@deairby Hi Dea

First and foremost it is design. If it’s clean with lots of whitespace and no (or few ads) then I am more likely to stay. If it is cluttered and full of ads I leave without reading more than a line or two.

Content comes second. It’s needs to be engaging and interesting, but also laid out well. If all it has is 3 huge blocks of text I am not reading it. On the otherhand if it has sub-headings, bullet points and is easy to follow along, then I will keep reading, even if it is to skim.

Oh, and no animated gifs.

Russell

I cannot agree more @joncardwell. Long live King Content!

@deairby I look for usability. Usability is a broad concept word because it covers a lot of areas–visual design, navigation, content being some keys. But I also look for ‘marketing value’- are you taking every opportunity to convert visitors and engage.

There is a “checklist’ and it all depends on whether you are building a new site from scratch or revamping an existing one. In my opinion, in either case you need to develop a Creative Brief that delves into your audience(s) and what they need, the brand you want to convey, the content types you plan to deliver, and the functionality you need, and your anticipated budget both for creation and maintenance.

nice list, thanks Michael @mgoes

@deairby Good question!  It was interesting to see what everyone’s preferences are.  I would agree with @mgoes and his list.  For me it really comes down to a good balance of content, organization, and visual appeal.

@deairby

Have you considered using a premium Wordpress theme that was specifically designed for church websites? Here are some examples:

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/wordpress/church-themes/
http://themeforest.net/item/light-of-peace-wordpress-template/120416?ref=wpposter

Your website is a good start, I just think the theme you chose is a little too generic. Even if you’re on a budget, some of these templates are not too expensive (e.g. $30 for the one on themeforest).

@deairby

I was about to weigh in with a response similar to @lukaspleva, that if you’re the site owner it’s all about conversion.

Then I read that this is for your church, so I’m not sure if “conversion” is the goal or not!

I would suggest that if the purpose of the website is about keeping members of the church up to date with events, and perhaps help non-members looking for a church get the information they need, then it’s a successful site.

We should be thinking about our ideal customers and what THEY want to accomplish at our site. 

I highly recommend Jakob Nielsen’s usability studies.  He did one about 10 years ago, and recently re-did the study.  A lot changed.  It is expensive to buy all the results (around 300$ if I remember correctly), but he does post summaries and tips on his site.

The studies cover everything you could possibly think of, from color of links to placement of items.  It was really eye-opening to me, and I’ve used his results with great effect.  We just did a redesign and followed his rules, conversion skyrocketed. 

Amy, that’s what I’m talking about. Did you see what I’ve done so far? durhamchapel.com @amyhallbiz

awesome feedback, Amy, thanks, will do, so appreciate your valuable input, You Rock! @amyhallbiz

Ditto.

@deairby I wanted to share with you some of the lessons I’ve learned.  Putting up a website and adding some content will get you some traffic but you will need to build a website that solves a problem.   Since you are developing a website that is for people to come together as a group, you will need to really profile the community spirit of your church.   Help give people a feeling that they belong with your church.   You have good website tools but content that speaks directly to your community and builds the community or family spirit will help people feel at home.  Doing things like profiling members, adding LOTS of (good) pictures of events, the people and the area will help the connection with the church.  I’ve had a lot of positive responses when quotes are added to websites.  The quotes need to speak directly to your target audience.  The quotes can be created with a graphic or it can bold headline text.  Really focus the quotoes message on filling the need a person may have.

I recently took over a Little League website that has about 400 families.  When I started with the website, no one went to it and it wasn’t a source of information or community at all.    The website looked ok but it had old information and very generic pictures.  Nothing that connected the community.   We started posting pictures from the games, profiling the players, highlighting home runs and other good plays.  I went to You Tube and embedded videos to help the coaches and umpires and of course I started posting famous inspirational quotes from baseball players.  The website went from just being there to being a resource and a showcase at the same time.  The website has turned around completely.  I can’t remember the last time I was at the fields that someone did NOT thank me for the website.  Over the weekend, we had our Family Movie Night that was open to the entire community and I was helping with snacks and other things and I overheard a little guy about 5 years old pointing to one of our 12 years olds telling his friend “He has hit HOME RUNS!”  It was such a cool moment because the littlest players are recognizing the “big kids” & the best part is website is pulling our community together.    Baseball is a different feeling this year, it’s the best part of the weekends and a sense of community is felt across all ages. 

You can easily create that for your website.  Video tape sermons, take pictures, and make the website a resource for new and existing congregation.  Add content weekly or bi-weekly.  Make the website the main source of information.

Another thing to think about is….brand your entire marketing.  Make all things have the same look and feel so people see that certain something and automatically think of  your church.  It could be the picture of the tree, or a tagline, colors, or event a font.  Just make sure it all ties together.  Don’t forget to create a Facebook page for your church (making it have the same look and feel as your website) and use that to post pictures, quotes, upcoming events and etc.. You can embed that page into your website so Facebook will add current content to your website.  Make sure you add all of the social marketing links to your website.   In this era, we need to give as many options as possible for people to find us.

Good luck! 

Totally agree with you, Kim.I don’t shop at stores that misspell words. @kimkline

Wow, Catherine, so impressive on so many levels. Great work on the baseball website! All your information is great and I am looking forward to the day that I can put it into practice. Right now….there IS no community! We have 3 members (two widows and a man from the nursing home….not very pretty pictures) @catherineschooling Yes, the troops rallied! SME is amazing like that. @nyssavista