Suggestions for a small church website

[black_rose]

So, I didn't think to do this before, but I think it's a really good idea..

My church is a very small church, and we do have a website here. There's many things about the website already that I know need to be changed (the biggest being that our old pastor is still on the site. ).

I'm on the website committee at my church which, hopefully, will meet soon. I was just wondering what kind of things would make the site more appealing to people who don't attend the church. Seeing that I'm not even 20 yet and the other couple of people on the committee are 50 or older, I may not hold much weight, but I would love it if we could get some feedback from you guys.

Feel free to point out anything like aesthetics, layout (which really needs work), etc.

Also, a couple of side notes: there wasn't even a website committee when the site is made, so none of the erroneous things were my doing. And, lastly, I know that the sinner's prayer is on the site. It makes me cringe. But I don't think I can just say, "We need to take the sinner's prayer off the website because it's complete nonsense!" I would love to do that, but I think that's something that would have to be addressed by our new pastor.

Thanks in advance for your help. ^__^

 

[Marrow Man]

You should probably put information about your weekly bulletin, and include something about the style of worship (and the philosophy behind it). A "what to expect" link might be helpful to someone looking to visit.

The "Plan of Salvation" link needs to be completely redone. Is this church reformed in any sense? Saying "Jesus loves you" a dozen times and having a sinner's prayer at the end is not the way you want to go here. That's probably going to be difficult to get across to some of the older folks, though. It looks "evangelistic," but it screams "new measures."

A more biblical approach can be seen at the "Two Ways to Live" website, which includes an animated presentation: http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/

 

[Jack K]

I'm going to put on my marketing guy hat here...

There are typically two main purposes for a website. One is to provide resources and info for members. The other is to be a marketing tool (to borrow a term from the secular world) to attract outsiders. It sounds like you're mostly interested in the marketing aspect.

Good marketing people look at a website a lot like they do advertising. They don't just go for mass appeal. Rather, they determine what is unique that they offer and what sort of people will want it. Then they build their website to emphasize their uniqueness and to appeal to those who'll appreciate it.

In the case of a church this can get tricky, since we all want to say that Christ's church is for everyone and that it shouldn't be tailored to anyone's whims. True enough. But I contend that the vast array of churches in the typical American city makes a pretty sorry landscape, and so we have many deep and godly ways (as opposed to shallow ways) we might stand out. And where people are looking for a church that's somehow more godly than what's typical, those are people you want to attract.

The current website is just there. It says "generic church." It offers nothing distinctive.

The hard part, and most important part, about building a great website will be determining what sets your church apart amid the lukewarm-ness of American churchianity. Hopefully, your church has some godly and biblical answers, and your new pastor should certainly be involved in answering that question. Once it's clear, simply build the website around those themes. That's the easy part.

 

[GulfCoast Presbyterian]

My wife is in charge of updating our church's website, so all of these perspective's are helpfull to me, too!

 

[Pilgrim]

I worked on a church website last year, although someone else eventually brought it to fruition, albeit in a way that leaves something to be desired, in my opinion.

I would start by simply looking at a lot of church websites, which will give you some ideas. There are a lot of free WordPress and maybe other templates out there as well. Pastor Fred Greco has just had his congregation's website redone. He will have some pointer. Rich has done a lot of church websites and has some helpful material here.

 

[GulfCoast Presbyterian]

What do you use to store sermons? Host them somewhere not on your site and link back somehow? Our webpeople have given us so little "space" that we don't think we can make it work without some sort of total redesign or a link back type situation. I hope that made sense.

 

[InSlaveryToChrist]

You should probably put information about your weekly bulletin, and include something about the style of worship (and the philosophy behind it). A "what to expect" link might be helpful to someone looking to visit.

The "Plan of Salvation" link needs to be completely redone. Is this church reformed in any sense? Saying "Jesus loves you" a dozen times and having a sinner's prayer at the end is not the way you want to go here. That's probably going to be difficult to get across to some of the older folks, though. It looks "evangelistic," but it screams "new measures."

A more biblical approach can be seen at the "Two Ways to Live" website, which includes an animated presentation: two ways to live : : the choice we all face

I liked the tract for the most part, but it's still man-centered in making the statement:

"The first question you need to ask yourself is: Which way do I want to live?"

