Media Outreach

The other major key to a good website is structure and navigation.
Keep in mind that having a site that makes sense to the user and that the user finds easy to use is key to conveying the information and making the experience on the site a positive one. If your site is rather complex, combining the needs of members and leaders with the goal of reaching out to the community, you might consider having a separate site just for visitors, or at least, clearly labeling the sections that are for visitors with something like a ‘new to site’ link. Also, the navigation should be simple. If it becomes too difficult to figure out where the information is, a user is likely to get frustrated and move on. When labeling the navigation items, be sure that they are easy to understand and avoid vague or churchy phrasing. While it may seem like a good idea to label everything under what the church members will recognize, it is important to keep in mind that the target audience knows nothing about the church. Calling the Youth Ministry page “Our Brave Warriors” may work for members, but visitors will not know what that means and will very likely completely miss out on any information about your dynamic youth ministry. The same applies for labeling pages with long titles. It is important to be brief and to the point. The whole goal in navigation is to have titles which make sense both in naming and in order. This will help keep the user’s attention.

Another element in making the site memorable and useful for outreach is to choose a simple and accurate domain name. The domain name should not be so long that it is easily forgotten nor should it have a bunch of initials or abbreviations, as those are also hard to remember. For more on this, see the best practices article from our September 2008 issue.

While good design, site structure, and navigation are key to having a good website geared for outreach, there are still a few more keys to success we would like to share with you. Next month, we will explore these in more detail.

In the mean time, let us know how your website has affected your ministry, and how your these elements have made for a better online ministry.