Having an excellent church website is not about spending a ton of money. Simpler is better for the most part. The key is to understand who you are, make that clear, and understand who your audience is. Here is a quick checklist of things you cannot mess up on your church website if you want to accomplish these three things.

1. The website should have a picture of the pastor (or co-pastors for couples leading together). It also helps if the image is with your spouse and family, if possible. People should be able to navigate to this part of the website in one or two clicks.

2. The pastor’s bio should be about 3-5 sentences, not 3-5 paragraphs. In some cases, it feels like 3-5 pages (“I knew I was called to plant since I was five years old when I used to preach to my G.I. Joes.”). Give us a quick overview. If you want to share your story in more detail, allow people to watch a video.

3. Put your location and service time on the “top fold” of your website. Make it the easiest thing to find on your site without clicking or navigating in any way. It’s also a good idea to put a picture of the outside location and a link to Google Maps. If you are a portable church, then the name of the space should be displayed and the physical address.

4. Instead of a long text explaining what kind of church you want to be, show what church you are. You can do this by linking your church’s social media to your website. This will help people who want to keep exploring who you are. You should also use actual high-quality photos from your gatherings on your website. People can always tell when it is a stock image.

5. Give easy access to the front door of your digital church. Can people find when your church services are streaming online without too much trouble? When you go live with a new service, do people know what platforms they can find you? Now, more than ever, people need to be able to find your church’s streaming option so that they can watch from home. 

Bonus Tip: Consider having someone else with experience in branding and marketing look through your website and give you feedback. This is something we would be happy to do for you for FREE. If you are interested in scheduling a free coaching session with Deka, click here to set up a convenient time for you. We’d be glad to help!