Instead of being concerned about our own desires, we should start with our God-given purpose, namely, the glory of God.

 

[fredtgreco]

What do you use to store sermons? Host them somewhere not on your site and link back somehow? Our webpeople have given us so little "space" that we don't think we can make it work without some sort of total redesign or a link back type situation. I hope that made sense.

Web storage should be very cheap. When I had coded our own website, we had unlimited web space for around $7/mo. You can get it for $4/mo if you need less web features. If your host won't give you sufficient space for sermons (they should be willing to give you at least 2GB), then I suggest finding a new host.

 

[Romans922]

It looks like the site is built on Wordpress. That is fine. It has an early 2000's look, so I actually think your template needs to be updated to something newer looking.

Also, "Deacon's Corner" is kind of weird.

You might think of putting up as one of your pages instead of "Staff" and "Deacon's Corner" One page called "About" with the drop down menu being filled with "Beliefs" "Theology of Ministry (i.e. what your church is about)" "Plan of Salvation [this could be part of the theology of ministry)" "Deacons" "Pastor" "Music Director".

 

[Weston Stoler]

I can help with the plan of salvation shannon. I would be willing to drive to your church and talk to your pastor and make a new one. That is important dontcha know

---------- Post added at 01:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:07 PM ----------

I'm going to put on my marketing guy hat here...

There are typically two main purposes for a website. One is to provide resources and info for members. The other is to be a marketing tool (to borrow a term from the secular world) to attract outsiders. It sounds like you're mostly interested in the marketing aspect.

Good marketing people look at a website a lot like they do advertising. They don't just go for mass appeal. Rather, they determine what is unique that they offer and what sort of people will want it. Then they build their website to emphasize their uniqueness and to appeal to those who'll appreciate it.

In the case of a church this can get tricky, since we all want to say that Christ's church is for everyone and that it shouldn't be tailored to anyone's whims. True enough. But I contend that the vast array of churches in the typical American city makes a pretty sorry landscape, and so we have many deep and godly ways (as opposed to shallow ways) we might stand out. And where people are looking for a church that's somehow more godly than what's typical, those are people you want to attract.

The current website is just there. It says "generic church." It offers nothing distinctive.

The hard part, and most important part, about building a great website will be determining what sets your church apart amid the lukewarm-ness of American churchianity. Hopefully, your church has some godly and biblical answers, and your new pastor should certainly be involved in answering that question. Once it's clear, simply build the website around those themes. That's the easy part.

I'm coming up with an example that I think fits what your trying to say

Decatur Presbyterian Church, P.C.A.
my Presbyterian church is the only reformed church in the city. It focuses on what makes it unique and tailors to its audience while not being seeker friendly and presenting a clear credible gospel. Good example?

 

[black_rose]

Thank you all for your input. The "Website Committee" is finally going to have it's first meeting ever! Woot! ~lol~ We're having our meeting tonight so, if I can, I will try to address some of your suggestions.

 

[rpeters]

Well,
I am a web developer I have literally developed. A couple things are standard in all websites especially church websites(if you would like me to go into ore detail on one one I can, through skype). Lets get to what I think every church website needs for a small church. First, know your target and aim for it. Whatever your mission and vision of the church you better make sure they can tell it through website. For if you portray one vision on unintentionally of course and they find out that your really about something else the fact is that can damage you. Second, make it easy to navigate. Third, because your small you must be strategic to put your information up on your site. The danger is that you put to little or to much. A good cms will help. I recommend Joomla or Wordpress. Wordpress is my first choice, for a small church it is the best to start with. Fourth, have fun! Picking a website can be fun or it can be a torture and it will show.

 

[black_rose]

Ok, so it turns out we didn't have that meeting. Something came up. So we're planning to have it next Sunday.

---------- Post added at 03:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 PM ----------

Well,
I am a web developer I have literally developed. A couple things are standard in all websites especially church websites(if you would like me to go into ore detail on one one I can, through skype). Lets get to what I think every church website needs for a small church. First, know your target and aim for it. Whatever your mission and vision of the church you better make sure they can tell it through website. For if you portray one vision on unintentionally of course and they find out that your really about something else the fact is that can damage you. Second, make it easy to navigate. Third, because your small you must be strategic to put your information up on your site. The danger is that you put to little or to much. A good cms will help. I recommend Joomla or Wordpress. Wordpress is my first choice, for a small church it is the best to start with. Fourth, have fun! Picking a website can be fun or it can be a torture and it will show.

