Where you are — and where we can take you
A BETTER FRONT DOOR. NO MONTHLY CONTRACT.
////////////////////////////////////You said it plainly: the website right now is a poor front door. It doesn’t reflect who Siloam is, and it doesn’t match the quality of what you’re already doing on Facebook. You’re not looking for a membership hub or a site that’s meant to generate activity—you’re looking for something that represents the church well so that when someone finds you online, they get an honest, welcoming first impression.
That’s exactly what we should build. A simple, quality front door. Easy for Marc to keep updated with the weekly sermon. No monthly contract lock-in—just straightforward hosting you can pay annually and bake into the budget, and you can leave anytime if your needs change.
One more thing you may not have thought about: you’ve been writing those long, thoughtful devotional posts on your personal Facebook page. That’s great content. Right now it lives only on Facebook—which is fine for the people who already follow you, but it doesn’t help someone in Ninety Six or Greenwood who’s searching for a church or for encouragement. (It also doesn't help with the church showing up in search results.)
If that same content lived on the church website as a blog, it becomes searchable, shareable, and permanent. The website can become the single source for that material: you write it once (or republish from Facebook), and it works for both your existing audience and for people who discover you through search. I’d recommend we consider that in the right package—it’s a way to make the site useful without turning it into something complicated.
Below are three ways we can get there. The middle option is the one I’d recommend.
How hosting works
SECURITY-FIRST. NO LOCK-IN.
////////////////////////////////////Every site I design is hosted with me. That isn’t about lock-in—it’s about keeping your site safe and fast. Churches are targets for hackers; the last thing you need is your site displaying crypto ads (yes, I remember what happened to your Facebook account) or worse. I run hosting with a security-first mindset: updates, backups, and monitoring so you don’t have to think about it.
- Cost: $32/month, billed annually ($384/year) so you can treat it as a line item in the budget.
- No contract. You can leave anytime. If you ever move on, we’ll hand everything over cleanly.
- On-call support. You can reach me via text to say "hey the website looks funky" and moments later I'll text you back "fixed!"
- Hosting is included in the totals below for the first year; after that it renews annually unless you tell me otherwise.
Choose your path
THREE OPTIONS. ONE RECOMMENDED.
////////////////////////////////////Essential
- New WordPress site, core pages
- Home, About, Services, Ministries, Giving (Flocknote)
- Mobile-friendly, easy to update
- No audio on site — link to Facebook / YouTube
- Training for Marc
- Hosting with me (security-first, no contract)
Best for: Getting off the ground with minimal ongoing responsibility. You can always add more later.
Growth
- Everything in Essential
- Sermon archive on the site (we host audio; new sermons from launch)
- Blog (SEO-tuned) for your devotional content — single source
- Stronger About & first-impression content
- Training for Marc (sermons + blog)
- Hosting with me (security-first, no contract)
Best for: A real front door plus sermon archive and a place for pastoral content to be found. This is the option I recommend for Siloam.
Complete
- Everything in Growth
- Full migration of existing sermon audio from Squarespace
- Complete archive from day one
- Training for Marc
- Hosting with me (security-first, no contract)
Best for: When you want the new site to be the only place people need to go for sermons—past and future.
| Essential | Growth | Complete | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build | $500 | $1,450 | $2,650 |
| Hosting (year 1) | $384 | $384 | $384 |
| Total (year 1) | $884 | $1,834 | $3,034 |
| Core pages, Flocknote | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sermon archive on site | — | ✓ (new only) | ✓ (new + migrated and stuff) |
| Blog for devotionals / SEO | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Migrate old audio from Squarespace | — | — | ✓ |
Email hosting
OPTIONAL. MORE INFO NEEDED TO QUOTE.
////////////////////////////////////You mentioned email with iPower. Below is how it all fits together, what I’d need from you to give a real recommendation, and two options (leave it as-is vs. move to Google Workspace) based on hypotheticals until we have those details.
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My recommendation: Google Workspace for Nonprofits LIKELY $0–LOW COST
If you’re open to moving off iPower, I recommend switching to Google Workspace for Nonprofits. Churches like Siloam almost always qualify. Google offers eligible nonprofits discounted or free Workspace: the standard nonprofit tier is $0/user/month, and paid tiers (more storage, advanced features) are heavily discounted (e.g. around $3.50–$7.40/user/month instead of standard pricing).
Your part: You’d apply and get approved through Google for Nonprofits. That’s something the church has to do—Google verifies your nonprofit status. Once you’re approved, you can enroll in Workspace for Nonprofits and choose the plan that fits.
