Although I encouraged you to apply common marketing techniques to your church’s website, there are many online marketing tactics you should avoid. There devious and deceptive methods meant to trick people into decisions they would most likely not choose outright. These are called dark patterns, and range from annoying to illegal. Churches and their websites must be open and transparent with their intentions if they are to be trusted, and them at all costs. This article aims to help your church in avoiding dark patterns.
Continue reading “Avoiding Dark Patterns”
Category: UX and Design
A user experience is all aspects of someone’s interaction with your digital ministries. UX tools are things we do to help better understand what users want. Design is how we take action on research. That understanding can be used for every aspect of your ministry. These articles outline those various research methods and applications.
Vintage Design for Today’s Church Audience
Do not be afraid to utilize older design themes and imagery from historical churches to resonate with today’s audiences. There is currently a design theme that utilizes vintage art themes to remind people of “better times”. We often reminisce of the good old days, and how that time was somehow better (despite not having today’s technology). Churches can utilize this to remind visitors of a simpler time and find a unique way to present their brand on the web.
Continue reading “Vintage Design for Today’s Church Audience”
Focus on the Negative: Working Backward to Determine Brand
Although we all find our identity in Christ, your church needs its own unique identity and brand. Granted if you are a denominational church, your brand limits are a bit more defined, but still you should determine how your church stands out from the one just down the street. This is more difficult than it seems, as the same words are used over and over to describe churches. This article asks you to work backward from what you are not and let the audience see what you are.
Continue reading “Focus on the Negative: Working Backward to Determine Brand”
Find the Right Website Features
The key to having a great church website is not to have a multitude of features, but the ability to highlight the right set of website features to your visitors. Creating something complex is easy. Something simple with the right experience is extraordinarily difficult. In this article I will outline some steps to take to simplify your website while crafting the right experience your visitors want.
Continue reading “Find the Right Website Features”
Church Website Critique Guidelines
When it comes time to review pending website updates, things can get out of hand quickly. Feelings can get hurt, broad sweeping statements can be made, and everyone turns into a veteran website designer. With these easy website critique guidelines, turn awkward meetings into productive feedback sessions you will actually look forward to.
Continue reading “Church Website Critique Guidelines”
Creating Personas for Your Church
Simply put, personas are fake people based on real data. You most likely have several key markets you are targeting at your church. By pulling real data from various sources, you can create a profile to fit those markets. These profiles are powerful because you can create web experiences crafted just for them. In time, these personas become the focus of discussion rather than personal opinions of your internal teams.
Continue reading “Creating Personas for Your Church”
Before Going International
The Gospel was given to be spread to all nations; so why not promote your church website internationally. Many churches are growing in popularity because they are sending out their sermons via podcasts, and people all over the globe are listening. However, there are several considerations you need to take into account before you start to expand your horizons.
Continue reading “Before Going International”
Sketching the Big Idea
Website design is obviously a visually oriented craft. So why rely on just words to convey something a picture can do better? Whether you are communicating within your church web team, at a committee meeting, or a presentation to executive leadership; pictures will more easily communicate what your website will look like.
Continue reading “Sketching the Big Idea”
People Still Print
Believe it or not, people still print website content. Does your church website account for this? If not, there are specific techniques that when applied to targeted areas of your site; will provide your audience easier offline consumption as well as sharing your information with others.
Synonyms on your Church Website
Most modern search engines rank your site according to its content. The content that is most easily parsed is text. The frequency and relevancy of words dictate how it will rank against certain search terms. However, you should not let your church’s theology and terminology get in the way of letting your site bubble to the top of the search pile.
Invest in Content First
Before you launch an online ad campaign, have a SEO agency make you rank #1 in Google, or start yet another re-design of your website; consider investing in your content. If you cannot engage your audience with good information, articles, videos, audio, and social media interaction; they why waste money by driving users to an empty space?
Continue reading “Invest in Content First”
Disabilities and Your Church Website: Hearing and Technology Impairments
Your target audiences most likely include people with disabilities and impairments. Although visual and cognitive impairments may seem like the most obvious obstacles to using a website, two others to consider are hearing and technological.
Continue reading “Disabilities and Your Church Website: Hearing and Technology Impairments”