Month: July 2022

Large images and video.  Church websites should use large images or videos throughout their website. Imagery is important.

Current.  You shouldn’t find outdated events or information.

No rotating announcements. The day of the marquee image rotator is over. And shouldn’t use rotating images to share announcements.

Images of real people. Stock photography has its purpose, and you may even notice some stock images on few websites. However, using images of real people that are part of your community and congregation is important too.  *Make sure and get permission to use those images, especially of those under 18!

Clear Purpose. Each website is clear in its purpose. Who is the website trying to reach? Who’s the information targeted at?

Clear Calls-To-Action. Call-to-action buttons help get your site’s visitor to where they want or need to go quicker.

Mobile-Friendly. These websites all look great on desktop, but perhaps more importantly, they look just as good (sometimes better) on mobile devices, too. More and more website traffic is coming from tablets, cell phones, and other mobile devices.

Here are some questions to ask about your own website:

1. Who is the primary audience of our church website? You can only have one primary audience.
2. How easy is it for our primary audience to get the information they need?
3. How well are we communicating through our website? What can we do to improve?

If you have questions about your current website or are looking to roll out a new website, Contact the Diocesan IT office for assistance. 605-988-3783 and talk with Adam Staebell or Dawn Wolf.

 

According to Microsoft, criminals can “put your browser in full-screen mode and display pop-up messages that won’t go away.” This creates the illusion that your browser is locked and scares you into calling their “technical support hotline.”

Tech support scams are getting worse than usual. So much so that Microsoft is sounding the alarm. The tech giant is warning the number of tech support scams is rising at an astounding rate.

Not only do you need to be wary of fake tech support personnel calling you, but also of fraudulent error messages. Cybercriminals have set up malicious websites that show error messages if you visit them.

The message will claim you have a severe problem with your computer and need help from tech support. A phone number might even be included in the message for you to call for help. But if you call the number, a scammer will be on the other end.

What Can You Do About It?

Even though tech support scams have been around a while, many computer users still fall for them. So here are a few ways to stay protected.

• No software or cybersecurity company will call or send unsolicited messages regarding a virus on your device. That’s not how they operate, and they don’t have (or need) access to your machine.
• If a pop-up or error message appears from Microsoft that includes a phone number, don’t call it. Error and warning messages from Microsoft never come with a phone number.
• If you get a call from anyone asking you to download an application to fix a computer problem, hang up the phone immediately.
• Microsoft will never ask for payment in the form of cryptocurrency. If someone claims to be from Microsoft tech support and asks you to pay with Bitcoin, it’s a scam.
• Report any Microsoft tech support scams you run across to www.microsoft.com/reportascam.
• Always have a trusted antivirus program updated and running on all your devices.

Need Help? Contact your diocesan IT team and we can assist you.  email helpdesk@sfcatholic.org or call 605-988-3783

Whether you have a new staff member who needs some training on ParishSOFT or you need a refresher, we have a couple of options for tutorials.

https://support.parishsoft.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000020431-Training-Videos (Training Videos for both Family Directory and ParishSOFT Accounting)

OR

This great ParishSOFT user guide that John Woodraska created.

ParishSOFT User Guide SF Diocese

email helpdesk@sfcatholic.org for any additional assistance.