Set Up Your First Products

Now that you have the proper bearings, we can finally set up some of your first products. And if you haven't been oriented with the Nucleus Dashboard yet, we highly recommend checking out this guide before moving on.

Remember that no matter what, you've just gained access to two 100% free products for life: The Launcher & Nucleus Prayer. So let's get those set up first. Then, we'll take a peek at other products you can test drive and fall in love with 😍

In this guide, we'll cover the following topics. Click on any one to jump ahead.

Finalize Your General Church Info

If you've just recently created your Nucleus account, when you log in, you'll likely see one or two banners. If you're still in the free trial period, you'll see the option to choose which paid products you would like to maintain access to. And the second banner will be a notice letting you know that a few of your church details are missing from your Church Settings. Let's get rid of this banner together!

To get started, click the Add Church Info button on the banner, or choose Church Settings from the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner. Once you're in the Church Info section of Church Settings, you'll want to fill in each of the available sections to correctly represent your church.

Finalize Your General Church Info

If you've just recently created your Nucleus account, when you log in, you'll likely see one or two banners. If you're still in the free trial period, you'll see the option to choose which paid products you would like to maintain access to. And the second banner will be a notice letting you know that a few of your church details are missing from your Church Settings. Let's get rid of this banner together!

To get started, click the Add Church Info button on the banner, or choose Church Settings from the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner. Once you're in the Church Info section of Church Settings, you'll want to fill in each of the available sections to correctly represent your church.

Contact Details

The first section you'll be asked to complete is your church's Contact Details. Go ahead and fill those out.

Mailing Address

The next section is where you'll enter your church's Mailing Address.

Time Zone

Finally, under Localization, you'll choose the time zone of where your church is located. This allows our system to correctly filter submissions in accordance to your particular time zone. Otherwise, it's possible that some submissions might have the wrong date depending on if they were submitted very late at night or very early in the morning, leading to a misrepresentation of all the submissions that were sent in on a particular day. (i.e. This is super important for such an easy task to accomplish 😅)

Once you've completed filling out all three sections of information (and saved all your changes along the way!), that second banner should no longer appear at the top of your Dashboard 😎

Set Up The Launcher

Now that you have all your details added, you can begin setting up your Launcher. (How exciting!)

First, select  Next Steps from the dropdown menu in the upper left hand corner. You'll see a lot of options - from the Launcher, to Banners, to Install - but don't worry! Stick with this guide and you'll be a pro in no time.

Add An Action

Note: If you'd like to see the Launcher in action so you can see a visual of what you're building, click here to go to one of our demo websites. Click the Launcher button in the bottom right corner to open the Launcher. All of the options in the Launcher are called Actions. That's what you're adding to your Launcher right now.

Now, type in the title you want people to see when they open your Launcher. Let's just name it Contact Us for simplicity.

You'll also be able to choose whether this action links to a custom Flow, your GivingFlow, your PrayerFlow, or to an external URL.

Go ahead and click URL. Then click the Add Now button.

Set Up Your Action

Now that the action exists in your Launcher, we need to link it to an actual URL. Let's click on the Setup button.

Next, go to your church's website and find your church's Contact Us page. (Most church websites have one, but if yours doesn't, it might be a good idea to add that quickly first.)

Copy the URL exactly as it appears in your browser address bar, and paste it in the Enter a URL field. (Make sure to include the http:// or https:// as shown below.)

You can also choose whether to open the link in a new tab.

Below this, there are additional settings. This section is optional if you're wanting to further customize your Contact Us action, but we can get into Launcher modifications later.

Feature Action

Next, click the Featured Action tab. When you have more than one action item in your Launcher, you can choose to feature one at the top (like the Pray with us action in the example above.)

Note: We'll skip this for now, but if you'd like to see what these options do, you can always save your changes and click the Preview button to see what this will look like once it's live on your church's website.

Customize Text

For now, click on the Customize Text tab. Here, we'll make some edits.

Go ahead and use the same call-to-action statement by adding Take your next step here. (You can always make changes later.) Then click the Save changes button.

Let's go ahead and use the same language as the example above. (Don't forget to save your changes!)

Logos

Next you'll want to visit the Design section. Design is where you'll choose how you want your Launcher to look so that matches the feel of your church website. The very first thing you'll want to do on this website is upload your logo. You can do this by simply clicking the Add Image button, or by dragging and dropping your logo image file into the square. 

