Creating Websites that Churches Need

[NetMinistry]

I think that the question posed in this forum is a good one. I wonder if it would be better to ask how we create websites that churches actually need - and better yet, websites PEOPLE need. Most of the churches we work with are pretty convinced that what they need is an online interactive brochure. But, are we really creating something useful for people? Is this actually showing significant, world-changing fruit.

I think that these days I tend to lean towards the belief that the very best church website would be one that actually provides product, services, and information and serves as a base for unique resources that visitors can access and even pay for. The most visited websites in the world are functional and useful to its visitors. If churches and ministries could master the art of creating true online tools and resources, then I believe they would draw more people to their organizations that they could handle.

I intend on convincing a few of our clients to try revamping their websites with this in mind. Has anyone ever tried this direction? I'd be curious to know your results. I'll be sure to post ours.

Blessings,

Jose Gomez
CEO / Servant, ChurchForce Inc.
http://www.churchforce.com

[mikeh00]

I've done about 30 church websites in the past year so im always asking myself that question... what can this website I'm making provide for this church that will actually HELP them? Thats why I try to offer as many extra features to them as possible that will make their site as interactive as possible. Even helping a church get their calendar online and in a nice usable format can help alot because most people throw away their bullitens when they leave church, so they often forget about events coming up, and then just don't go. With the calendar being online, its easy to check out whats going on... and hopefully gets more people to come to whatever it is going on. Another thing I've added thats proven to be really popular is an online sermon manager. This is another thing that takes your website from being just a brochure type site into something USEFUL. Sometimes people will be away and miss a sunday.... but if the sermons are online, they can listen to them whenever they want. Plus its a great way for churches (if they have a really great pastor) to show visitors what a message sounds like. I dont know though about charging people to listen to the online sermons from their church. I havent done that so I dont know how popular (or unpopular) that would be. I can see selling the cds of the sermons on the website, but not selling a download audio format, since its costing you nothing to put it online.

Now if a church just wants a whole bunch of static pages... then yeah, I think it is a waste of time and money. But add some powerful interactive and easy to use features, and I think it really does benefit everyone in the church. Just my thoughts! :-)

[r18e05h08]

Yes a church web site should have interactive pages as well as static pages but an important aspect of any church website is the target audience.

Good church websites are hard to create because they must reach two target audiences,not just one. The key to ensuring that your website works well is to design according to the different needs of these two audiences.

Your first and most important audience is those people who are not yet Christians but who are considering coming to your church

Your website's second audience is your existing church members.

There is a third group of people who will visit your site, namely those people who are already Christians but who don't go to your church.

For more info on building a good church website please visit mysite at http://www.myndsquare.com/evangelism or email me at support@myndsquare.com

Thank you

[GuruGreg]

I think one aspect of a church website that is often overlooked is the educational aspect. There is much that can be taught from the pulpit and in small groups or bible studies, but all those depend on the ability of the interested party to attend. It may be very useful to either develop online versions of these where people can come on their own schedules.

A community blog may be a great way to handle a small group discussion or bible study as long as the leader has the power to direct and moderate the discussion. Maybe the answer is just putting up educational resources for people to read on their own times (and PDFs so they can print them out easy).

[flutem3]

Greg wrote:

"I think one aspect of a church website that is often overlooked is the educational aspect."

Hi, Greg,

I could not agree with you more. In fact, that is some of my favorite information to research for our church website. I also listen to what people say they like or would like to know more about, and then I look for information which expands on what they said. In fact, I have some new information ready to go up right now...except I am locked out of the site for the first time since we have had it. Surprise!!!

However, it is also a curious to me that a person will say to me that he/she would like to have "church history" on the website. There are five pages of church history. The link to the material is called..."church history." ta da :confused: Somebody said he wanted to see pictures of the construction work going on. There is a link which says..."Construction Photos." It is a mystery to me. And the links are on the index page. :)

It's a great life if we don't weaken!!

Carol

Carol

[GuruGreg]

Carol,

Have you ever thought of splitting your menu items on your website? I count 22 items in your menu, and I'm guessing that most people don't get past the first 5 or so (just human nature). Maybe you want to split those into two groups, and have the "key" menu items on the left, and then some of the "mid-major" items or the right side of your main info box. Then people might be more likely to find them.

