GermWorks - Web Design & Life

Just today I have read a few articles on church website design. Like saying what is important and what are the top designs out there. I have two lists for you. One is a top 50 from a designer and the other is a top 80 from a church community.

As you can see the lists are much different and so its obvious to say that these two groups (designers and church people) look for different elements and visual to capture their attention. Lets try and isolate so important factors for an effective church website design.

Obvious elements first

Hears a list of obvious elements that should be included on every church website small and big.

• Bio about Pastor
• List events and programs of the church
• Mission statement of the church

Detailed contact pages

Whether you include phone numbers directly to the Pastor usually depends on various reasons like: Do you have a PA to screen calls but the contact pages or email address needs to be included and easy to use.

People will and want to contact you. Why? Well a church is all about people and people will look and if they are looking, they have to be somewhat interested.

Are blogs/ book reviews etc important?

Everyone seems to be blog mad these days! Why not it generates interest, keeps google crawling your website regularly and creates money making opportunities. However are blog effective for church websites? Too be honest I have yet to seen a church website create a successful blog.

What makes an effective blog? Something that will generate interest. The latest book reviewed, sermon or a theological debate will not work. These are good ideas but why not use your congregation expertise to even add more to the blog. IE:

• I know a comic writer who attends a church - get him to write about his latest project.
• Add cooking recipes.
• My church has a cop who attends - get him to write about police work.
• Other secular jobs like: council, youth, teacher etc.

This will generate interest and readers from outside your church.

Most important feature usually forgotten

The most important feature for a church website is how do you get to the church. You have spent thousands of dollars creating a website and telling your viewer why they should come to your church, so why not show them how to come.

You will be surprised how many churches fail in this area. Most website just provide a simple ‘mud map’ and while that is all and well good. Why not step it up and provide a google map were they can get directions from their house directly to their church? No more “Oh I could not find your church” and hunting through map directories.

I have implemented this on Jubilee World Harvest and you can find out more about using google maps directions hear and hear.

Target your website to the target audience of people who attend

If your church is full of young people, design a website that is flashy and graphicy. If your church consists of business and elderly people, go for a more corporate clean look.

If your church are not Internet and computer people, there is no point in creating a website for them to spend extra time on (blogs, photo gallery etc) however if they are. Give them an online community and make it cool.

Conclusion

If you have any extra opinions or input that should be added to what I have written, please comment them below. Also please note that I will am an expert in web design and do attend church am not always correct so please if you do not agree, say so!

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