Aside from what should be on your church website’s homepage, few things are harder than determining what the navigation structure should be. It is not only a technical decision, but a business decisions, and in some cases a political decision. Your primary navigation shapes how people use your site and ultimately how easily they can find information on it. By applying some basic information architecture principles you can come up with a structure that fits your individual church and utilizes common practices on the web. Topics include:
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Tag: Content Strategy
Church Mobile Web Strategy: Approaches to Mobile Websites
Websites on mobile devices have changed drastically over the years since their first appearance. Much like the early web, they started as text on small monochromatic displays. With the advent of the iPhone and iPad, mobile computing has exploded and websites have become more and more like their desktop counterparts. However you have more than one way to deliver that content to your visitor’s device. The approaches to mobile websites that best fits your church depends on a multitude of factors; some of which I intend on discussing now.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 18: Creating a Great Contact Us Page
Most service organization have two main conversion points, request for information and donations. I have articles on both, but this episode will deal with the first and undoubtedly easier problem. I believe that the majority of information funnels on your website ultimately lead to a conversion point where you ask the visitor to contact someone. From church events to membership; you want that personal contact to ensure they get all of their questions answered and hopefully move them on to that next step. I will outline the various contact methods, and provide tips on properly presenting each.
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Avoiding Dark Patterns
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.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 17: Do Not Force Identities on Users
In this episode I will explore the dangers of creating navigation and sections of your site built around the visitor’s identity. While it may seem like a good idea, important parts of your site may seem invisible if the visitor does not identify with it. The best example is how the Dell computer website used to be organized; Home, Work, and Students. Where would a part time student that lives at home while running their own small business click? Similar situations may exist at your church, and I will examine how to identify and avoid those pitfalls.
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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.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 8: Why Even Have a Website?
We consider many things in life necessary to survival. In our culture, a car is often considered essential to living life. Yet if you live in a city such as New York where there is a significant infrastructure of subways and busses, cars are almost seen as a burden. So with the availability of web properties in social media; why even have a website?
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 5: Creating User-Centered Content
Welcome to Episode 5, focusing on creating user-centered content. Simply put, this means writing from your visitor’s perspective. It is not always easy to do; hence the need to post this podcast!
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 2: Websites and Conversations
I found it fitting to base this episode on the first article I wrote, “Your Website Is A Conversation“. This article introduces the idea that when someone visits your church, they hopefully have a conversation. Also, when someone visits your website, they are engaging in a conversation very similar to those physical visits to a church.
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Licensing Your Content
If you have an active church website, you should have regular updates to news, events, sermons, and perhaps even a blog or two. Posting all of this information is great, and one possible goal is to share this content with others. However, have you considered what copyright restrictions you wish to have on this content? Solve these problems by integrating Creative Commons Licenses into your content strategy document. You can eliminate a lot of confusion and even legal battles if you are proactive on licensing your content.
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Preventing SEO Dips During Site Structure Updates
Imagine a scenario where you launch a new church website with great new content and better navigation menu labels. You reimagined your church and are excited to see how your audience reacts. Unfortunately your Google search ranking just dropped through the floor, and for the next few weeks you are struggling to regain your foothold in the top results for your city. If you are planning a website redesign, the strategies in this article are a must for you.
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Re-Think Content: Conversion Paths
When you talk to someone who has questions about Christianity; you do not spout off the entire Gospel, hoping to convert them right there on the spot. Unfortunately many websites do just this. They do not understand that just like an eCommerce site, you need to build interest, trust, and value before you can ask for any level of commitment from a website user.
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