We know how easy it is to get caught up in the flurry of cool web design tools and builders and just go to town on your website.
But hold on there! We want to caution you against making any of these all too common mistakes.
1. Photo image sizes are too big!
With modern websites and the competition for eyeballs, the need for quick loading websites is huge!
Images on your site, while looking really slick, can actually harm your performance, decrease your SEO efficiency and basically make visitors leave before they’ve barely gotten started.
Photos displayed on a page or within a blog post should be kept at a minimum size.
Resize the photo with an editor and make sure to check the total size in bytes. If it’s not a background photo and it’s more than 1MB, it’s probably too big!
There are a multitude of free tools to compress images (TinyJPG, TinyPNG) , as well as WordPress plugins (Smush) that will do the job on the fly for you.
As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to use “ jpeg” file types for photos and “png” file types for flat designs and graphics.
If you want to test how your website rates in terms of performance, there are tools for that too of course: gtmetrix.com is quick and easy to use.
2. Lack of clear messaging or navigation!
Nothing is a bigger buzzkill than being all dressed up but not knowing where to go!
Your website may be beautifully designed, with complimentary colors, alluring photos and an intriguing tag line, but if the menu navigation is not clear or not helpful, new visitors will not know where to start and what to do next.
You have about 3 seconds to get someone’s attention before they hop to another open browser or search result.
With the many design tools available for websites, it’s easy to get really clever and design an “out of the box” site.
But visitors like familiar interfaces, traditional menu options, typically across the top; sometimes down the side could work if done right.
The visitor’s eye will travel in a ”Z” pattern across your home page.
Try to have the most pertinent info in that area.
3. Too much animation or fancy fonts!
You know the old saying about “too much of a good thing…” well that goes double for website design.
Animations can be eye-catching and cool when done right, but don’t overdo it!
Same idea with fonts. We know it’s tempting to want to use them all because a lot of them are really cool! But don’t do it!
Less is more.
White space is good.
Using crisp, clean fonts will help your visitor’s eye get acclimated to your site and feel relaxed while viewing it.
Keep in mind about 52% of visitors will be viewing on a mobile device, so your site must be responsive. That means it will auto adjust to the device. Please keep this is mind when sizing and optimizing your site. Most web design tools allow you to design and preview for desktop, tablet and mobile device sizes. Take advantage of these tools for optimal device usage!
4. Making your website message about you!
Your visitor, while wanting to get to know you and your faith community, primarily wants to know how visiting or attending your church will help them.
If they have children, they will be interested in children’s programming and ministries.
They may be interested in your worship style and wondering how they will fit in; or want to find Bible studies that fit their interests and schedules.
While a page about your history and founding may be interesting, it should be just that, a page and not the primary message.
Your main message should be of the Good News, of outreach and how your visitors can enter into a life giving and fulfilling relationship with Christ Jesus.
5. Outdated info!
What? There’s no excuse for this!
With the plethora of calendar and event plugins that can control almost everything, there’s no reason outdated, past events should persist on your website.
If these types of plugins are not available for your platform, then schedule time each week, when you do your weekly bulletin or order of worship for example to clean up your site.
This will give visitors confidence that you are an actively engaged church.
6. Not being clear about your beliefs!
With the large variety of Christian denominations come a wide range of theological beliefs.
Visitors will want to know where you stand on issues that are important to them.
Be clear about this. Do not sugarcoat it or hide it.
If you are open and affirming to the LGBTQIA community, say so.
It’s only fair to any potential visitors that they know as much about the community they may want to visit or join as possible.
6 ½ Too much insider jargon!
Recent web stats tell us that about 75% of visitors to your site will indeed be “visitors”, not members of your church.
But rather new people in your geographic area, or people searching online for a new faith community or connection.
Your members most likely will be plugged in to your church in other ways; weekly worship, email communications, private Facebook groups.
So your website should appeal to the widest audience, not only those familiar with your denomination, liturgy or specific faith practices. In short, the people with whom you are trying to make a connection and build a relationship.
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That’s It!
As with any project of importance and consequence, planning is the key to success; and good websites take proper planning and execution to achieve the desired result -> a church website that welcomes visitors and extends an invitation to build a relationship with Christ Jesus.
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