5 Things That Should Not be on Your Church Home Page
If you follow the blog here, you know that I consult churches on various web and audio/visual projects with my firm, Simple Drive Church Media Solutions.
All of these things have a place on your church’s website, just not the front page.
- Mugshot of your lead/senior pastor | sorry Vineyard churches. Ask yourself if your church is about the community or about a single leader. Maybe a photo of your fearless leader in action is OK, but I would avoid it all together. Put some photos of real people in your church or something else.
- Photo of your building | Again, what is your church about? A building or people? If you’re itching to show off your churches architectural game, drop a photo of people worshiping in your epic venue.
- Your mission/vision/purpose statement | When you first meet someone at a coffee shop, do you spit your purpose statement right at them? No, you introduce yourself and speak right to them. Do the same thing on your web page.
- Donation button | When people visit your church, do you take the offering right there in the lobby on the way in? Put a link to your donation page in the menu instead.
- Anything that makes noise or plays music automatically | If visitors want to watch that video or play that song/sermon, give them the option. Also do away with any noise that goes along with your navigation. We know you spent a lot on that flash design, but it’s annoying.
I would agree with all this except the pics of the actual church members. I would just put stock pics of people on there. Those people will never leave your church or do something stupid.
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@gary that’s funny, because it’s true
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I hate stock photos of people. Particularly iStock photos of people – which is probably what most churches will use. If somebody does something stupid or leaves, just change the photo!
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“Anything that makes noise or plays music automatically”
Yes, Amen, absolutely, please, thank you, and yes.
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“epic venue”
hahahahaha
I recently came across a home page that had a list of books recommended by the church. I don’t know why it bugged me, but it did. Maybe because I thought most the choices were either cliche or retarded.
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even though my church has 2 out of these on theirs….i still echo an amen to this list. well said.
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Great list!
It’s minor but I would add “insider wording.” Visitors want to feel like they know what’s up, not like they don’t get it. Keeping Christianese to a minimum and realizing that most of your church members aren’t going to stop too long on the home page anyway are important.
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@luke good call
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I so agree. We are currently working on updating our website.
I hang out with a lot of skeptics and I will handwrite directions rather than send them to our current website. And we don’t even have those 5 things, just a lot of “churchy” words.
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Nice list, I would have to agree with #5 over everything else, nothing will get people to leave your site faster than music that automatically plays… just don’t get why people actually still use that but they do.
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With respect, I only agree with the fifth point. For me, a church website can have all of the other elements if confidently and strategically placed. Y
es, a donation button is presumptuous… if it’s smackdab in the center of the homepage. If the church is trying to make offering easier by giving its members an online option, then it goes under the proper tab.
Likewise, photos of staff and the building are great provided they aren’t the only photos available. Yes, people should be featured about all else, but I don’t believe that means there isn’t room for both.
Finally, a mission statement / etc. is perfect for the church’s “about me” section of the website. Of course, it should immediately be broken down into simple language and simple examples taken from the church’s activities and events.
Everything on the list has its proper place, in my humble opinion. Except automatic music playing. Ugh.
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I think you missed it Nate. This list represents what should not be on the home page. the rest of the site is fair game
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Oh. Right. Well. …Um… Then yes, I agree with everything on the list.
I guess I’m not a careful reader early in the morning!
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once again the voice of reason calls out in the desert… most of these laws are broken when the senior/lead pastor designs the web page.. and when I say designs, I mean designs or finds some sorry sap to do it for him.
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“Anything that makes noise or plays music automatically”
Absolutely. My internet is charged per amount of data downloaded so it annoys me to be having to pay to have a video i didn’t even want to see download if i want to view a page. Normally i leave the site straight away.
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