Having an online presence is essential not only for commercial entities but for social ones as well. No wonder, you will find one for schools, relief organizations, social communities, and even churches if you browse online. The idea behind having a website for your church is to extend your community's reach and help the members out there. However, you cannot just follow the basic website design principles for creating a church website because it is very different from a conventional business website. If you are planning to develop a new church website or revamp an existing one, here are some features that you should look for.
Simplicity
When it comes to developing a website for your church, simplicity is the element that matters the most. The reason is that the site is meant for a diverse audience rather than a bunch of tech-savvy users. Even someone with minimal technical knowledge should be able to browse and navigate it without much thinking to do. Flashing fonts, pulsating banners and complicated navigation between the pages is absolutely no-no as these will distract the users and also make the browsing experience difficult.
Good content
Obviously, the purpose of building an online presence for a church through a website is nowhere close to commercial. Its content, therefore, should be crafted carefully while keeping the right message for the audience in mind. The idea is to help people and grow your community rather than make money. So the content should be spiritual and connect well with people, rather than being salesy in nature. Pay attention to the font style and size as well because even the best content will not serve value if it is not readable enough.
Aesthetically superior graphics
Besides good content, high quality graphics is another feature that a church website should absolutely possess. Since your community would have all kinds of audience, you cannot expect them all to read the content. The best way to make an impact on the entire audience is by investing in unlimited worship backgrounds that are both relevant and eye-catching. This is one part of the website that can communicate your values and connect deeply with the users, all without making too much effort.
High-end user experience
A good user experience is mandatory for every website and a church site is no exception. You would not want to keep the user waiting for a long time while the site loads. Therefore, it is essential that your website should load at a lightning pace. An intuitive navigation is another element that renders ease into the site's user experience. After all, the users will have no reason to come back to the website again if they are not able to understand its interface the first time.
Responsiveness
Another feature that your church website must not miss is responsiveness, considering the fact that mobile is the primary device used to access websites these days. The site, therefore, should be tailored to render seamlessly across varied devices such as desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones so that it can reach the maximum number of the existing and prospective community members out there.
Informative
Information is the key when it comes to building a successful church website because this is actually where the new members will start their journey with you. Having critical pages such as About Us and Contact Us is important to provide complete information about the history, mission and vision and the location of the church. You can also add a Frequently Asked Question section to answer user queries about the church and its membership.
Regular updates
Since your website is the regular point of contact and communication with your community, you should make sure that it gets regular updates, both in terms of information and features. List the latest addresses and phone number so that the members can get in touch easily when they need to. Do update information about the fundraising events and meets that are lined up for the members in the near future. Having a newsletter for the members is also a good idea to keep in touch on a regular basis.
Sticking to these basic church website features is essential to give it a successful online presence. You can go an extra mile and add more features to enhance the experience of the members. For example, real testimonials of the community members can incentivize others to join the community. When you design your church website, think of its purpose and stay true to it so that your site presents a picture of trust and authenticity for the existing and new members.