EFFECTIVE CHURCH WEBSITES · Effective Sites Clear sense of audience(s) Members vs. Non-members...

EFFECTIVE CHURCH WEBSITES

Bet Hannon

Shameless Self-Promotion

Bet Hannon

www.bethannon.com

www.churchwebsiteprogram.com

Blog:

www.churchwebsiteprogram.com/blog

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“Affordable Church Website Program

(ACWP)”

Download Today’s Slides

Download the slidedeck from today’s presentation at:

Churchwebsiteprogram.com/KO2015

Where we are going…

What makes a site effective?

Design tips

Content tips: Home, About, FAQ

Dated content management

Getting Google to find you (SEO)

Safety, Security & Spam Prevention

Options & Costs

Arc of Adoption

Effective Sites

Website = communications tool

integrate your site

into your overall

communications

strategy

Effective Sites

Things to consider & balance:

Design

Function

User Experience

Content

Effective Sites

Reflects who you are in a flattering way

Effective Sites

Clear sense of audience(s)Members vs. Non-members

(90% of non-members will look at your site

before they come to church!)

Identify sought demographic of non-members

75-90% skewed to non-members!

100% of your home page geared for non-members

Think: Hospitality!

Effective Sites

Reflect who you are

vs.

Appeal to your sought demographic

Effective Sites

Keep the site CURRENT!

no past-dated content

design & trends in web-development

Dated Design

Up-to-date Design

Dated Stuff – Do Not Do This!

Splash Page

Flash slide shows (mobile issues)

Animated .gifs or visitor counters

Music/video that automatically plays

Patterned backgrounds that distract—subtle ok

Multiple navigation menus

Only text with no images

Weather or other non-core widgets

Design Tips

When designing:

intentionally move beyond our own tastes &

preferences

seek input from your sought demographic

get people with a graphic “eye” to help

be wary of “design by committee”

Design & Content Tips

Aim for clean, uncluttered and streamlined look

Streamlined menu: 6-9 main-level items:

(home, about, ministries, worship, calendar, news feed, contact us)

Clear, intuitive menus (should always know where you are)

CONSISTENCY of fonts, design & spacing

Search box

Website Architecture

As you think about content….

“Americans are searching for churches -- and temples, synagogues, and mosques -- that are not caught up in political intrigue, rigid rules and prohibitions, institutional maintenance, unresponsive authorities, and inflexible dogma but instead offer pathways of life-giving spiritual experience, connection, meaning, vocation, and doing justice in the world. Americans are not rejecting faith -- they are, however, rejecting self-serving religious institutions.”

Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion

Spiritual Formation

Your website can

be a powerful tool

for spiritual

formation:

• resources

• teaching

• discussion

Content Tips

Most visited pages: Home, About, Staff

Home Page =

Home Page Tips: DO’s

DO:

Convey a warm welcome

Convey something of who your church is– but short (aim for 150 words—or less!)

This content will not change too much

Worship times visible w/out scrolling & near top on mobile

Easy links to Visitor’s FAQ or descriptions of worship

Address of church as link to Google maps

Home Page Tips: Don’t

DON’T:

No outdated content! (“Next Sunday” material goes

up Mon am.)

Avoid time-sensitive content in main page—promote

events in sidebars

Don’t use a picture of your building or pastor—

people are fine, but avoid appearance of closed

groups

About & Staff Pages

About Page:

More lengthy (up to 300-450 words), but gives

clearer picture of your church

Links to mission/faith statements; ONA statements

Staff Page

Portrait-style photos of all staff (incl. volunteer

staff) with short paragraph of bio & link to email

address (?)

Content Tips

No Crowding!

Don’t add too much content to

any one page or

paragraph–

“chunk” for scanning

No more than 3 images to any one page –

(especially home page!): slow & sensory

overload for viewer

Avoid Relative Dates

Remember not to use relative

dates (like "next Sunday")

without calendared clues (like

“Sept. 22").

Don't leave your website

visitors wondering if relative

information is still current!

Invite Participation

For every ministry or event, tell how a non-

member can get more information or

participate!

emails preferable

as much as possible, variety of people

Visitor FAQ

Think through all the

questions that a visitor

(or prospective visitor)

might have,

and answer them in an FAQ

(Frequently Asked

Questions)

www.churchwebsiteprogram.com/visitor-faq

Content is Forward Facing

Most content needs to be

“forward facing”

that is: present & future focused

Content: Think Visually

Less Wordy, More Visual…..

Dated Content Management Tips

Streamline & use tools for managing content that will

change frequently:

Use a blog as a “news feed”

Use RSS feeds FROM your site

Use RSS feeds TO your site

Use a Blog as a News Feed

RSS feeds FROM your site

RSS feed TO a Website

Responsive vs. Mobile

Responsive = adapts content to a smaller screen

(test by making browser smaller)

Mobile = a separate site that displays different

content, or content in a different way.

Search Engine Optimization

Google & others use secret algorithms, but here’s some best-practice advice:

1. Don’t worry too much about keywords

2. Instead, focus on your description (150

characters)

SEO (con’t)

3. Add alt-descriptions to all images:

Makes images accessible for visually impaired

Search engines use these alt descriptions to “match” to content on pages

4. Speed up your site! (Optimize images!)

5. Get backlinks! (Links TO your site on other sites)

6. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

SEO (con’t)

7. Maybe: submit to Google?

8. Time is your friend– retain domain names

Website Security

“Website security”

=

keeping your site

functioning as

intended

Website Security

Four Concerns:

1. Outside malicious users: probably less about

taking site down than posting spammy links.