Here Are A Couple Things To Keep In Mind:

  • Your logo should be in PNG format. This usually means that the background is transparent and that there isn't a white background. 
  • The dimensions of your logo should be at least 400 px wide to appear clear on all devices.
  • Ideally, your logo should match the same one used on your website.

Note: You can preview your Launcher at any point by clicking the Preview button in the upper right hand corner. 

Then on the Colors section choose the Launcher color you want by picking one of the preselected options, or enter a custom Hex code to enter a colour that matches your website. Then scroll down to choose the Color Mode. We recommend Auto, as this will adjust the Launcher to match the preferences of the person using the Launcher to decide whether it displays in light or dark mode, but you could choose to permanently have the Launcher display as one or the other. 

Next you can  Customize the text of your Launcher under the Launcher tab by selecting the Customize Text option. Here you can change the messaging that is built into the Launcher to ensure it best fits the messaging of your church overall.

Now that your Launcher is set up, the final step is to install it on your website so that your church can easily access it and take their next steps anytime. To do this, you'll click the Install menu item, and then follow the steps in this guide.

Add The Prayer Hub To Your Launcher

Next let's add the Prayer Hub to your Launcher. The Prayer Hub will allow church members to submit prayer requests, view the prayer wall and use features like focus mode.

To do this you'll go to the Launcher tab and select Actions. (You can quickly switch between products using the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner.) Then click the + Add New button on the right hand side and enter the name you want for your Prayer action item. For our example I'm going to label mine 'Pray with us'. Choose Prayer as the Action Type to let our system know that you'll be using the Prayer Hub here, then click the Add Now button. 

When you click Add Now you'll see a Setup button appears beside the Action Item in your list, go ahead and click that. On the page that opens where you see the Action Type heading, choose Prayer. Then in the drop down menu under Destination, select Prayer Hub. 

Remember you can preview the work you've done in your Launcher at any point by clicking the preview option in the upper right hand corner of the page. 

Create A Flow From A Template

Now let's set up a Flow. Nucleus Flows allows you to create stepped forms to easily guide your church members through signing up for events, volunteering, complete connect card, or any other next steps your church offers. 

First you'll want to navigate to your Flows product by clicking the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner and choosing Flows from the list. This will bring you to the All Flows page of your Dashboard. This is where you can add and manage your Flows. To create a Flow click the Add New button, type in the name you want this Flow to have and then click the Create Flow button. For our example I'm going to create a connect card style Flow and label it 'I'm New'.

Once you've clicked the Create Flow button you'll notice that a Manage button appears. Go ahead and click that, and this will present you with the option to create your Flow from scratch or use one of our available templates. 

For this example I'm going to choose the I'm New/Connect Card template. At this point you can use the template exactly as it is. Just click the Publish button in the upper right hand corner. Or choose the Edit button beside any of the steps to customize them to fit your church.

I'm going to use the template exactly as it is, so I've clicked the Publish button and confirming my choice.

Now to add it to the Launcher, you're going to return to the Launcher by using the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner. In the Build section click the Add New button, then enter a new for this action item. I'm going to enter 'I'm New'. Then Save Changes.

Once you've clicked the Save Changes button you'll be presented with the option to Setup this Launcher item. Go ahead and click that button. Then on the page that opens under Action Type choose Flow, then select the Flow you want this action to connect to from the drop down list under Choose A Flow. 

Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click to Save Changes. Remember that you can preview any changes to your Launcher using the Preview button in the upper right hand corner at any point. 

The preview will show you exactly how your Launcher will appear on your website, so in this case I'm reviewing the I'm New action we just added. So I've clicked the Preview button and then chose to Open Launcher. Now I'm going to click the I'm New action item. 

And from here I'll just follow the steps, entering a bit about myself including my name and contact information. And then I hit Submit.

Since I'm happy with the Flow we've created exactly as it is, I'm going to double check that I saved the action item to my Launcher, and that's it!

Start An Evergreen Follow-Up Message Campaign

Next let's get started with People & Messages. You can easily navigate to this product in your Dashboard by clicking the drop down menu in the upper left hand corner and choosing People from the list. Automatically you'll find yourself in the All People section. This is where you can view and manage anyone who has submitted a Flow (regular, Giving, Prayer, or otherwise) to your church, as well as any manually created People profiles. 

