That is, don't have an intro page that requires or allows visitors to "Enter" or "Skip intro," such as the one shown at right. Splash screens and intro pages are outdated techniques that waste bandwidth and waste user mouse clicks. (The most important content on your site should be reachable in three mouse clicks or less.) Here's another, particularly audacious example of a splash screen: www.thehopeconnection.org. (However, the designer of the site had the good sense to program a browser cookie to be set so that the splash screen is bypassed the second time someone visits the site.)
 
There is one legitimate use for a splash screen, however, and that's when you need an inviting-looking home page that provides paths to several different related sites. One example would be a situation where a church runs a Christian school. The home page or splash screen, then, would include links to the church's website and to the school's website. Another example is the home page of Mountain Lake Church of Cumming, Georgia. The church's home page provides paths to a "Visitors & Newcomers" version of the site, a "Members & Attenders" version of the site, and a third site for church planters. Pleasant View Baptist Church of Port Deposit, Maryland, does something similar.

Don't make an all Flash website.

Don't make visitors wait for your site to download every time they visit it. Don't make them scroll down to see the last three lines of a block of text. (That "dinosaur" — as one designer disparagingly called it — known as HTML has the amazing ability to dynamically accommodate any amount of text vertically because the webpage can expand vertically.) Don't make them squint to read text on your all Flash site because you set the text to 8 point font size and gave visitors no way to increase the size.
 
Instead, make your site with HTML and embed Flash movies to do what Flash does best: animations and audio/video. (But see next item, too.)

Don't make visitors to your church website see the same animations over and over again in Flash movies.

Figure out a way, using cookies and/or session variables, to turn off your fancy animations (once you've impressed visitors with your incredible skills and talent) and stop wasting visitors' time. They've come for information.

Don't use frames.

Frames have fallen out of favor among website designers, and further, cause problems for the screen readers that blind people use to browse websites. Here's an example website. Notice that the bottom right quadrant scrolls up and down, while the top and left stay put. That's done with "frames." Now, you might think there's some merit to this concept, and indeed there is. However, just trust me when I say that use of frames is out of date. Don't do it.

This is an outdated technique. Use text links instead, as much as possible. Text links download quickly, and can be read by the screen readers that blind people use to browse websites.

Don't use strongly patterned page backgrounds (e.g., tiled backgrounds).

Strongly patterned, tiled backgrounds are an outdated technique that makes your site look dated. However, subtle background patterns have made a comeback. I think this is great—patterns exist everywhere in real life, after all. There's also a new trend of using large paisley or vine-like patterns or figures in the background. If you choose to do this, ensure that the patterns don't call attention to themselves.

Don't use animated gifs, visitor counters, or rainbow colors on your church website.

(See examples below.) All three are outdated techniques that make your site look dated. Also, don't credit your hosting company. It's OK to give credit to the web designer, however — just keep the credit line subdued.

Don't include your denominational logo in the banner.

Sorry, but denominational logos were created decades ago and simply don't reflect current graphic design standards. Because of this, it's difficult to include them in a banner in a manner that's appealing. I'm not saying don't include the denominational logo at all on your home page — just keep it small and away from the banner. In fact, your church ought to have its own unique logo, one that reflects the mission and purpose of your church. The church logo can go in the banner.

Don't put a photo of your church building or your pastor (or pastor and spouse) on the home page.

Two reasons for avoiding the building photo: 1) photos of people are by nature more interesting than photos of buildings (even scenic photos are more interesting than building photos); 2) a church is a body of people meeting together in community — not a building. Therefore, use photos of people on your home page, not building photos.
 
By "photos of people" I do not, however, mean photos of your pastor, priest, minister, or bishop.

Advertise your ministries and special events to people who already attend your church, by putting ads in your worship folder/bulletin or including them in your projected announcements. Save the valuable "real estate" of your home page for communicating with people who have yet to enter through the doors of your church.
 
(I'm not saying don't use any ads; just use them sparingly and wisely.)