There are so many cool features that can be added to a website. There are wondrous visual effects, slick technical tricks, amazing feats of audio-visual magic. Most of it adds little to a website and much of it actually hinders its functionality.
A site needs to be visually attractive; there are some church websites that scream 1995 when you open them, with the little animated icons and boxy layout. There are others that are so visually overwhelming that its next to impossible to find any real information. Every time you move your cursor, something new pops up at you. Videos are running on both sides of the page, with a slideshow moving across the middle.
And please, PLEASE, get rid of the splash page. You know, that landing page that has no real content on it. There was a moment in time when that was appealing. But those three minutes and 40 seconds have passed. People don’t want to go to your site, then have to click to actually get to any real content. They want to read something now. Reports show that people become impatient if a page takes more than a second to load, and if it takes over 10 seconds, they’ll usually go elsewhere.
Never lose sight of the fact that, when it comes to church websites, content is king. People want information. Yes, like I say, an ugly website can create a bad impression. But a website that won’t load because they don’t have the SnazzMaster™ plugin on their computer also creates a bad impression.
Think about our technology. Why are mp3s so popular? Because of their quality? No. Because of their accessibility. Why do newscasts now show cellphone videos? Because of the high def picture they produce? Nope. Its because the information can be had now. In many ways, the text message is a huge step backwards. But it’s become the dominant communication form for a whole generation. Is it pretty? Not at all. No bells. No whistles. But it works, right now. That’s what you want on your website. Something that works. Right now.
Or do you see it differently? I’d like to hear your experiences with websites in general and church websites in particular.