Wh It's Important to Have a Good Church Website

Just like a business, a church requires some marketing efforts in order to get the word out about its existence and there are several venues to achieve that. One and perhaps the most important one nowadays is a website.

As more and more churches realize the importance of having an online presence, there are still some that doubt whether it is a necessity or perhaps just a movement that churches are jumping into.
You want to grow your church in number so you have to market. You want as many people to know about you as much as possible. You want to reach out to these “prospects”. But how exactly do you achieve that?

There are different ways: from the conventional direct mailing to passing out of flyers to tv advertisement or radio announcement. There are churches that are doing a combination of these things for maximum exposure. However, if you are not in a financial position as a church to utilize these venues, a website is the most feasible and perhaps the most cost-effective one.

With a website, you allow your prospects to find you. You are right where they are looking. People do not flip yellow pages anymore. They log-in to the internet to look for information basically about anything and everything and that is why it is important to have an online presence.

In your website, you allow your prospects to get to know you more: Who your leaders are, what your mission and vision is, the ministries that you have and so on and so forth.

You can also give your prospects a feel of what your Sunday service is like that a flyer or postcard is not capable of doing.

If you have a higher budget, you may also provide your visitors some audio and video materials that will allow them to grow in their walk with God.

You must know though that it is important not to have a website just for the sake of having one. Part of giving your visitors an online experience of what your church is all about is to have one that is visually-appealing. People are visual by nature. They love colors, images, and a combination of both. By having a website that tastefully put these elements together, you are stimulating your visitor’s senses and engaging them to explore more of what you are all about and what you have to offer.

Most importantly, your website does not only represent you but it represents God so it must be presented at its utmost excellence.

Lynne Gabriel is the owner of TheChurchWebsiteDesigners.com - a church website design company based in Houston, TX. TheChurchWebsiteDesigners.com build visually-appealing, user-friendly, and easy-to-manage custom church website design.

Five Tips for Hiring a Church Website Designer

Church website designers seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays. There are so many to choose from. But how do you go about finding the right church web designer for you? Here are several tips you need to know when hiring a church web designer:

1) Surf your church web designer’s website. If you have been referred to a church web designer and said web designer does not even have a web site, stop right there, back away from the computer for a moment and consider this fact. The very first thing a church web designer should have is a web site, and preferably one that they created themselves. So find a church web designer that has a website and take a good look at it. A church web designer may have a completely different website than you want, but that’s ok because their website is designed for a web designer and chances are, you’re not a web designer and may need something different…they know that. The point is to look for three universal things that make up a good web design:
a) Usability: is it easy to navigate? Were you able to find the links you needed right away? Or did you go on a scavenger hunt and left without a prize?
b) “The Clutter-Factor”: How organized is the website? Is it visually appealing? Or do you have to look away feeling the affects of sensory overload as if you just walked onto the set of a Beatles music video circa 1967? (this is asking if the site feels chaotic).
c) Aesthetic: Much of the aesthetic of a website is psychologically based. So how do you feel upon seeing the color scheme, the graphics, the effects? Are you left wanting to see something a little more creative?

A church web designer’s website should exemplify their services and give you a good indication of their knowledge of web design. If you’re looking at a church web designer’s site that doesn’t meet the above criteria you may want to look somewhere else. I’m not saying a church web designer who doesn’t meet those three points couldn’t design a great website for you, but their site should be the first point of reference for their potential clients just as your website will be for your potential visitors. See how that works?

2) Technophile and Creative: Your church web designer should be both web savvy as well as creative. It’s a hard balance for some to achieve but great web designers typically seem to be amazingly both left-brained and right. You want your church web designer to know the ins and outs of all that technical stuff that makes your head spin but also have an artistic sensibility that allows them to create a website that suits you in both the visual aspect as well as usability.

3) Can your church web designer offer suggestions? You have some ideas for your site, sure, but maybe it’s not really your area of expertise. You just know you want a church website that brings traffic. A good church web designer should be able to give you suggestions rather than just doing exactly as you say. If it’s not your area of expertise, it’s likely that a church web designer can provide some insight and knowledge that you don’t readily have. Now, if you want a professional looking church website but they come up with a pink background with green polka dots then they aren’t listening to you or hey don’t know what “professional” means. It’s their job to create your vision but also to make it the best it can be so that you look your best as well.

4) The Functionality Aspect: Look for a church web designer who can provide the functionality you need. Do you need or want flash? Do you have need of an e-mail newsletter sign-up? Do you have products to sell? Do you want a forum or a blog? Contact forms? Photo galleries? Webcasts? If you need or want these things be sure your church web designer can provide them for you before you sign anything or shell out any money.

5) You Get What You Pay For: If you hire a church web designer based solely on the fact that they are the cheapest around, well, then you may as well just walk over to your fireplace, light a log and throw your money in. The old adage “you get what you pay for” is certainly true in the world of web design.
On the flip-side, there are also only so many bells and whistles you can put on a church website so don’t go the other way and assume that the more expensive a church web designer is the better website you’ll get. Just find one that meets the criteria in the article that is within your budget and you should be good to go.

Follow these 5 Tips for hiring a church web designer and you should come out with a fabulous church website.

Characteristics of a Good Church Website

The world judges a book by its cover. Unfortunately, churches are not an exception to that and so is your website.

Just like a business, your church website is your visitor's front door. It does tell a lot of things about you. Internet users nowadays are getting more and more intelligent and they know what a good website is when they see one.

So what does your church website speak about you? Does it give the visitors the right message about your church?

Let's look at some characteristics of a good church website.

1. Less is more. Get rid of the clutter factor.

Contrary to what we think that the more information you put on the homepage the better, it is actually more friendly to your church website visitor if you put lesser information on the homepage - allowing them and encouraging them to easily navigate through the areas that they need or want information on.

They key is to discover the areas in your church or information that you want the visitors to quickly find such as upcoming events, getting involved in a ministry and sermons or what to expect when they attend as a first-time visitor.

2. No flash intro please.

Other than flash intro is not only user-friendly and search engine friendly, it is a thing of the past. A lot of website users nowadays just skip through flash intros to get right in to the page where they need information on.

You have to keep in mind that your visitors are "time-poor" so having a flash intro that doesn't give significant information about your church should not be an option.

3. Intuitive Navigation.

A good church website has easy to find information. In order to achieve this, an intuitive navigation must be in place. What does intuitive mean? It simply means that your church website menu would be available in one central location and is visible on all the pages of your church website (usually on a bar at the top below the header or wherever the designer decides to place the navigation but would be available on every page).

4. No neon colors and glittery effects.

Let's leave them to MySpace layouts for teenagers. Like we said earlier, web users are now more educated and more intelligent and know a good website when they see one.

5. Easy way to contact you.

Is there a way for site visitors to contact you by email? You might think that email may be impersonal. But according to some studies, there are web users that are actually classified as "introverts" and they prefer to use emails over phone calls. So provide both ways to contact you.

Need a church website ? We can help. We can build a fully-customized church website for you.

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