Thanks for the advice!

We're currently using Wordpress, but the head of the committee would like to switch to Joomla, so I suppose we'll see how that goes. I'll try to personally make sure of the accuracy, layout, and amount of info on the site, since that seems to be our huge problem areas, which I know turns people off of the site, not to mention our church.

 

[sdesocio]

Dont switch to Joomla, unless you are planning on doing a ton more with the site wordpress will do everything you need. Our church's site was made with Wordpress - GraceandPeacePGH.org

Joomla is a pain and only really confident tech people will be able to update your site. You might want to think about clover...

 

[black_rose]

Joomla is a pain and only really confident tech people will be able to update your site. You might want to think about clover...

What would you consider a confident tech person to be? I'm really decent at creating websites and have more than enough time to keep things updated.

 

[rpeters]

WordPress has a place, but in reality it all depends what you want. Wordpress for simple web pages and 1 user blog, joomla for mroe advanced features multiple user blogs, custom fields etc. Joomla 1.6 has improved over 1.5. I would ask why does the board want to switch to joomla. I would not say you have to be real tech savy to operate joomla's basic features the more advanced yes. My Pastor operates joomla fine and he is not tech savy.

---------- Post added at 01:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 AM ----------

check out rocketthemes

---------- Post added at 01:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 AM ----------

I would not say clover is a good idea

 

[raekwon]

Dont switch to Joomla, unless you are planning on doing a ton more with the site wordpress will do everything you need. Our church's site was made with Wordpress - GraceandPeacePGH.org

Joomla is a pain and only really confident tech people will be able to update your site. You might want to think about clover...

I'm personally not a fan of Clover, only because their sites are so Flash-heavy. But they do make darn nice sites.

We built our site (Grace Central - Home Page) using SquareSpace -- designed and built in-house, actually.

 

[sdesocio]

I mean someone who is an amateur web developer. Joomla isnt not intuitive, and if you are a small church looking to put up basic info, you dont need more that than.If you know how to mess with stuff that is great, but in using joomla you basically bind yourself to doing all the work or finding someone equally comfortable with joomla to update your site. I say this from personal experience, we used Joomla at my last church and in the end if I didn't update the site it didnt get updated even though I made instructional videos about how to post and edit, most people just didn't feel comfortable.

 

[black_rose]

I mean someone who is an amateur web developer. Joomla isnt not intuitive, and if you are a small church looking to put up basic info, you dont need more that than.If you know how to mess with stuff that is great, but in using joomla you basically bind yourself to doing all the work or finding someone equally comfortable with joomla to update your site. I say this from personal experience, we used Joomla at my last church and in the end if I didn't update the site it didnt get updated even though I made instructional videos about how to post and edit, most people just didn't feel comfortable.

Ahh, ok. I think I've kinda been voted to be the "update" person, although I have yet to have admin powers on the site (something about a blank admin-log-in page..?). I have more time than the other two people on the committee.. (Yay for no job.)
Not trying to inconvenience you, but you wouldn't happen to still have those instructional videos, would you?

 

[sdesocio]

I dont think they would do you any good, thats the other problem with Joomla, they were specific to the way that we were doing things and were not universal.... Go with Wordpress.

Seriously, look over at VINTOM – Salem Oregon Web Design by Vin Thomas (not as much for the content but the way the websites are setup) I know the designer and they are all wordpress sites. Wordpress is as much as a church needs, in fact there is a mega church in Az that just made their site simply with wordpress.

---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 PM ----------

I dont think they would do you any good, thats the other problem with Joomla, they were specific to the way that we were doing things and were not universal.... Go with Wordpress.

Seriously, look over at VINTOM – Salem Oregon Web Design by Vin Thomas (not as much for the content but the way the websites are setup) I know the designer and they are all wordpress sites. Wordpress is as much as a church needs, in fact there is a mega church in Az that just made their site simply with wordpress.

 

[black_rose]

That site looks much better than ours.. I'll have to talk to the committee. Hopefully I can give more insight once we fix the problems with administration log-in.