Starting/designing/maintaining a trad Catholic website: costs and other issues.

Started by Xavier, April 18, 2018, 03:10:51 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Xavier

Anyone here who owns and runs a website willing to explain how easy or otherwise it is to set one up? Also your experience maintaining it.

I want the website to be focused on evangelism, mostly directed to non-Christians of all kinds, secularists, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists etc to bring them by God's grace to Christ and Baptism into the Church. A secondary focus would be videos, articles and other material helping Catholics to come to Tradition/apologetics directed at Protestantism and/or Orthodoxy, from Scripture and the Fathers etc. I think there are already many sites that do the second, and make some converts; but very few dedicated to the first, though potentially thousands of souls could be reached. Can someone tell me how to get started?
Bible verses on walking blamelessly with God, after being forgiven from our former sins. Some verses here: https://dailyverses.net/blameless

"[2] He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:[3] He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a reproach against his neighbours.(Psalm 14)

"[2] For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."(James 3)

"[14] And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; [15] That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Phil 2:14-15)

MilesChristi

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Gardener

My recommendation would be to stay away from trying to have a dedicated site. Maybe do a blog, or a collection-point style thing where you coalesce these concepts (similar to https://www.scripturecatholic.com/ or https://www.biblechristiansociety.com/. A good site requires either original content, and it's unlikely you can compete with the many good ones already on your own, or requires a good bit of networking. Further, a good website is a LOT of work. HTML is only part of it. There's CSS, jscript, etc. To make a good go of it, you really need to have a developer and they aren't cheap (or you could convince a fellow Catholic to assist, if they are actually good at it).

Your focus is all over the map and would result in doing nothing well. Pick a niche and develop it.

You'd need to really understand the place from which non-Christians come. That requires studying Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. Fr. John Hardon has some good articles about those various systems. I once showed his article on Buddhism to a Buddhist I know, and he commented that it was the best explanation he'd ever seen from the pen of a non-Buddhist.

Acts 17 Apologetics, a Protestant group, already does a pretty good job of destroying Islamic arguments. Take a look at their material.

Unsure about Buddhist or Hindu focused Christian ministries.

Not trying to discourage you, but I would recommend starting small. Develop content. Shop it around for critique.
"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

james03

It is relatively easy.

1.  Sign up with bluehost.com.  It will cost around $80/yr. or there abouts.
2.  At bluehost.com, register your domain name.  Cost is $30/yr. if you get the privacy option, otherwise around $15.
3.  On the bluehost control panel, do the one-click install for Word Press (free).
4.  Learn Word Press on Youtube.  The Udemy courses are pretty good also.

You can search through many free templates (which you can customize) or start from scratch.
"But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Jn 3:18)."

"All sorrow leads to the foot of the Cross.  Weep for your sins."

"Although He should kill me, I will trust in Him"