My part: I handle the technical switchover: MX records so mail for @siloam96.org goes to Google, setting up the accounts (or walking you through it), and optionally migrating existing mail and calendar from iPower so nothing gets left behind. You get approval; I do the cutover.
So the ongoing cost from Google can be zero or very low, and you’d pay me a one-time fee for the migration and setup. Details and a firm quote once I have the info in “What do I need from you?” below.
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What does “iPower” mean for your email?
iPower is a web and email hosting company. When someone says they have “iPower for email,” they usually mean one of these:
- Email that comes with an iPower hosting plan — The church may have (or have had) a website or other services with iPower, and email was included (typically RoundCube webmail, or POP/IMAP mailboxes).
- Standalone email hosting with iPower — Email-only service; the domain might still be at iPower or somewhere else.
So “iPower” tells us who is handling the mail right now, but not yet how many people use it or what else (if anything) the church uses iPower for—domain, old website, etc. Those details determine how simple or involved a change would be.
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How does email “fit together” with the website and the domain?
Email at a domain like @siloam96.org involves a few separate pieces:
- Domain registration — Where the name “siloam96.org” is registered (could be iPower, GoDaddy, Google Domains, etc.). That doesn’t have to change when you change email.
- MX records — DNS settings that say “send mail for @siloam96.org to this provider.” Right now they almost certainly point to iPower. If you move to Google Workspace, we’d point them to Google instead.
- Mailboxes (users) — Each address (e.g. pastor@siloam96.org, office@siloam96.org) is a mailbox. Someone logs in to send and receive. That’s what we’d recreate in Google if you switch.
The website (whether it’s on Squarespace today or WordPress with me later) is separate from where email is hosted. Changing the website doesn’t force an email change, and changing email doesn’t force a website change—but we can do both in a coordinated way if you want.
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What do I need from you to give an informed recommendation and quote?
To recommend “leave it” vs. “move to Google” and to quote a one-time migration (if we go Google), I need:
- How many users (mailboxes)? — e.g. 3 people each with their own @siloam96.org address, or one shared address like info@siloam96.org that several people use.
- What you use iPower for besides email — Just email? Or also the domain, an old church website, anything else? That tells us what (if anything) stays with iPower after a move.
- Any deliverability or reliability issues? — Mail going to spam, outages, or “we’ve had problems” helps justify moving. If everything’s fine, “leave it” might be enough for now.
- List of current addresses (if we move) — So we know exactly which accounts to create in Google and, if you want, to migrate mail for.
With that, I can say: “Option A makes sense because…” or “Option B is worth it because…” and give you a real one-time migration price for Google.
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Option 1: Leave email with iPower NO COST
What it means: No change. You keep using iPower for @siloam96.org email exactly as you do now. The new website (with me) doesn’t touch email; we don’t move or reconfigure anything.
When it makes sense: If you have only a few users, no real deliverability problems, and email isn’t a priority right now. Especially if the main goal is “better website”; we can always revisit email later.
Pros: No one-time cost, no learning curve, no migration. You keep whatever you’re already paying iPower (if anything) and nothing else.
Cons: You stay in iPower’s ecosystem. If their webmail or support has been a pain, or if you want Gmail/Calendar/Docs at the church domain, you won’t get that without a move.
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Option 2: Move email to Google Workspace ONE-TIME MIGRATION + GOOGLE (OFTEN $0)
What it means: I help you set up Google Workspace for @siloam96.org. We create one account per user (based on the list you provide), point your domain’s MX records to Google, and optionally migrate existing mail and calendar from iPower into Google. After that, you use Gmail (and Google Calendar, Drive, etc.) at your church address. I charge a one-time fee for the migration and switchover.
Why I recommend the nonprofit track: Through Google Workspace for Nonprofits, eligible organizations get the standard tier at $0/user/month, or deeply discounted paid tiers (e.g. $3.50–$7.40/user/month) if you need more features. Siloam would likely qualify. You’d need to get approved by Google for Nonprofits; I handle all the technical side—MX records and the actual switchover.
When it makes sense: If you want better deliverability, a single place for email + calendar + docs, or a more reliable experience than iPower. With the nonprofit program, ongoing cost from Google can be zero or very low.
What I need to quote the one-time migration: Number of users (mailboxes), whether you want existing mail/calendar migrated or a “fresh start,” and where your domain is registered. Hypothetical ballpark: a small number of users (e.g. 2–5) with a straightforward migration would be around $200 one time. More users or “migrate everything” would push it up. I’ll give a firm number once I have the details from the “What do I need from you?” section above.
Ongoing cost (Google, not me): With Google for Nonprofits, often $0 for the standard tier, or the discounted rates above if you choose a paid tier. You pay Google directly; that’s separate from my one-time migration fee and from my website hosting.