[flutem3]

Hi, Greg,

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I am in the process of trying to figure out how to change the menu. Your idea is a good one. I just have not until recently known how to change it. I only knew what I knew...more or less. Now, I have discovered a couple of other things I can do with it so that it is not so long. Maybe until that time I can alternate positions of topics on the menu. That might wake people up. :D

I think you are right that people just look down a certain distance, or if they are looking for something specific, until they find it...and no more.

By the way, thanks for visiting our website!! I am glad you did. I hope you felt welcome!!

Carol

[wccarmichael]

Any web designer should start with a plan for what a particular web site is designed to achieve. Not all churches serve the same kinds of people in the same kind of way. In fact, there are a zillion kinds of churches scattered across entire groups of churches that differ from each other. So the question is, what does this (single) church need in a web site?

For example, a church I helped to plant in Loganville, GA, from the outset, defined itself as aggressively targeting the "unchurched and dechurched." That meant that we were not going to be inwardly focused, and we were not trying to appeal to people already at another church. As a mission-driven organization, we wanted everything we do to be oriented to that mission. Including the website.

The design criteria was therefor simplified. We don't struggle trying to serve two groups... our own members know what is going on by coming to church and participating in (mandatory) small groups. Our goal for the web site was focused upon drawing unchurched and dechurched people to Christ (through making a connection with our church.) We based major design elements around two critical observations.

1. We call this the "Barna" effect, mostly from his books on Church Marketing. We accept that the primary - if not the only - way people really are brought to church is if they are literally brought to church through a personal connection with a member. So, we committed to fill our website with photos of members and activities, so that even if a web visitor makes a "cold call" on our site, they will go away having seen a lot of real people in our church... maybe the beginning of making a connection. Needless to say, we don't verbally claim authenticity and then use stock commercial lifestyle photos like some churches do in the hopes of looking slick! We use our real candid shots. You see what is here. Wrinkles and all.

You can also see the faces and names of all of our team leaders, group leaders, and administrative leaders. And staff too, of course. The idea is that if you visit once, and then go back to the site, you can start associating some names and functions with the faces you've met. You can get to know them easier. Reinforcing the connection.

2. We call this the "Ranier" effect, from "Surprising Insights from the Unchurched" book. Here the key ingredient is to recognize how important making a connection with the pastor is in order to help a first time visitor make the decision to come back again. We hope that by visiting the site, you can make a personal connection with our pastor, and our staff, such that during your first "real" visit with us, you have a sense of already knowing them. Then, if a connection is made at Worship, it continues to be facilitated at the site. You can quickly learn a lot about them... very personalized, detailed backgrounds. Reinforcing the connection.

The last design goal was simply to try our best to present, in photos, the experience of life at our church. We emphasize photo essays about our worship service, our servant evangelism projects, our outreach and service ministries, and of course, our internal ministries such as children's and youth. The goal is to show it like it is... the strengths with the weaknesses... in the hopes of connecting on an authentic, personal level.

Does it succeed?

Our total budget for web development is the hosting cost of about $200/year. Everything is volunteered. It is not fancy. There is no -NO- flash. There are no -NO- games. The site is fun to the extent that life at our church is fun... which it is... not because we design the site to look fun, but because we try to let the site look like our life. We do not intend for the site to compel people to visit the site some more. We intend for the site to create a compelling interest to visit our church.

Our church plant existed on the web during the core team phase long before we even had a rental space to do worship in. It continues a presence in cyber-space that is very vital to our mission. Four years into its current design, we are now re-working a new site with DotNetNuke to move into the next phase, with the hope of being a little sharper looking, and a lot more participative. We hope to empower some of our ministry leaders with the ability to communicate via the web in their own way. We don't mail a church bulletin - it is "E-news" only with references back to the site... so we do get some mileage out of the site for internal use.

But I can tell you what the mission of the "new" DNN site is going to be...
same as it's always been. Making a personal connection over the impersonal Internet.

Ref: http://theorchardchurch.org

In summary, I'd vote for tweaking the title of this thread slightly...
"Creating the web site that EACH church needs."

C YA - bill