3 Keys to a Great Church Website

1.) Good looks

First impressions are important and for many people, your web site makes that first impression. Your web site needs to be clean, uncluttered, and easy to navigate. I’d like to say “less is more,” but I’m afraid somebody will take me literally with a white background, black text, and no graphics.

Don’t do something overly flashy. Just make it simple and beautiful.

Please don’t use animated gif’s (like the one above). Ever.

2.) Good content

What’s the point in going to a web site with nothing on it?

At a minimum, you need your service times, location, doctrinal statement, contact information, and a few pictures of your church. Note: These pictures should be of the church, not the building. So when you do your fall fest, youth event, or picnic lunch, snap a few photos for the web site. You might want to have a couple photos of a worship service too, just so people know what to wear.

You don’t want somebody to see a pretty front page, but not learn anything about you. They’ll just move on to the next web-site.

3.) Regular updates (this is most important)

If your church’s web site looks like it hasn’t been visited since 1994, your pews might look the same. No, the web site may not be what’s keeping people from the pews, but that is the perspective that new prospects might have when they look at your site.

“Wow, the last sermon in the archive is from 2003. Maybe they’re between pastors, honey.”

Right. So, if you’re going to have static content, make it basic. Add some “about our church” and “beliefs” sections and you will especially need the service times. Don’t promise to have weekly sermon updates by creating a podcast or sermon archive. If you have a link to the “sermon archive,” you’re silently promising regular updates. It’s not nice to break your promises here. Either do it regularly, or don’t do it.

Any other ideas? Let me know in the comments.