Creating a Web presence in today's market is essential, almost vital to the growth and expansion of your product or message. Without it, your organization will struggle to endure an ongoing battle. A large percentage of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) image is an organization's Web site design and Web site structure.

The First Baptist Church in Florence, South Carolina has experienced first hand just how important this concept can be. Initially having a rather elaborate and costly Web site caused the church to think about scaling back and trying to produce a site in-house. Unfortunately this resulted in a homemade look and feel that the church wanted so desperately to avoid.

Professional Look and Feel. Recognizing the importance of a strong Web presence, the church began to look at other options in their own backyard. Pastor Kevin Qualls put it this way, "We wanted to have a professional site; something with a look and feel similar to what the South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) had." The church placed a call to SCBC Marketing Team member and Web site Manager, Chris Gray. Gray explained, "When the call came in, I informed them about the multiple advantages of selecting ACS Technologies; especially with regard to syndicated content."

SCBC Provides Resource. The SCBC has been instrumental in equipping churches with the resources necessary to establish member churches on the Web. According to Marketing Director, Lara Gopp, "We are educating churches about the importance of having a Web presence and in an effort to do just that, we provide ACS Technologies information in leadership packets that go to every leader in our state." Gopp continued, "We are also spearheading an effort to teach or partner with ACS to enable churches to get their site up and running."

When Pastor Qualls learned about the ACS Technologies Extend Platform, he knew that the company had the solution specifically designed to meet their needs. Because the church already had an existing relationship with ACS Technologies for their church management software solution, Qualls knew that he would be getting a quality high end product that enabled his church to build their own site and recruit assistance as necessary. With Extend, FBC Florence could develop ready to use content and have a reliable secure solution that would allow them to establish an attractive Web presence all on a budget.

Help Provided. "In the beginning, ACS Technologies did a lot of the work for us," admitted Qualls. "We have been short staffed and found it helpful to have the company walk us through everything. They downloaded the content off of our old site to the new site and created a template for us to work from." Once the site was up and running, the Extend team turned over the reigns to the church about three to four weeks after the staff had been trained.

Streamlining Processes. As the Minister of Education and Administration for the church, Barry Moon has coordinated the content aspects of the Web site and recognizes that the process is a work in progress. "Our goal is to have one person who is ultimately monitoring and updating all of the information for the Web site. We envision that one person will primarily update our sermon titles, dates, times, etc., while our major articles will be submitted by other people within the church." Moon continued, "I really like the way that the system interfaces. The workflow feature is great. I can tell that this will be helpful as we grow."

Another feature that Moon likes is the satellite buttons that appear on separate pages with bullets next to them. "If someone is interested in finding out more information about our Easter services, for example, they can click on that bullet which will provide them with more details." These satellite buttons can be placed strategically to help promote important information.

Qualls remarked, "ACS Technologies has a great solution especially since they are equipped to help us grow our church. There are a variety of features such as the online event registration and video capabilities that Extend provides. It's great because it is infinitely scalable and that will allow us to add new features and functionality when and where we need it."

About First Baptist Florence
Worship at First Baptist is more than just going to the sanctuary to hear the choir sing, hear a prayer, give some money, and listen to the pastor preach. Worship is meeting people and sharing the love of Christ with them, serving our Lord through various jobs in the church, and praising our Savior from the heart. First Baptist Church, Florence, exists to glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ by teaching Biblical Doctrine, sharing His grace and mercy with others and providing a spiritually nurturing and compassionate fellowship where all can experience God's love.

ACS Technologies Products and Services Used
People Suite: People, Contributions, Attendance, Connections, Special Mailings, Reservations
Financial Suite: General Ledger, Payroll, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, Purchase Order
Growth Products: Ministry Scheduler, CASS It!
Extend: WSD-SiteExtend

Web site
www.fbcflorence.org