Like any other organization or business, a contemporary religious or church website has to function well, be easily accessible, have great information and look wonderful for users. And that's no simple task for many who previously only wrote straightforward newsletter content for their staff, pastors and flock. With people everywhere using the new power of personal computing and the Internet, it is important to reach them online. And while getting the point across about spirituality and worship may be second nature, building and organizing a website to spread that word takes a little doing. Many ministries cannot afford an expensive web designer, so it is more cost-effective for an in-house communicator to take the helm. With some of the important tips below, you can create the best and brightest site for your church. The first thing that you want to think about is how to be contacted. It is incredible the number of websites that have no contact information listed on any of their pages. In addition to creating a standard, easily accessible and dedicated Contact Page with complete street and/or mailing address, contact telephone number and administrative e-mail address, some basic contact information should be listed on every page. This can be done in a small but legible font either along the bottom or top of each page. It is also important to have a staff directory page with basic contact information, on the main Contact Page or a separate one, if need be. Another important consideration is the website color scheme. Be sure to pick colors that make sense and coordinate with existing design elements that your church uses for signage or business cards. If you are looking for a new image, choose colors that are elegant, pleasant and work well together. You may wish to have more than one navigation menu, but whatever approach you take be sure to lay out your site simply. Group information into categories and, from there, determine how it will be navigated. It is really important to be thorough and consistent across the entire site so that users can see where they are going and feel familiar with site elements. For a church that has several locations, it is crucial to do this. Also, it is important to make sure that every bit of content is well edited, and that internal and external links work correctly. If users find that your site works erratically, the less they will come to visit. Keep your content up to date also. It is important to regularly check all aspects of your site out to make sure that it runs smoothly for all, and with all the popular browsers, too. Banners and ad graphics often get overloaded on church websites. Be sure to devote a single page to the church events that merit creation of any of these banners. If indeed there is something crucial that is approaching fast which all of the flock be made aware of, then place this information on the home page. In general, however, placing too many banners on a home page is distracting and can be confusing for some site users. Since many pastors use special "language" or custom terms and references in their sermons, this can often carry over into newsletters and church websites. It is important to stay away from this language, especially for outsiders or others who are new members of the church. If there is something that is used often and is significant enough to warrant an abbreviation, then it should be explained parenthetically when used the first time. Many church websites have too many widgets and smaller graphic buttons on them. If you do include such things, make sure that they are absolutely essential to, say, an upcoming event or regular activities. It is best to keep your site simple, functional and easy to look at without extraneous information. In general, if your site functions simply, it is more likely to be visited regularly. Try to stay away from items on the site that may be popular elsewhere but that will essentially trip up your users or create an unnecessary need to understand a new task, etc. If they run a cursor over a link, then the link should change color and there should be an arrow that changes to a hand image, or if they clink on an e-mail link, the e-mail page should simply pop up or send them to the mail application on their computer. Ultimately, your church website has to be seen, and for this happen you have to get your website on the top of the search results in Google and Yahoo. In order to stand out easily, you have to place what are known as meta tags in the headers of your pages, which include crucial keywords that search engine users use to find churches. If there is money in the church budget, you can also use a few SEO methods that include creating articles on outside sites that link into your site or banner ads on related sites that link back to you. Keep the content brief, informative and simple. Viewers can only take so much information, imagery and activity on a website, so it is best not to test their nerves and attention. Try to sit down with key church administrators and figure out what is truly essential for your web presence. Toss out the things that really don't matter. Also, make your copy short, sweet and digestible. If visitors want to read more, make extra pages for the "full" versions of articles. Of course viewers can attend church to find out more if they feel they've missed something on the site. After all, you want them to participate in the church more than just "virtually"!
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Like any other organization or business, a contemporary religious or church website has to function well, be easily accessible, have great information and look wonderful for users.
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