Doing something “new” is one of the most exciting things for a web designer. Everyone loves “new.” Check it:
NEW!
Even reading the word is exciting. “New” is cool, but it doesn’t do the job all the time. Sometimes, we need the word “maintain” or “update.” Those two…well, they aren’t nearly as sexy as “new,” but they are so very important!
Updating: The Secret to Success
Why do we want our websites to be perpetually new, from a design perspective? We want them to stand out. However, if we were honest, we’d admit that most of our intended audience isn’t going to view our websites in the same way that a designer might. They just want quality, up-to-date information, and that’s what will really make your website stand out. I don’t have any statistics to prove this, just a solid hunch and a single anecdote.
A young man came to my church last Sunday for the very first time. In fact, I believe it was his first time attending church ever, or at least since becoming an adult. Why did he come to church? I can’t say because he didn’t tell us. Why did he choose our church? Because our website was up-to-date with current information, events, etc.
That’s it, folks. That’s a pretty low bar, and yet how many churches don’t meet it? In my town, there are at least five decently sized churches that this guy could have gone to, and that’s assuming he was just searching in my zip code. There are two major towns equidistant from my town that both have even more churches that he could have chosen from. But he didn’t choose any of them. He chose ours because ours had up-to-date information. Apparently, cyberspace is a ghost town where church websites are concerned, and we we were the only one that had the lights on and wasn’t covered in cobwebs. Two hours work a week—that’s all it took to stand out in community of churches.
I want to write more about this, but I think I’d be wasting my words.
Update your church website!
Boom. We’re done here.
Katie Allred says
We update all day, every day. We just launched a redesign of our one of our regional campuses. The rest of our churches will follow suit shortly. Visit the website at StationHillChurch.com.
Phil Schneider says
Love your website, Katie! Way to steward your online presence.
Douglas Porter says
I agree 100%. We try to do the same thing. We are currently redesigning our website but not just to be “new”. We want it more streamlined so we can post to it faster and people can find things easier. We’re also working on getting video on as many pages as possible. When looking for a church while I lived in another state for a year, if I couldn’t see what the church was like before I came, I just looked somewhere else. We’ve heard many times that people have chose our church because our website was updated with recent baptisms videos and that showed that God was doing something! It’s even caused a staff member to choose to work here because of the updated website!
Phil Schneider says
Douglas, that’s awesome! Keep up the good work! One of my goals for this summer is to get tons of video on our site. It makes a huge difference!
Jan P says
Yes, it seems like many church leaders don’t realize the importance of an up to date website. It really allows the congregation and community to know what is going on in the church. I always tell my clients that it is another door to the ministry… another way for people to connect. I do hope you will continue to write on this…. soooo many churches could extend their reach with little expense or effort!! Wishing u all the best
Jan P
Phil Schneider says
Thanks, Jan! I’ll still keep writing because I’m still learning and trying. My strategy on this whole thing is to provide our people with shareable content to empower them to minister to their social networks.
Bevan Kay says
I think whether we like it or not, it isn’t so much as keeping up with trends to be ‘cool’, but to avoid giving the impression that we are behind the times.
It is a fairly common in my experiences for people to view church in a very traditional way, putting a strong emphasis on the Sunday service. If your website can promote through it’s visual that the church is very much for today’s generation and also be up to date with content/events etcetera it can change the perspective from church is for old people and Sundays to church is for all people and there is SO much going on.
I’ve had friends come to church and exclaim that they never knew church was like this! It makes me wonder what we can do to give people a better view of what church is really about!
Sorry for going off on a tangent there.
Phil Schneider says
I completely agree. We don’t have to have up-to-minute current code, but we do need to look alive. Great comment, Bevan.
Eric Dye says
You speak the truth, my friend. You speak the truth…
Phil Schneider says
🙂
Joel Sam says
Wow. Sobering message for churches. For better or worse we live in an online world. We all do the same thing before we buy products etc so I guess we shouldn’t be so surprised when potential visitors look at our websites before deciding to attend. I would add that many people are also taking a look at our social media before attending.
Phil Schneider says
Very sobering. What a great point about social media! You have to be able to engage people online and in-person. Either or won’t cut it.
Thanks for the comment, Joel.
Laurie Neumann says
As church web designers, I’m sorry to say I have to agree with you. It can be disappointing when we spend a lot of time developing a great site, then turn it over and it just sits there.
When people visit a church website, they are looking to find out what’s going on at the church. If there are no events, or old outdated listings of them, they probably go on and visit other sites (and their church.)
You may have an awesome church, but today people are looking online before they come to visit you in person. Don’t lose out on new visitors just because you don’t spend the time to update your website. Like it or not, it’s something churches need to do today to stay current.
Phil Schneider says
Amen!
Church Websites says
One of the most important things to look at in creating a new church website is ease of use. You need it easy to update so that responsibility can be shared among as many people as possible, To me ease of use trumps fantastic design any day. The site may look fantastic but if all changes have to go through your web developer or that one person that knows how to add things it’s going to die a slow agonizing death. If a new volunteer can’t figure out how to post new content on your site in under 10 minutes you need to reevaluate your system.
Phil Schneider says
I totally agree. That’s why are sites are running on WordPress because the bulk of site maintenance and updating can be done with very little technical expertise.
Eric Dye says
A double edged sword.
Phil Schneider says
Boom!