When was the last time you took a close look into the necessary pages on your church website? Here are 4 pages or elements that I think should always be included in a website for a ministry.
Events Page
Every church is made up of events. Don’t take this the wrong way. I totally understand that the main part of any Bible based church should be the preaching of God’s Word but the fellowship of the believers is almost as crucial to a healthy ministry. There has to be a way to update your church’s website easily.
The first consideration is going to be how you want it displayed. You can either create a calendar in Google and add the informaiton or you can list it on a page. If you update it in Google there are several advantages but there are several disadvantages as well. Adding a list to a page limits some of the options for distribution but it much easier to clerly display the infomraiton. Sometimes a calendar layout will just not fit the informaiton you are trying to display.
I feel the best way is utilizing WordPress post types. This will give you the best opportunity to display your event in a flexible and shareable way.
Staff Page
The third most visited page on most church websites is the staff page. Visitors want to know who is running things. This begs the question – “Why?”. I believe it is as simple as the visitor knows they can learn a lot about the church by simply knowing a few key pieces of information. Don’t let them down. Include as much information as you can.
Contact Us
This is probably the most neglected page on any website. For a church website, this is the page that comes in late and leave early. We just don’t spend enough time (if any) on developing a strong contact us page. Include items like your church office hours, who will contact them back, a phone number, etc. Finally, include a simple call to action (CTA). How will they know if you don’t tell them?
Directions
I am loving the opportunities with this. When a user comes to your site from a mobile device they are mainly looking for contact information and directions. This should be the page you link your Google+ profile to and your Facebook Page. Remember to make it as simple as possible for someone to find your church. Don’t be afraid to link to other properties like Google Maps.
These are four simple yet important aspects of your online ministry website that deserve some close attention and strategic planning.
What did I miss? What other elements of a website should a church concentrate on?
