Epiphany Systems

Upload media, manage by ministry, set user permissions, supervise and approve content, user statistics... Fresh content keeps your community returning to the site.

Creating a website is the first step in communicating your church's vision. A website that provides valuable, relevant and current information leverages technology to equip the church body for the work of the ministry. At their leisure, congregants can find encouraging teachings, time-sensitive event information or helpful apologetic resources when churches invest the time to make their website a store-house of value. The website becomes an extension of the pastors, leadership and church administrators 24 hours a day. Further, the website is an introductory evangelical tool in the presentation of the Gospel to inquirers.

Anyone will be able to upload web content from anywhere at anytime. The page editing system looks and responds like standard Word Processing software (Bold, Italic, Underline, change the font size, etc.) We added a few extra buttons, but wanted to make it super easy to update the site so no one has to learn any programming languages such as HTML in order to keep the content current.

 

The Epiphany CMS Plus content management system undergirds the entire site. The whole technology system is a very large investment to build and update, but we amortize the cost and expense of development into a low monthly license fee. This gets you the full use of the system, plus it's free for any updates we make on the system. We are simplifying and updating the system almost weekly.

A. Web-Based Content Management System (CMS): Our system is web-based, which means that a church can have multiple people log in and contribute to the online ministry. Our permission-based login system allows ministry leaders to add events, articles, pictures, media and other relevant information about their specific ministries. This results in a lower burden on paid staff and better and more current content. Volunteers who serve typically have a greater commitment to the church resulting in greater outreach and support of a ministry.

Since our system is web-based, there is no additional commercial software that needs to be installed on a client's computer. The software can also be accessed from any Internet connected computer anywhere in the world; from work, at home, a hotel, Starbucks or Panera Bread.

B. Page Creation and Editing: Administrators will have access to create, edit, and delete pages on the website. The navigation menu can also be edited to reflect these changes.

C. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor: Our system allows churches to add new content to their site in a visual manner. What users see in their editing environment is what they will get when the content is published. Users have the ability to manipulate the arrangement, size, and look of content with the integrated WYSIWYG editor. It is as simple as using Microsoft Word.

D. Code Editor for Advanced Users: A code editor is available for advanced users who may want to access the raw html code instead of using the WYSIWYG editor for making changes. A clean-up tool allows you paste your copy into the system directly from Word (and clean out all of that crazy, unwanted formatting!).

E. Media File Manager: The media file manager will allow administrators to insert images, pdfs, docs, mp3s, flash, video, and other media into their site.

F. Streaming, Downloadable, and Podcastable Audio Sermons: Three things happen when an administrator adds a sermon to the website: 1) The sermon is added to the Flash based player that streams the sermon for the listener. 2) The sermon is made available for download on the website for users who wish to download the sermon for later listening. 3) The XML file used by podcasters is automatically updated.

G. Article Manager with RSS Syndication: A church can write articles (for example: culture reviews, teachings, home group study notes) and site visitors can syndicate these articles using RSS feeds.

H. Online Event Creation: A church can create events that can be published to a visual calendar. Site visitors can RSVP for events using the optional event registration / RSVP module.

I. Dynamic Google Map Integration: Site visitors will have the ability to view an interactive Google map that outlines the directions and location of your worship services. Events created with an address location will automatically generate a Google Map link.

J. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): - Through experience and research, our websites are designed to achieve high search engine ranking results. Church sites will be optimized for specific church-related keywords and themes to attract targeted visitors to the site. These keywords will target search engine spiders which will result in more visitors finding the website through online searches. The end result is increased 'virtual' visitors to a church website and 'physical' visitors to your church services.

Part of the work is on your end through our Content Management System, such as, adding keywords and titles to your important pages to make them relevant and targeted results for searchers. Combined with our system, this provides the base level of search optimization. Other search engine work, such as geo-targeting, is available at additional monthly cost.

K. Site-wide search: Visitors to the church website will be able to search a central repository of resources, pages, sermons, articles and media files. Media will be searched by metadata input with the associated file.

The database is fully searchable on all fields. It uses a combination of MySQL's fulltext search capabilities and building SOUNDEX keys in order to compensate for spelling mistakes or natural language searches. The system will index its database at least once a day with increased frequency as data entry increases.