2. Inside malicious users putting up damaging content

3. Inside non-malicious users who:

a) post unwanted content

b) post content inappropriate ways

c) inadvertently break the site

4. Corruption of website files

Website Security

Tips to Secure your Site:

Use secure passwords, esp for CMS sites

Login from secured networks

Limit users, but always have more than one

Login for website, info on hosting account &

domain name registration should be kept on file

in church office

Security (con’t)

Keep CMS updated—closes discovered

security holes

Make backups: at least monthly, as often as

daily, stored off-site

Take care with contact forms– make sure

executable scripts are blocked

Photo Safety

Get a photo permission & release annually–

ideally for all, but at minimum for minors

Know if there are individuals with photo

concerns in your congregation

Where to Find Photos/Images

Photos you take yourselves

Google Image search – watch copyrights

Tineye.com- reverse search

stock photos– sites have art/line graphics too

iStockphoto.com (these might be <$10)

123rf.com

Spam Prevention

Two most common places for spam: emails and comments on blog

Use a contact form to avoid exposing emails

Best practice: mask emails in “mailto:” links

Use “obfuscation” plugins

Use a “captcha” on contact forms & comments

Use a “honeypot” (then you won’t need captcha)

Use spam prevention plugins for comments OR set to have an administrator approve comments manually

HTML/CSS

Changes made directly to pages– no interface

Content Management System

The CMS functions as an interface for editing the DB

Costs

There are six main costs for creating & maintaining a

website:

1. hosting account (the server or “giant disc drive” where

your site files live)

2. the domain name registration—what you pay to get

to get exclusive use “mychurch.org”

3. administrative maintenance—someone to do all the

little things like updates & backups to make sure your

site stays operational and secure

Costs (con’t)

4. content management—making changes to the text &

images of the site.

5. design work in originating the site

6. administrative setup of the site

Website Options & Costs

Church Websites can cost anywhere from $0 to $5000+

Trade-offs:

Outside ads on side/bottom

Domain name: myucc.weebly.com

How much control you have over design & layout

What features you can include (blogs, videos, RSS etc.)

How much work you are willing to do

How much technical skill you have available

Ancillary features like email accounts, registrations, etc.

Options for Building Websites

1. Free Websites

Weebly.com; webs.com (HTML); blog (CMS)

Not recommended:

Ads & consistency issues (with HTML)

Don’t get a self-domain name (domain name

=~$20/yr) (with either HTML or CSS)

Be carful of Wix.com – some sites are in flash,

black screen on mobile

Options for Websites (con’t)

2. Use free blog & map domain name to it.

Must use available theme/template w/ limited

changes. (CMS)

Limited functions– cannot add plugins

Cost: ~$30/yr

Options for Websites (con’t)

3. “Builder interface”

a) Godaddy.com, Intuit.com, E-zekiel.com etc. These are not recommended: too hard to maintain consistency. (HTML) Cost: $60-$250/yr

b) Squarespace.com; Virb.com (CMS)Better for consistency; but do need an “artist eye” for keeping them nice. Cost: $95-$200/year

(shadowrockucc.org uses Squarespace)

Options for Websites (con’t)

4. Affordable Church Website Program

Uses Wordpress (CMS), but with plugins for

maximum flexibility

Adaptations & tech support available

Personalized coaching

Cost $180/year when using

offered theme.

Options for Websites (con’t)

5. Proprietary CMS

connectedword.com, ekklesia360.com, iministries.org

Church-specific CMS, with templates that may be adapted– limited layout changes.

Great tools, but you may not need all of them

“Ferrari” of CMS

Cannot export & move your site

Cost: $360-720/year ($30-60/mo)

Options for Websites (con’t)

6. Create a custom site using a CMS

(WP, Joomla, Drupal—order of complexity).

You get increasing flexibility of design & functions, in

same order

Make sure CMS & plugins are updated

Cost: $800-$7000+ for setup; $100+/year for

hosting

Options for Websites (con’t)

7. Create a custom site in HTML/CSS

Build & edit the site page by page.

Unless you have a design-gifted developer, site may have a dated grid-like look.

Changes have to be done by someone who knows code, and can be easily corrupted by carelessness.

Harder to manage dynamic content & use RSS

Cost: $2500-$6000 (plus ~$100/year for hosting), but sometimes you have a volunteer for $0

Questions?

bethannon@bethannon.com

Affordable Church Website Program

ACWP provides small-budget churches with an “a la carte” approach to websites.

For the base fee of $15 per month, you get:

a secure Wordpress website set up with blank pages for you fill in

choose from offered themes

instructional materials on using WP

all administrative maintenance, including updates & daily backups

ACWP

Use “Add-on” services as much as you want or need:

Custom Wordpress theme: $300

Slight design changes to offered themes (ie. add your logo): $30/hr

Tutoring or consulting: $30/hour

Add on video players, photo galleries, donation links, etc.: $30/hour

Email addresses: $5 setup fee

Affordable Church Website Program

churchwebsiteprogram.com

(see “Participants”)

Questions?

(or email questions/comments to:

bethannon@bethannon.com)