You Need More Than A Pretty, Fresh Website; You Need A Purposeful Workflow Designed for Connection
A beautiful website won’t solve all your church’s problems. You can create a digital home with high-level visual work and still see little engagement. To build a website that actually does its job, you need to support it with an intentional and purposeful design. Consider when a house is built, there’s a lot that goes into the framework that makes it livable. It needs to be both stylish & functional for it to be considered a good home.
It wouldn’t make much sense to have a beautiful exterior just for the kitchen or bathroom to be the entryway (even if it’s the nicest room in the house). Things have to make sense. Normally, the layout of the home is built with privacy, hospitality, and convenience in mind. All successful websites (including church websites) consider the layout, content, and user experience before they even start building. They prioritize flow over flash.
In Untangling the Web (for Churches), we shared a list of essentials you’ll need before building your church website. Now, we’re going to unpack the “why” behind that list and prepare you for building out your online user experience.
Clarify Your Church Identity
At the root of your church’s identity is its mission, vision, and values. But don’t stop there! There’s much work to be done to bring them to the surface in a way that captures the attention of those you’re inviting in. Once you know what the mission is, get specific as to who you’re targeting. This may appear as a method that excludes others, but it’s actually one that makes your mission clearer and your invitation more direct.
Your church is one part of a network of believers all moving towards the same goal: fulfilling the Great Commission. It’s ok to know who God has positioned you to shepherd over, and you can serve them much more effectively if you tailor your invitation to them.
Why does this matter when building a website? When you skip this step, your website becomes expensive guesswork. This strategy doesn’t yield much for your investment. Those whom you are looking to serve won’t be drawn in if they’re confused about who you are.
Craft Your Guest Journey
Your church website should do more than just invite people to a church service. Making sense of the guest journey will help you beyond increasing your attendance. Whether you want people to take a class, join a group, or do anything beyond a visit, make it visible and accessible.
Plan the entire experience before you build. Create the necessary forms and registration links for people to use. Take plenty of pictures and video, so you have more than headshots of you or your senior pastor(s). Pick a platform to send text and email updates from so people have a way to connect with you. Every part of how you craft and design your guest journey is just as important as the website copy and church info. It’s how your church website becomes a digital extension of your discipleship process.
Collect (All) Your Content
A good church website starts with good content. Not just any content. YOUR content. This includes not only your pictures and videos, but also your messaging and tone. If you haven’t started documenting everything about your church and the ministries within it, I suggest you start now. You should also collect every high-quality photo and video you have of the following:
- Your weekly services
- Volunteer teams in action
- The core leadership team
- Your church building (if you have one)
- Events, retreats, and conferences
Though it goes without saying, you should also have your branding materials ready for use across your website. Gather as much as you can so you aren’t struggling with finding content while building. You can always use stock photos to fill in the gaps, but it’s in your best interest not to rely on them. People are interested in seeing what your church looks like, not just any generic images (even if they are high quality).
These components together will assist in making your church website-building experience more streamlined. The point isn’t to make it perfect, but it is to make it work for you. Your church’s website should be one of the hardest-working members of your team. Make it more than just a pretty page. Make it a well-functioning, open door into your church community.
Need help building a church website that works just as hard as you do? Let us help! Hit the Let’s Talk button!