I was cleaning out my bookmarks recently and came across one I have kept for years, from when I first started working on church websites. It’s Tony Morgan’s “10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website.” Now, I’m no Tony Morgan- Tony, if you see this on your Twitter account, I apologize for stealing your thunder, but in the spirit of helping the church have a better, more effective web presence and since things keep changing in the web world, I’d like to add to your list:
- Animate everything. Flash is great! I think having rotating flash events on your homepage helps display tons of great info about what events are going on through the site. However, when your banner is animated, events rotate, every piece of text spins, flips and makes a sound, I think I am going to go into epileptic shock.
- Talking head welcome videos. Akin to “putting a picture of your pastor with his wife on the main page,” we don’t need people to find out what your pastor looks like in his suit at his desk. Show me your ministries, show me your worship service. Give me a chance to connect with your church in a way that is compelling, not reminiscent of the evening news.
- Force me to hear your music. Nothing wakes me up more than the sudden blast of music from your church’s site I never expected. I mean, no one ever used media players on their computers while they work, surf, or play on the computer right? What does iTunes do anyway? Playing your music on the church site without me knowing it’s coming is intrusive and often a blast (literally, not the good kind).
- Write extremely lengthy blog posts. I know you have a lot to say pastors. That’s why I go to your church. I want to read your blog for 5 minutes before I start my work day, not for an hour trying to get to the end of it daily. If you feel you have so many things to say, set up a Twitter account, blog a couple short blogs a day, let me sift through the ones I want.
- Hide your media. No one will come to your church because they like the teaching style, right? No one shows up because they feel they connect with the pastor, right? Yeah, the average American watched over 2.5 hours of streaming video last month. You’ve got to get your message on your site, and it must be easily accessible.
There you have it, the “10 (plus 5) Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website”. Have more ideas of big website no-no’s? Please share.
pic by barnsley anna
April 24th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Thanks for the good info – as a pastor I like to hear what turns people on and what turns them off.
April 27th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I agree with most of this and I'm all for innovation, but let it be said that at best you can at least have a video with a welcome message from the Pastor if nothing else. Even if he is in his suit and tie at his desk. I'd rather see your face and hear you talking to me than nothing at all (if you feel discouraged in your attempt to break the mold).
While I do agree with you that if it can be done (and I don't see why not) get creative and break the mold, but if you're working with limited resources and locales (etc.)
A great test of a good welcome video – make it, and have someone you know will be real with you watch it. Your wife/husband, kids (who can give a solid opinion – probably over the age of 12), friends and see/hear what they have to say. If all else fails, have someone at faithHighway watch… we'll certainly be real with you!