Effective Church Websites
Ideal web design is not just meant for businesses. Every organization needs an online presence that attracts people and makes it easy to enter. Well, churches are no exception in this. In fact, you could deem your website the virtual building for your congregation.
Excellent church websites are not only inviting and comfortable but also easy to use. It is not rocket science but simply good design. That being said, here are some key ways to ensure your church site is effective.
Important Information is Easy to Find
When people come to your church website, there are particular things they are likely searching for. This information should be easy to find, and it includes:
- Time of Services
- Names of leaders
- Phone numbers
- A map and physical address
Having this information easily available at a glance will increase the chances of your visitors becoming church visitors or even members. It ideally makes it easier for people to share your church information with others.
Use of Color
Color has always been a crucial aspect of communication. Just because churches aren’t businesses does not mean they should not have a brand identity. Running a church involves passing a message, and color can help convey it better.
Colors help highlight vital information and draw attention to specific parts of the site. Do not just use one or two colors and ensure that the overall color scheme that fits the feel of your church.
It is essential for the colors you pick to portray the personality that you wish to convey. There are numerous studies on color psychology on the internet that can help you get started.
Mobile Friendliness
Great church sites should be mobile friendly. Nowadays, almost everyone owns a mobile phone and thus more users who constantly access the intenet through these devices. If your website is hard to view or navigate on a tablet or smartphone, chances are you won’t have as many visitors. Fortunately, the current church web design themes make it extremely easy to create a mobile-friendly site from the ground up.
Leverage Video
Your church website does not have to be all text. Video is one of the best ways to share your sermons, church history, announcements, philosophy, and much more.
According to studies, video engagement is pretty high, with over 60% of individuals watching videos on the internet every day. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video gives way more.
Video allows you to show a tour of your church, showcase your leadership, and even share behind the scenes clips. With video, you get to share more information than text and images alone. Video is no longer time-consuming or expensive, and you can achieve a lot with a simple feature such as Facebook Live.
Easy to Interact
Is your website just there to seem pretty, or can people interact? For example, are they able to comment on your posts? Is there an online giving form or a forum for visitors to introduce themselves or ask questions?
Give your audience various ways to interact with your church straight from your site. This helps the audience create a relationship and encourage them to come back.
Optimized for the Local
One of the most important aspects of improving your church website is ensuring it is easy to find. This implies learning the basics of SEO, not to forget optimizing for local search. For this, ensure you always list your address on your website and using local keywords like your city name all over the site.
When it comes to SEO or marketing aspects, you may want to hire a professional to ascertain ideal results. If you have no SEO experience, you might end up making costly mistakes.
Your Site Helps Grow
Every church wants to make it easy for both existing and potential members to discover them, and having the right site helps you achieve this. The best church sites leverage color, make information easy to find, and make it as effective as possible through mobile friendless.
And there you have it, aspects that make a church website effective. Most of these traits can be tricky to achieve on your own, and that’s why it makes sense to use professional web designers and SEO experts.