If you ask a child if they can draw, they will tell you yes. If you ask an adult, they will often say no because they assume you are asking if they can draw well. The honesty and innocence of children is a trait praised by Jesus, and is something web teams can utilize as they approach their church websites.
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Tag: Web Strategy
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.
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When To Launch Your Church Website Update
Are you updating your church website? Most likely unless you just completed a major release, you are probably in the middle of some sort of update. The more important question is has your release date slowly crept backward as you find more things to change? Scope creep is dangerous as hard work you already accomplished is sitting idle. In this article I will explore when it is acceptable to launch website updates.
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A Year in Review: 2012
By the grace of God I have been writing this blog for one full year. Every Friday morning I published an article about creating, running, or maintaining a church website. With this anniversary I would like to reflect on what the past year has brought me, and what I hope to pursue in the future.
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Write an Effective Tag Line
When someone lands on your web site, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. This does not mean bright colors or animation, but something easy to spot on the page that answers the question “What’s in it for me?” This should be accomplished with your church name and its tag line.
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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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Church Website Evolution, Not Revolution
If you already have a church website, please do not read my posts and decide to completely re-make your site. There are few good reasons to create a completely new website. Instead, make incremental changes that will add value as you go along. Regardless of your stance on the subject of human evolution, you definitely want to believe in website evolution!
Advancing your Website without a Pastor
In recent months I have had the unfortunate opportunity to speak with churches that are between pastors. It is tough to watch them advance the Kingdom so slowly and cautiously. Many of their ministries freeze, including anything dealing with the web. If you are a church elder, or committee leader in your church; fret not. I will give you a few tips to keep advancing your online presence and continue to get people from clicking on your site to sitting in your seats.
Starting your Church’s Website: Clueless to Colors
After debating your church’s need for a website, you decide it is the next best step. So now what? Although I primarily write individual articles focused on connecting church goals to web technologies, I feel compelled to write a tutorial-themed article. In this first piece, I will take you through the planning stages of creating or revising your website.
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Multi-Church Ministry Websites
When you think of church ministries and websites, you probably thought of one church with multiple ministries all in one website. It is a rare gem to find multiple churches partnering with one ministry; along with a good website to support it. So how do you handle this sometimes politically charged task of creating and managing a site that has multiple hands in it? Let’s examine some possible approaches to this delicate matter.
Get Your Church Known
Just having a church website is not enough today. You need to be proactive in your quest to get your church seen and heard on the internet. So what methods can you use to accomplish this? I propose covering three bases, of search engines, mapping services, and social media. These three are often very entangled, so spearheading efforts on all of them at once is often very easy and can generate awesome synergy in getting your church website known to the rest of the world.
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Web Team Meetings Part 2: What To Do
In a previous article, I talked about who should be part of your core website team for your church. Yet what should you do once you all get in the same room together? The first few meetings will probably involve creating the church’s overall web strategy, which connects your business goals with how the website will help you obtain them. Subsequent meetings will involve more tactical objectives, including individual projects. But the key to obtaining and eventually measuring success will based on how disciplined you are with both your discussions and documentation.