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Service-Related Questions

Yes - if your site has a domain name, we can even use that. While there is no way to automatically import standard websites into our system, you can copy/paste the content from your old site onto your new site.

Let's say you have two main sections on your current site - information about past and upcoming services, and news about your church. First, notice that we have special modules for each of those two types of items. It'd just be a matter of going to their admin pages, and adding items for each. Simply copy and paste the HTML from the original pages as the body of each item (leaving out headers and footers).

It's a bit of work to convert a site, but it's worth it. It will make your site much more usable, and it will save you time in the long run. Imagine being able to easily maintain your current pages, and to add new pages even easier!

Remember that websites from ThisChurch are not your run of the mill sites! You control the destiny of your site, and you can do it yourself -- anytime, anywhere. Obviously you only want certain people to be able to update your site, and logging on proves to the site that you are who you say you are. The "admin" account is the most powerful account - it can do anything to the site that it wants. With our help, you can also create other accounts that have access to update specific areas of your site, without giving them access to the rest of it.

Your church's members are able to come to the site and create accounts for themselves. These accounts are just like the "admin" account, except that they only have permissions to do basic things. Creating an account gives them an identity of their own for your site, and it encourages community participation. You'll find that this is the most rewarding part of using us to power your site -- it creates a virtual world for them that isn't confined by time or church walls. Encourage your users to participate in the site! Your church and its people will have a stronger role in their lives, and it gives them a positive place to belong to.

We provide a basic template to get you started with your site. Feel free to use it if you like. If you are skilled with HTML, you can use the theme manager to customize the site to your heart's content. If you know an HTML programmer, they can do this as well.

We also provide site design services for people in your situation. We charge a reasonable fee to our customers, and your design can be as simple or detailed as you wish. Contact us with your ideas and we'll be happy to work with you to create the site you dream of.

You can control the look and feel of most of a page with the theme manager. The important parts are the header,footer, and the content you provide for pages. If there are certain parts about the way ThisChurch renders a page that are not within your control, feel free to talk to us about it. We are able to customize everything, and we're happy to give you a hand.

Yes! We built this software completely in house, so extending it with your ideas is easy to do. Whether it's small features or large new functionality, we can work with you for a reasonable fee to create what you want. Again, contact us with any questions you have.

You bet! Each subscriber gets a fixed number of POP accounts depending on the size of their church. Additional mailboxes are $5/mo for every additional 5 mailboxes. Additionally, we can install a web mail facility on your site which allows your mailbox users to view their mail online. See the webmail page for more information.

Yes! The default site is fairly full-featured, and users have a lot of nice things they can do. This is a good thing for most churches, as it encourages participation and involvement with your site. If there are things that you'd rather were removed from your site, just ask us and we'll take care of it for you.

Account-Related Questions

All accounts have access to all features. The only difference in price comes from your church size. Smaller churches don't use as much bandwidth as larger churches, so cost less to host. Additionally, you get two months per year free if you pay by the year. See the pricing page for details.

This is up to you. To simplify our lives and yours, we prefer to bill in yearly increments. To encourage this, when you pay a year at a time, you get two months free. Note that there is no risk in doing this, if you decide to cancel during that year, we'll refund the prorated remainder.

Now that your church has the best website in town, other churches will inevitably be asking you where you got your site. We'd love it if you pointed them to us -- and to show you our appreciation, your account will be credited for the amount of their first two months' fee for the church you sent our way! All you they need to do is mention you as their referer when they sign up. So spread the word; you'll help them, you'll help us, and you'll get some money! More Information

We try to make it as easy as possible for you to get the answers you need. First things first, check out our support documents -- you may find the answer you're looking for there. We can also be emailed with your questions. Your question will be answered quickly. We offer the best support of any church hosting provider.

Your monthly fee includes all hosting, support and software upgrades. You can use an existing domain name for no extra charge, or purchase a new domain name for your site for $15/year. We do offer some optional features (listed under the "Account Upgrades" of your site's "Features" menu in the administration bar), but everything that you see in your trial account is included in the monthly fee.

We certainly understand that decisions as important as choosing a website solution can take more than two weeks. There are a lot of factors to consider and options to weigh. Just let us know that you're still thinking about it before your trial is up, and we'll keep your trial site around while you decide.

Unfortunately, we do not currently have a program for offering free web hosting. We are not a traditional web host which serves static pages. We offer a much more dynamic experience, but this costs a lot more in computer resources such as database access than a traditional website. Because of this cost, we would lose money by providing this service, even if we were to offset it with ads.

However, we may still be able to help you. Our referral program credits you with the first two months' fee of every new site who uses you as a reference. Also, remember that you can accept donations online.

Of course not! As hard as we try, nobody can meet everyone's needs. We want to be upfront with you about our weaknesses. For one, we don't allow customers FTP or shell access to the websites. This means that if you are a programmer, you won't be able to edit files directly or upload your CGI scripts. Also, we do not offer phone support, in order to concentrate our efforts on outstanding email support, so if you hate virtual communications you may want to try someone else. Finally, if your budget is very constrained, you may want to try a free church web host. Our prices start at $39 per month, but that's a lot of money in places like Africa. Additionally, outside of the US, many countries aren't supported by PayPal, so you'll be unable to accept online donations.

Miscellaneous Questions

Entropy Software, LLC is the parent company of ThisChurch.org. Our primary focus lies in providing web services to churches. We have years of experience in web application development and hosting including companies like Yahoo!. Entropy Software, LLC is headquartered in Van Buren, Ohio.

We strive to create the most reliable service on the market. Our systems are constantly monitored for health 24 hours a day. Our core software was started in 1998 and has served over a billion pages since 1999. We bring this experience to giving you the best and most reliable website possible.

We host our dedicated servers with ServerMatrix, with our backup server in a different facility. There are 11 redundant top-quality Internet connections to ensure your site remains accessible.

We hear from many of you who have been burned by fly-by-night operations, wondering if ThisChurch will vanish tomorrow, leaving you stranded. You can rest assured that we're with you for the long haul. We've build this business over the years from the ground up, and there are tens of thousands of man-hours invested in the code that drives your website.

We're not going anywhere, and neither is your data. We have put extreme backup measures in place to ensure the safety of your data. Once a day, the contents of your site are copied to offsite backup locations and stored for a period of time.

All the same, we've put measures in place to protect you. If we ever did go out of business, we would provide you with all the code and data that you'd need to take your website elsewhere. ThisChurch is committed to your church, both now and in the future.

Simple! Before you commit to buying, we'd like you to test drive our software for two weeks. When you decide you'd like to purchase it, simply contact us and we'll get you rolling!