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: Oskaloosa, IA

User Profile:

• Female
• 25 to 29 years old
• Caucasian
• Area Resident 3 to 5 years
• Attends Church 1 to 4 times per year

Final Grade: Average site with decent navigation and content but needing work on the functionality and graphics. ____________________________________________________________________________________

“Most of the information was very easily found, but due to multiple links to the same page, it was slightly confusing.”
The visitor encountered some broken links and error messages.
“It was very easy to find information as most of the important stuff was on the first page. I also liked that there were links to national organizations on the front page for learning more. The online sermons page was interesting and I stayed long enough to listen to one.”
“There are older style graphics on the site and only one photo of the church. The site design is plain to outdated, but information driven.”

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What is your overall first impression of this site?

“My first impression of the site was that there was a lot of information and multiple links to the same information on the front page. The site also has a dated design.”

What would make this site better?

“The links on the front page should be more organized. Multiple links to one page are confusing. A more aesthetically pleasing design or photographs of the church and pastors would be helpful in getting to know the church before I visit.”

Would you visit this church based on the site?

“I am interested in visiting this church based on the information found on the website. There was a link to a map and a photo of the church so I know what to look for. Listening to the sermon made me feel a little more comfortable and familiar with this church.”

faithHighway Tips for improvement…
…from a design expert:

“In my opinion, having animated gif’s on any webpage can be distracting. The flashing red text and the animated mail box are just a little too much. They really pull the attention of your audience away from the content that you are really wanting them to see.”

…from a programming expert:

“This website never finished loading.  It was looking for three files that did not exist, which caused the page to continue loading. The particular problem file was included on most of the pages in the website, so the most of the site loaded slowly.”

…from a web outreach expert:

“The site could benefit from a mobile version.”

Photo By: TooFarNorth