Media Outreach

First Impressions is facilitated through Guest Reflections. People are asked to pick a website from a church in their area at random and review it. These sites may or may not be powered by faithHighway.

Church Location: Boston, MA

User Profile:

• Female
• 25 to 29 years old
• Caucasian
• Area Resident for 3 to 5 years
• Attends Church 5 or more times per year

Final Grade: Our visitor ranked this as an above average site with great functionality as well as decent navigation and content.

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“The ‘Events’ tab had old events from Easter. However, the newsletter which was posted did include upcoming events for the next couple of months. There was also a ‘calendar’ tab which was up to date. There was not a bookstore section, as it appears they do not have one. However, there was a section about their library and the history of it.”
Our visitor found no broken links or error messages and all the pages loaded quickly.
“The directions section was somewhat hidden. It was under the ‘info’ tab in the ‘contact us’ option. What I liked most about the site was the fact the service times were on the first page. I did not have to go looking for them which is important if I were looking to go to a church for the first time. I also liked the historical background of the church and learning about that.”
“It was very colorful and full of graphics. History was also the focal point of many of the sections on the site as the church has been in existence since the late 1800’s. I did not really like that the blue background was on all of the pages. It was nice on the first page because it caught my attention, but on pages that give history I would have rather seen a more neutral color.”

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What is your overall first impression of this site?

“My first impression was that it was very colorful. It had a large flower and a verse on the opening page. There was also a small photo of what appeared to be an old decorative church ceiling which conveyed this was a historical church.”

What would make this site better?

“I feel more photos of the church would make this site better. A photo of the front of the church would be great because it is in downtown Boston, so a photo would make it easier to locate if someone was walking by. Also, it was nice that they provided sermons on the site, but the most recent was 3 months ago. It would be better if it were more up to date.”

Would you visit this church based on the site?

“Probably.”

faithHighway Tips for improvement…
…from a design expert:

“These colors look a little dated.  Also, there are at least four fonts on the homepage – this is a big no-no.  For a more professional and polished look, keep it to three fonts or less per page.”

…from a programming expert:

“You’re prompted to download a Real Audio plugin as soon as you get to the site, which will make most people leave. In addition, Real Audio doesn’t normally work on Apple computers or on the Safari browser.”

…from a web outreach expert:

“Having your sermons as .ram files requires users to have additional software that is no longer installed as standard to listen to sermons. By upgrading to MP3 formats with a flash sermon player, you can prevent users from needing additional software or plug-ins to listen online.”

Photo by JacobBotter