Many churches have websites today because it is one of the best ways to connect with congregants and prospective members.
The church website carries information about the church as well as church resources like sermons and music.
A lot goes into building a church website. From the images used to the videos added to the site and the typography. Despite all the effort, certain mistakes are common to church websites.
In this post, we will show you 5 common church website design mistakes and how to fix them. Some common church website design mistakes to avoid.
Your church website is a key element of your church communication. Most people would reach your website before they enter your services for the first time. Everyone knows that there is no second chance to make a first impression. As such, you need to avoid any mistakes that will make your website’s first impression bad. Here are some of the mistakes to avoid.
Mistake 1: Creating your website design for your members alone
When creating a website, the first question that you should answer is, “Who is the website for?”. Of course, a church website should be designed to meet the needs of the congregants. However, it shouldn’t be limited to that alone, there should be more.
You should consider individuals that haven’t been to your church at all but wants to know about you. Also, you should make provision for first-timers that are interested in becoming church members.
An example is when you have your website show your regular services and upcoming events. However, there is nothing to keep the visitor engaged like high-quality images and invitations to be part of the next service.
To fix this problem, add a welcome note to first-timers and non-church members on your website. You can take it further by adding a page where visitors can drop their details.
Mistake 2: Not adding videos of your services or events
Videos have a great impact on engagement on your websites, just about the same as images. This is an extension of assuming that every visitor to your website is already a church member. They may not need to see a video of your church service or events because they were there. As such, they already have experience with your services.
On the other hand, a visitor to your website that hasn’t attended your services is curious to know what you do. Short clips of your services give them a sneak peek into your service experience. From your service videos, they can tell if they want to be part of your services or not. Most times, it acts as an attraction for prospective members.
To solve this problem, ensure that you record very clear videos of your services and events. Ask your media team to work on the videos to make them as interactive and engaging as possible. What this means is that they should add text like scripture verses and music lyrics where necessary.
Now, add the videos to your website. You can also create short montages of different special events or services and upload them to the website.
Mistake 3: Using poor images
Just like videos, images help to boost engagements. A clear example of this can be seen on social media. Posts that have images tend to have higher engagements than those that don’t. This shows you how important images are to your church communication efforts on your website.
When a person visits your church website for the first time, it is because they want to know about your church. What this means is that they are looking for something to give them more information about you. Why? They want to visit your church someday or get involved with your ministry.
Imagine you visited the website of a church that you just heard about and saw poor images. Would you be willing to visit the church over another with crisp images?
Most likely not.
There is no better way of solving this problem than making use of better-quality images on your website. Get a good camera and take very clear pictures during your services. You may need to improve on your lighting to get better pictures. Do a little bit of editing but make it as realistic as possible and upload them to your website.
Mistake 4: Bad typography
When your typography is reader-friendly, it attracts their attention. Typography is a key element of your church website. It is impossible to have a website with just videos and images. You need some text to provide descriptions for each video or image. How else will you spread the word?
Your typography helps you to disseminate information about your church, when it was founded, its values, etc. It also helps you to provide your visitors with pieces of information such as account details for digital donation. To keep the visitors engaged, you must ensure that the text is readable. It should also be in harmony with the rest of the website for a smooth viewing and reading experience.
What should you do to avoid this mistake? Make use of a good font in a readable size. Most professionals recommend between 14pt and 18pt.
Mistake 5: Non-responsive website design
Many people access websites these days through their mobile devices. For this reason, your website must look great on these different mobile devices. This is what it means for your website to have a responsive design.
If your website only looks good on a computer desktop, you will be restricting the number of visitors. It will be very inconvenient to visit a website and have to zoom in just to view the information provided.
The solution to this problem is to ensure that your church website is responsive. You can speak to your website designer for details and also run several tests before launching.
Conclusion
We believe that these tips will help you avoid the common church website design pitfalls. You can also check out the resources on ChurchPad to improve church communication and congregation management.