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.

Disabilities and Your Church Website: Visual and Cognitive Impairments

What good is a website if your audience cannot use it? A well designed website does not simply mean that it is aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, or can be viewed on a mobile device. It also means that your users can access the information despite any restrictions they may have. This article will delve into some of the common disabilities your users may have, and the barriers you can remove for them.

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Hunting for the Elusive Website Fold

A review of your church website may result in someone mentioning “The Fold”. Although a valid worry at one time, this is a web design concept that is (or at least should be) extinct. Because of certain advances in technology it is not necessary to worry about this impossibly nebulous horizon. Instead I will encourage you to stop worrying about The Fold, and establish a prominent visual hierarchy for your pages.

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Do Not Just Retain, Recruit!

At the beginning of every worship service, my church welcomes all of the new visitors; regardless if they know of any visitors or not. Sometimes we even applaud for them. Many church podcasts that I listen to also make a point to welcome all of their listeners. What does your website do to welcome new visitors? Do you simply have a statement that says “Welcome to our church”, or do you structure your site so that their needs are immediately met with lots of information and content?

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Redesign Content, Not Graphics

Your congregation does not attend services because of your branding. An attractive and well thought out logo does not bring new members through the door. The teaching, culture, and community are far more important than the color of your building. Then why does improving a website tend to involve redesigning everything? Focus on regular content updates instead of aesthetic changes to create a better experience for your users.

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Closing the Loop With Youth Ministry

For a church to continue growing, it needs a strong youth program. A major obstacle in that program is finding new and innovative ways to connect children & young adults to each other and the Bible’s teachings. To do that, you will need regular and honest feedback; and your church web strategy can be a mechanism to solicit it.
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Structuring Your Call to Action

When creating a call to action, the order you present your content matters a great deal. If you get your customer emotionally invested with the task they are completing, they are far more likely to complete it. By saving mundane tasks to the end of the process you greatly increase the chance that the submit button will be clicked.
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Timing is Everything

Timing is everything in comedy… and church web marketing. If you can guess when your customers will be online, you can more effectively market to them. Whether it be Email or social media, there are several ways we can utilize this information to increase the number of clicks your communications get.


Creatures of Habit

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Determining your ROI Part 3: Emotions

I did not want to give the impression in my first two articles, that return on investment (ROI) is always about dollars and cents.  Ultimately the return you will most thoroughly enjoy from your church’s website is emotion. This emotion hopefully will be positive and result in someone becoming interested in attending and even joining your church. Read on for examples of how to integrate emotion and your website in order to influence your ministries.

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Can I have a minute of your time?

In today’s hectic schedules and busy lives, it is often hard to take a step back and examine things from a distance. However, I bet you can find a few people that can spare one minute to review a page on your church website. One minute of questions can provide low hanging fruit; which offer huge returns for minor fixes and edits.
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Constrict Your Content, Not Your Audience

Christianity is unique in many ways, but one that was controversial for early believers was the inclusion of the Gentiles. Faith in Christ was not be restricted to any group, race, or nation. So how do you market your church website to a particular demographic if you want to welcome everyone? Instead of narrowing your market, focus your content to answer the most frequently asked questions of potential members.
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