Happy New Year! We hope that 2020 has gotten off to a great start for you and your ministry! We are excited to hear about all of the goals and plans that you have for growth and engagement.

Looking back at 2019, Clover Sites spent the year developing and releasing features to help you further your online mission. It’s such a thrill to see what you do with our software and we’re excited to be a part of your ministries. Let’s take a moment to reminisce, then look forward to some upcoming releases.

New Theme: Dusk

We released our new theme, “Dusk,” which was a big hit!

The highlights:

• It’s highly customizable — From text boxes and six different layout options for your page sections to multi-column layouts.
• Preset color palettes  — Go ahead. Try and make it look bad.
• Events  — Feature specific events, switch from list view to calendar view, apply filters, and more. 
• A fancy footer   — There's not only text, but a photo placeholder spot as well. Use this for your logo, or another important image. 
• List styles you’ll love  — Check out the Ministries page and the Staff page.
• All recent updates for better media management  — The visually appealing design and searchable media archive make it easier than ever to engage and share. 
• Integrated online giving section  — especially if you're using Clover Give) is integrated easily and it looks great with specialized Giving section. 

Here’s a great example of a site using Dusk: Redemption Mount Holly communicates who in stunning visuals. It uses Dusk’s sections and parallax scrolling to give visitors a feel for who they are and how to get involved.

Video Backgrounds

We also released video backgrounds, allowing churches and ministries to really bring their websites to life; making them active and engaging. Many of our churches have started using our new video backgrounds to instantly grab a visitor’s attention. For example, Hope Church in East Hampton, Connecticut, created the perfect video background to promote their Global Leadership Summit. Learn how to add your own here and check out 3 Creative Ways to Use Video Backgrounds.

Livestream Layout

We also released our livestreaming layout, providing a great page for websites to livestream their church services using Churchstreaming.tv. You can easily live stream right on your Clover website, complete with a custom countdown until your next live stream. To get started, grab a ChurchStreaming.tv account (they offer a free trial) then connect it to Clover like this. 

Elexio Integrations

In addition, we released an integration with Elexio, allowing churches to pull in and display their Events and Small Groups offerings! This has been great in helping churches to get their members and visitors more involved. 

Clover Give Integration

We also released an integration with CloverGive on our forms tool. This allows you to simply and easily add a giving form to your website and collect payments. For more information on setting up your CloverGive integration, check out this help article.

Greenhouse Improvements

On top of all of that, we’ve been listening to the requests that you’re making, and implemented several dashboard and Greenhouse improvements last year.

• Audio-only media player layout 
• List View media player layout 
• Control the vertical height of page sections  
• Anchor links  
• Ability to preview the stylized form   

Here are some Greenhouse tips and tricks you might find helpful. 

Clover’s 2020 Vision

Looking at 2020, we have a lot of exciting features coming your way! In this first quarter, we will be releasing a Prayer Layout. This will allow you to create a Prayer Page on your website, where visitors and members alike can post prayer requests, and indicate that they are praying for each other. It’s a great way to engage your church community! 

We also have several new themes that we be made available this year. We are very carefully and diligently taking your feedback into account, and are working hard to keep improving and building Clover Sites to best serve you!

Next Steps

We hope you are as excited about 2020 as we are and we can’t wait to see what you’re doing in your ministries. We’d love to help you create a church website that exceeds your ministry goals.