Now let's set up our first Messages campaign. By default the sender information for all Messages sent through Nucleus will be the church name and and email that you entered in your church settings. but if you ever need to adjust this, you can do so under the Settings section after clicking the Messages tab. 

To set up an email campaign, click the Messages tab then choose the Add New button and enter a name for your campaign. 

Once confirming the name you've entered you'll be asked to setup an audience for your campaign. Go ahead and click Begin Setup.

For our example I'm creating a follow-up email to new visitors so I'm going to choose the Dynamic audience option, then select to populate using a Flow, then select the I'm New Flow so that anyone who fills out the I'm New Flow now and in the future will receive this email.  

Now that we've set up an audience for this email campaign, we'll choose the Emails section from the left hand menu, and for this case, we're going to choose the Automated Sequence, which allows you to send a series of emails at specified intervals, and click the Add New button, and enter a title for your message. 

Now we can write out our email. You can else see what the email will look like when someone receives it by using the Send Me A Test Email button in the upper right hand corner. 

And at the bottom of the page you can choose the schedule that you would like this email to be sent on. Then click Save & Start Sending.

Check Out Nucleus Giving

Wanting to dive into the world of online giving, but feel like it's a bit daunting? Don't worry! We have an entire checklist right within the Dashboard to make sure you don't miss any important steps.

PLUS, if you're unsure of how to transition from an old online giving platform to a new one (i.e. Nucleus Giving), we have an entire 12-week guide on How To Smoothly Switch Church Giving Providers.

To get started, choose Giving from your Dashboard.

Then, follow the checklist that you're presented with to set up your processing account. Click here for a direct link to begin your processing account application.

Note: We have an entire guide dedicated to walking you through filling out your processing account application. Click here to view that.

To view the Giving admin tools, click the main menu options along the top of the page. The first one is Transactions which allows you filter donations by date, fund, frequency, status, etc.

Annual statements can be issued during tax season by clicking the Manage menu item and selecting the Statements option. Once here you'll choose the Setup button beside the year you're issuing Statements for.

Finally you can set up your GivingFlow so that it's ready to be installed on your website by choosing Manage and selecting GivingFlow.

And you can always preview what your GivingFlow will look like in action by choosing the Preview button in the upper right hand corner.

Create An Entire Website Using Page Templates

While all of the other products discussed above are incredible and have the potential to revolutionize the way your church takes and manages next steps, let's take a look at the original product that Nucleus offered: Nucleus Web.

Designed specifically with The Launcher in mind, both products work hand-in-hand to create the best next steps experience for your church no matter what device they're accessing your church's website from. So if you've already set up The Launcher (as instructed above), you're already halfway there! 😁

Creating a website from scratch can seem daunting. And we're not going to pretend like there isn't any work involved. BUT with page templates and several color palettes and font packs already curated to choose from, you can have a functioning website that looks beautiful in no time!

To get started, click on Web from your Dashboard (either on your main page or from the dropdown menu). Or click here for a quick link.

Viewing your Pages Panel, you can begin editing your homepage or begin creating all your other pages using our pre-made templates.

Simply click the + Create Page button.

Next, choose Start from a template.

Then, select which template you want to use.

Name your page (for organizational purposes) and then click Create Page.

Now, choose the level of privacy for your page. (Don't worry - you can change this later too.)

Next, you can send an email invite to anyone you want to help you manage this particular page. (Many hands make light work!)

And that's it! You've already created your first page! Now it's time to edit each section with your own church's information. But you've got an amazing point to start from 🙌

Want to learn more about how to create a beautiful website with Nucleus? Click here to explore.

What Next?

While setting up your Launcher and navigating through your Next Steps, you might have noticed a couple other options in them main menu: Banners and Info Cards. Though these aren't necessary to set up to get your Launcher up and running, they are amazing features that work in tandem with your Launcher. With all three active - your Launcher, Banners, and Info Cards - your website goes from being a static yellow pages to an interactive and dynamic site, promoting Next Steps on every single page 😎

To learn how to set up these features, click either of the links below:

Otherwise, if you're looking for your next step in your Nucleus journey, you might find the following guides helpful:

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