I’ve been really impressed with Clover and the beautiful websites they have developed, and especially the intuitive ease with which they are designed…especially for those of us who don’t know how to program or code. I recently sat down to interview them and to get a better sense of who they are as a company and what they are about.
Tell me a little about the history of Clover. How did is start? Who was involved? What was the impetus behind their decision to start Clover?
Clover was created out of a design firm called ‘The Regime’. Our developers, Ben and Jim, started ‘The Regime’ back in 2007 and primarily did custom, super-creative work for bands, companies, restaurants, and ministries. After their home church (Cornerstone
Church of Simi Valley, CA) began planting a bunch of churches throughout the country, it didn’t take them very long to see the greater need for websites in the church community. They realized that not every church could afford a $15,000-$20,000 dollar website, and this prompted the idea of ‘Clover’. Clover was launched on May 15, 2008. They figured if they could create sites that met churches’ needs,
and could offer it to many people (rather than a few), they could charge so much less for it. They would also make it to where ministries weren’t dependent on having a programmer on staff or a web company to update their site… This would allow the ministry to save a ton of time and money, both of which are hard to come by. The result was Clover.
What is the #1 reason do you think that people come to Clover for their website needs?
We have found that the main reason people come to Clover is because there is nothing else out there like it. If you have spent any time at all looking for a website for your ministry, you will find that Clover is the only solution that combines beautiful designs, reasonable pricing, and unbelievably easy site management.
What separates Clover from the other web developing companies out there that are aimed for churches and ministries?
I think the ease of use really sets us apart from every other offering out there. With our new Greenhouse 2.0 (coming soon!), our new features will spark even more interest, but our CMS (Content Management System) just trumps anything out there. Another really cool thing about Clover is that you can test out every single feature before ever buying a site. You can go our site (cloversites.com), click on any one of the designs, and actually edit our sample sites. You can put your own photos, your own audio or video sermons, your page
titles and content, all without ever spending a dime. It’s really the best way to see everything Clover has to offer.
You talk about the “ideal user” on your website, but I was wondering if you could answer that again for me. What is the ideal user…or who predominantly comes to Clover for their web development needs?
I would say our ‘ideal user’ is someone who values beauty and current-looking websites, but isn’t a programmer
What is the mission/vision behind Clover, and how does Clover strive to have “Kingdom impact.”
Definitely one of the missions behind Clover is to get the Word of God out. Now, every ministry can have an online presence to reach their community for Christ that is current, gripping, and clean. This is absolutely the most vital part of what we’re doing here at Clover.
Ministries can put their messages on their site to share the Gospel to anyone visiting them online. Clover wants to help equip ministries
to do the work God has called them to do.
If someone is reading this interview, and they are shopping around for a website, what would you say to them to convince them to come to Clover?
The beauty of Clover is that we really don’t have to do much convincing… All we really have to have people do is try everything out at www.cloversites.com.
