Do you have an existing website or blog that is outdated and needs a facelift? Priest Mode Websites can usually make this happen for you, although the technical issues of re-design are a bit trickier than starting from scratch.
Anyway, here are a few elements and pitfalls of that process.
Access Issues
First and foremost, since someone else designed your original site, we will need to get access to that original account in order to make any changes.
The ideal scenario is when you still have contact with the original designer who can supply you with the login information; namely:
- Verify the site’s domain name (website or URL.)
- Verify the web host (which may be different from the place where you got your domain name.) Here we need the LINK to the account with the company where it is hosted.
- If it is a WordPress site, this will be easy. If not, we need to get the link to that account.
- This takes us to a “gateway” page which gives us access to the “back end” where the design happens.
- We then need the login credentials (i.e., the two elements for logging in):
- The User Name (sometimes an email) and
- The Password.
- If you did not originally set up this account, we will need to find out who has the correct login credentials.
Potential Challenges
If this account was set up many years ago on outdated technology; or if the designer is a whiz kid who created his own code; or if he or she is someone who has absconded with parish funds and cannot now be found, is deceased, has become alienated from the human race, etc. – things might be more difficult!
With access to the “back end” of the website, we can then begin the redesign. In the event we cannot get the access information to the original site, it is entirely possible to create a website from scratch for you (see the document, “What the Design Process Looks Like.”)
Incidentally, the sometimes difficult task of tracking down this information is why I provide you with the “Specifications” document at the end of our set up. The document means you will always have this information at your fingertips for the future and can give it to any future designer/developer who takes over.
Platforms
[From the “Design Questions” FAQ page.]
What is a platform?
Think of a rocket at Cape Canaveral that launches from a platform into outer space. So does a website, except it launches into cyber space.
The platform is like a stage in a theatre that encloses all the elements that will eventually constitute your website: technical, security, interfaces, design, and content. Access to it is often called the “back end” much like the “backstage” of a theatre.
As there are different stages for different artistic performances (theatre, opera, concerts, etc.), so there are different platforms for the art of websites.
My main design preference is the WordPress platform. “Old” sites (five years or older) are more likely to be WordPress sites, but like everything in the tech world, that is rapidly changing.
If your site was designed on one of the more current non-WordPress platforms (such as Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, or Shopify, among others), I can usually help you on those platforms too, but I will need to look at them carefully to verify that.
If a web platform is beyond my capabilities as a designer, I will either offer to build a new website for you from scratch on WordPress, or you can choose another designer who knows the platform and can better serve your needs.
Facelift or Remake
Keep in mind that each of these non-WordPress platforms contains its own hosting and design functions, and they charge increased rates for plans that offer higher functionality and design sophistication.
However, a visual upgrade of your website does not always cost more. Sometimes a “facelift” is just a matter of changing design templates, fonts, images, and colors within your original plan.
On the other hand, if you seek a bit more sophistication or functionality, we can upgrade the plan for a non-WordPress platform or, as noted, completely remake the website on the WordPress platform as an improved version of the old design.
I’ve done both for clients before, and it always works well. In fact, it seems to give them a new lease on cyber life when they see the old website transformed into the new.
Your Mission
As I’ve emphasized elsewhere, any design (or re-design) work begins with your purpose, your mission. It communicates to your particular audience. These may have changed since you first set the website up, so we will adapt the new site accordingly.
If you are redesigning a parish website that was set up by another administration, we will make the new one entirely reflect your vision and mission.
Ministries and communities change over time, so in re-designing a blog or website, there is almost always a need to expand it to fit new pastoral needs.
- New content in addition to what you’ve been posting up to this point
- New technology (Audio / Visual above all)
- New connections (sign-up forms, newsletters, feedback, etc.)
- Downloadable materials, and sometimes,
- Even sales.
No problem, Father! Virtual reality offers almost unlimited possibilities for what you need to get your word out.
Above all, this website will be dedicated to saving souls, so we will consecrate the work from the start so that it is pleasing to God and beneficial to His Kingdom.
