I had the opportunity last week to spend 2 breakouts sharing with a handful of pastors and lay people some of the most basic elements of social media and social networking at the National Foursquare Convention and it was a blast.
It’s always a healthy thing to be reminded that I was once a complete n00b at all of this web “stuff” and that there are still many more people who still are “plugging” in for the very first time – serving them was a joy and a pleasure!
One question that got asked a lot was some of the “core” and most “vital” elements of building a good web design and web presence. I’ve written a number of times my thoughts and I’ve found another source that suggests 7 of their own:
7 Basics Vital to a Good Church Site
- Cater to the Guest
- Remember Your Regular Attendees Too
- Clean Front Page
- Stay Up To Date
- Embrace Existing Technology
- Be Authentic to Who You Are
- Graphic Design Counts
If you’d like to read more about each of the seven, feel free to download this free PDF here!
You can learn more about the authors of this pdf, ChurchJuice, here!
Martin Hathaway says
Looking at it completely dispassionately, how is it that church websites still get built to “cater to guests” more than existing members? Don’t you end up with a website that becomes irrelevant as soon as people cross the threshold for the first time?
Martin Hathaway says
Look at the numbers of prospective members vs. actual members. Shouldn’t we re-evaluate where the focus of our church websites should be?
Brian Barela says
hey mark the analytics at least on my local ministry site reveal that it’s used more by “guests” than members. especially for non-believers and new people our website is often the first “face” they see.
i’m sure many church sites could improve the member sections of the site–i know my last local church could have as i rarely if ever used the site for anything more than grabbing a phone number or email.
what sorts of features would you like to see more of for members?
Adam Lehman says
Ditto to Brian’s comment.
Our website is filled with information that church members would already know.
I don’t think that church members wouldn’t use the church website if it were important for them, but I think they – usually – desire a much more interactive experience with a church website and – because of budget and time – most churches don’t have an incredibly interactive & engaging website. Most church websites seem to simply be filled with information about ministries, people to contact, etc.
Facebook & twitter & email & phone calls seem to be spaces where people go for interaction, not church websites.
Brian Barela says
hey adam the ministry info stuff is rampant on most sites and useless in my opinion.
it’s really hard for me to think of features that i would really want from a church site. the only thing that came to mind was easily download-able sermon audio, and if someone on the pastoral team created solid resources/devotionals/etc i’d pull those from the site.
Danny Bixby says
I agree, we should definitely look at those numbers.
Since our site gets about 30k visitor a month, and only has 4k members, I’d say non-members to members is sitting at a ratio of about 6:1.
But still, you seem pretty hung up on point #1 of that list….don’t forget about point #2
VietChristian.com says
Thank you for reminding to pay attention to the new visitors. My site has 60K visitors each month. 1 out of 4 users are new visitors!
Chris Hill says
Does “Graphic Design” include quality photography? If not, it should. Not all graphic designers are not photographers, so having both on your team is beneficial. I’ve always been fond of seeing high quality photography on a church site rather than using stock images. It comes across as personal and authentic.
Danny Bixby says
Couldn’t agree more!
I hate stock photo on church websites. For exactly the reasons you listed.