DNS settings on their existing website hosting to the recommended parish domain name.
Using this domain name protocol will greatly assist the searchability of the parish website.
The use of the anglican.org and perth.anglican.org domain names are tightly regulated. As such, all sub domain names for perth.anglican.org can only be obtained with Diocesan consent.
Parish domains using the perth.anglican.org naming protocol are eligible for free website hosting with Hostaway under the Diocesan account.
Email Addresses
It is recommended that parishes use generic email addresses for parish business, for example:
- info@(parish).perth.anglican.org
- rector@(parish).perth.anglican.org
- treasurer@(parish).perth.anglican.org
noting these are only available for parishes with websites hosted by Hostaway.
Video and YouTube
It is recommended parishes who produce videos upload them to the Diocesan YouTube channel then link them to parish websites and social media. The benefit of this is that it improves the speed of parish websites, doesn't add to your website hosting costs and creates a comprehensive library of Diocese of Perth resources in one place.
To upload videos to the Diocesan YouTube account email the Diocesan Digital Content Coordinator, and/or send the Dropbox link for your video(s).
To link videos to your website or social media, click on the Share button under the video (right hand corner) on YouTube and choose the appropriate option from the list presented. Copy and paste the link or code into your website or social media post.
Related Policy
Parishes must comply with social media policies:
The Diocesan Style Guide may also be useful.
Contact details
Diocesan Digital Content Coordinator - Ms Samantha Chan
communications@perth.anglican.org or 08 9425 7231
1. Hostaway will directly invoice parishes for this service.↩
2. Additional lays of security for online collection of data or payments↩