It seems to me that we often focus too much of our attention on the “look and feel” of a church website and don’t spend enough time thinking about the content. While I’m not advocating an ugly website, I think that the majority of our planning needs to be focused around what we’re going to say.
Let’s think about outsiders first. We need to consider our website content from the point of view of someone who knows absolutely nothing about our church. That means we need to include the basics, like address (including city and state!), contact information, and meeting times. Those things are pretty basic, but it’s surprising how many church sites lack one or the other of these vital facts.
From there, you want to give them an insight into who you are. Describe your beliefs and your mission. Provide an overview of the different ministries that go on at your church. Tell with some detail what a visitor can expect when they visit your assemblies. It can really help to have a photo of a service, so that they can have an idea of how formal or informal the dress is. Actively seek to avoid “Christianese,” that church jargon that only makes sense to insiders.
Find someone in your congregation with a good feel for writing and proofreading. Have them look over everything. While your writing doesn’t have to professional, you don’t want it to look sloppy, either.
In another post, I’ll talk about making your site member friendly. But for now, let’s talk about non-members. What things should we be providing them on our church website? What things should we avoid?
I think you have a good start. As mentioned, at my former church we incorporated a team of us. It so happened that a couple of us were very new to the church. The new folks could say, “I needed it to say ‘x’, why doesn’t it say ‘that'” Of course, that will be as individual as the person. I agree that you want to avoid Christianese, and also be sensitive that you aren’t using any kind of “insider language”: “Manna and More” is on Wednesday night. What in the world is that? “Refresh” starts at 11. Huh? I’m picking on the church I know the most, but I’ve seen it on several websites as I was looking around this summer. I think you want to picture someone who has never walked into ANY church and think about talking to them as you write the text and headlines. If they can make sense to that person, keep writing.