Fix what stops a publish

Before your site goes live, Publish checks it for things that would look wrong to a visitor. Most are the template’s sample names, links and dates. If it finds one, it stops and lists what to fix. Nothing on your live site changes.

Most items in the list have a button beside them, like Open Church info or Open Menus. Click it to go straight to the right place. Fix each item, then click Publish and Publish site again.

Your church info

These show first, in one sentence that starts “Before this goes live, add…”. Fix them in Church info. See Set your church name and address.

• “Enter the church name in Church info first; it becomes your web address.”: Type your church’s name in Church info and click Save.
• “the church name (Church info)”: The name box is empty, or it still holds the template’s name. Type your church’s name.
• “the street address (Church info)”, or the address still reads …, which is the template’s: Type your own street, town, state and ZIP.
• “a phone number (Church info)”, or a phone number that has too few digits, or one that is the template’s: Type your church’s phone number, like (334) 555-0142.
• “an email address (Church info)”, or one that is the template’s, or one that is not one: Type an email address your church reads, like office@yourchurch.org. Every form on your site sends there.
• “your own service time to the heading …”: A heading on Plan Your Visit shows a time that is not one of your service times. Change the heading, or your times in Church info. See Set your service times.

The list that starts “Fix these before the site goes live.”

Each line names the page it found the problem on.

People and quotes

• “The elders section still shows the template’s sample names on …” (or deacons, or evangelist): Click each name and type your own. If the congregation has none, hide the section. See Edit your church leaders.
• “Our Elders on … has nobody in it.” (or Deacons, or Evangelist): Add your people, or hide the section.
• “The testimonials still show the template’s placeholder quotes on …”: Click Edit testimonials, or hide the section. See Edit testimonials.
• “A section still shows the sample guest speaker on …”: Click the speaker’s name and the words about him and type your own.

Links

• “The Live Stream item in your menu still points at youtube.com in general.”: Click Open Menus. Put your church’s own channel or stream address in, or remove the item. See Change your menus.
• “A Watch Live button still points at youtube.com in general on …”: Click the button itself on the page, not the menu. Put in your stream’s address. If you do not stream, change the button’s words and link. See Change a button or link.
• “The social links in Church info still point at … instead of your church’s own pages.”: See Add social links.
• “Pages you turned off are still linked from the menus or the footer (…)”: Click Open Menus and remove those links, or switch the pages back on. See Show or hide a page.

Dates, maps, calendar and video

• “The gospel meeting’s lessons still show the template’s sample days, JAN 26 to JAN 29, on …”, or “The gospel meeting’s sample dates, January 26-29, 2025, are still on …”: Click each date and lesson and type your own. See Set up a gospel meeting page.
• “The VBS schedule still shows the template’s sample days, JUN 12 to JUN 14, on …”, or “The VBS sample dates, June 12-14, are still on …”: Type your own days and dates. See Set up a VBS page.
• “The announcement banner across every page still says the template’s own …”: Click Open Announcement banner. Type your own words, or switch it off. See Add a banner across the top.
• “A map still points at the sample address on …”: Click the map and enter your own address. See Change your map.
• “The Calendar page still shows the sample calendar.”: Click Go to the Calendar page and connect your Google Calendar, or switch the page off. See Connect your Google Calendar.
• “A video section on … has no video in it yet, so it publishes as an empty box.”: Click the video and paste a YouTube link, or remove the section. See Add a video.

Words and contact details on a page

• “The template’s sample phone number or email address is still on …”: Fill in Church info. If you built that page from a prebuilt page, or added the Contact form + info section, check its contact block too.
• “A section on … still has the library’s placeholder words in it”: A section you added still says what to write there. Click the words and type your own, or remove the section.

Sermons, classes and posts

• “The sermon … is in the template’s sample series”: Open it in Sermons and choose your own series. The same goes for Bible classes and blog posts.
• “The sermon … still names the template’s sample speaker” (or teacher, or author): Open it and choose who it is by.
• “The sermon … still plays the template’s sample recording.”: Open it and choose your own recording, or add a YouTube link instead. See Upload sermon audio.
• “The sermon … still has the template’s description.”: Open it and write your own.
• “… is no longer in your audio library, so its player would play nothing.”: The recording was deleted. Open the sermon and choose a recording again, or add a YouTube link.
• A recording link “is not a whole web address” or “did not play when we tried it”: Paste the recording’s own address, starting with https://. Often the link is to a page about the recording, not the recording itself. Or choose one from your audio library.

Privacy Policy

• “Your Privacy Policy page is not live.”: Every site needs it, because every page loads its type from Google Fonts. Click Open Page settings and switch Page published on.
• “Your Privacy Policy page was deleted.”: Click Restore the Privacy Policy. It comes back switched on.
• “Google Analytics is switched on for this site, and your Privacy Policy page …” (or Cloudflare Web Analytics): Turn the Privacy Policy back on, or clear the analytics box in Church info. See Add website analytics.

Questions that do not stop a publish

These ask once. You choose whether to go on.

• Some pages still say the template’s sample words: A page still says Main Street Church of Christ, 123 Main Street or Anytown. Click Publish anyway, or Let me change them first. If the words are really yours, for example about another congregation with that name, click These are our own words. Publish asks again only when another page says them.
• Sample content stays behind: Example sermons, classes and posts are left off your live site. Click Publish my content, or Let me clean up first. See Edit or delete a sermon, class or post.
• Photos with no description: Click Publish anyway, or Let me add them first. A description helps people who use screen readers, and Google. See Change a photo.

The legal pages, the first time

The first time you publish, Publish asks you to read your Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions and Accessibility pages. The title says These pages go up in the church’s name. Once live, they are your church’s own documents.

1. Click Let me read them first to open the first page. Change anything that is not true of your congregation.
2. Click Publish again.
3. If you want, type your name in Your name, for our record of who read them.
4. Click I have read them and they are ours.

Publish asks again when one of those pages changes, or when you add a new one. We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice.

If it does not work

• The same item comes back after you fixed it: The same words may be on more than one page. Read the page names in the message. Fix each one.
• “Your site is already being published. Wait for that to finish.”: Wait a minute, then try again.
• “Publish stopped partway: …”: Your connection dropped. Nothing changed on your live site. Click Publish again when your connection is steady.

Still stuck?

Email info@project-go.com. Tell us your church name and what you tried.