If you don’t have a Google account yet, read Anna Belle’s reasons why church webmasters need to sign up. When you’re ready to get one for your web team, just don’t make the mistake of registering the account using your personal email address. Instead, use churchdomain@gmail.com (my preferred format, although it doesn’t have to be a Gmail account), webteam@yourchurchdomain.com or something along those lines that reflects your web ministry. Why? If this account is going to be your church site’s analytics gateway, back-up storage and who knows what else down the line, then eventually you’ll want to share access with other team members. Or, you might even step down some day as head web guy/diva. When that day comes, you’ll be happy that your own account remains separate.

Bonus: Having that all-purpose web team/parish email address also comes in handy if you register your parish for Web 2.0 social networking services. You’ll keep all your confirmations and notifications in one spot separate from any accounts you might register for yourself.