web designer's name on a church website?

[lakesider]

Company/webmaster name on church sites?

I do the website for my church at no charge--wouldn't think of charging them a dime for it. It's my service to God and always will be my first priority creatively and time-wise.

But, our church has been getting some calls from local businesses wondering which company does the site--is there anything that God would frown on if I put a small line at the very bottom of each page?

My real name is in the staff list on the left, but noone sees it because of where it's located on the page.

Part of me knows listing my freelance design company name would get business going strong (we can really use the money right now) but I also think of the scene where Jesus grabs the whip and goes after the money changers because they're using the church as a place to make money and do commerce, which really wouldn't be the case here at all, or at least that's not my intent. I'm really torn on this and have been praying on it.

Do most churches let their website designer/companies put their logo/name on their sites? Thoughts?

 

[rscottj]

I too am the pro-bono "web mangler" for my church and spend a lot of time on the site. I have a small link to my design site at the bottom of the home page only. I also use my own email address (not a church email) to subtly let me users "find" my site.

I don't know that it drives that much traffic to my site but it is another link to my site which helps my Google PR.

That's my two cents.

(P.S. add your site url to your signature as well to increase your search engine exposure - I wanted to check it out and couldn't : )

 

[lakesider]

I fixed my signature so that my sites are linked now. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Fish-Cross]

I think it would be fine for you to do that, because it serves informational purposes to the visitor who wants to know who does the site. Therefore, they would know instantly and would not have to call/e-mail.

 

[slanglep]

I never put mine on clients sites and several of my designs have other company names on them :o they hire me, pay me and they get the credit.

If you did the site for free there is nothing wrong with having your link on it.

 

[petergigab]

There´s nothing wrong in signing your work. You did it didn´t you? So there is nothing to hide! If you end up making money and having exposure because of that, it´s the result of a good job, not the reason why you made the job.

Go for it!

And... Why not post a link to your church´s website here?

 

[magictemplate_com]

I think that it is a good thing to do actually, because if anything goes wrong with the website and it is beyond church technical abilities, they would know for sure how to contact you fast to fix what went wrong.

Regards!
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