Media Outreach

Often I hear from pastors, “My website is so horrible I’m embarrassed to have my picture on it, I just have no idea what would make it better!”Look no further, in this brief bit of information I’m going to share with you the most important elements for EVERY website. You might think you’re getting ready to read a doctoral dissertation but don’t fret, it’s actually very simple. I know, I know, and if it’s so easy why are there so many horrible websites out there.

There are five basic elements that every website, no matter what your overall focus, should contain. The first is possibly the easiest to grasp, VISUAL DESIGN. Visual design is the first thing you notice upon opening a new site. It’s important to have high quality, appropriate graphics relevant for your audience. Quickly note to yourself what your church is about:are you outreach focused, do you have the best children’s program in the county, is your worship worthy of an American Music Award? Now, quickly open up your website, does it hit on all of the areas you outlined?

When you have your site open, pretend that you’ve never looked at it before. Act as though you’re a young mom, new to the area, looking for a family church. What information will she be looking for? What times are your services? Where do you meet? Is there childcare? Is there a youth program for her 7th grader? Is this information easy to find? Ease of use through well designed STRUCTURE and NAVIGATION is very important. You need to have less than 10 main navigation links. One easy way to minimize these is by utilizing drop down menus.

Allowing folks to participate with your site is key number three. INTERACTIVITY. Having a site that members can interact with, as well as seek and send information, will keep them coming back for more. Some tools that I always recommend are the calendar system, blogging and online giving/tithing.

FUNCTIONALITY is one key that, when missing, is greatly noticed. It’s vital to keep your graphics loading quickly. All links should lead to a functioning page as well. Utilizing floating/flex pages will cut back on main navigation links and also offer flexibility and page depth to your site.

Now, I’ve left the most important piece of information for the last. Thanks for sticking with me this far. CONTENT is king when it comes to making your site relevant for your members and those first time visitors. Let’s make those first time visitors to your website, first time visitors to your church! It is essential that your content be formatted in an easy to read, easy to understand way. Don’t limit your thinking of content to mean text only; it’s also media and music.

I hope this information has been helpful and hopefully we will be talking again soon.