We’re going to talk about church websites. Now, before you groan and click away to the next article, let me suggest something. Read this. It’s important. Obviously, as a church website provider, Sharefaith is dedicated to providing the absolute best in church websites. However, one component of church websites that we have no control over is one of the most important. It has to do with the content—the words and articles on your church website.
From Pitiful to Powerful: Why Church Website Content Matters
Oh. That’s bad.
You know just as well as I do that church websites get a bad rap. Most of this bad rap is due to nightmarish HTML editing, scary fonts, and animated GIFs. Some of it, however is a content problem—misspellings, grammatical no-nos, comma abominations, troubling style, subject/verb disagreement sins, and the absolutely horrific ALL CAPS TECHNIQUE. In developing a church website, you want to be above offense. Stunning Sharefaith graphics and slick predesigned templates help improve the overall church website, but we don’t give you the actually copy (unless you actually copy/paste what’s in our template, which is kind of cheap).
So, point one is this: bad things can happen with church website content. That copy? Those words? Those articles? That will make or break your website. Shoddy copy is a major turnoff. It is understandable for a website visitor to form his entire opinion of your church simply based on the quality of your website content.
Ask yourself, does your website content reflect what you want your church to communicate?
Wow. That’s helpful.
I was recently talking to a friend of mine who is looking for a new church. To find a church, he performed a lot of research on the Internet. He read the content on church websites. By the time he was done, he knew what church he was probably going to be attending. In his particular geographical locale, there were literally hundreds of church options to choose from. He hadn’t attended a single church. Ah, but he did what he thought was necessary: he scoured church websites, and read their content.
My friend is highly intelligent. He doesn’t make careless decisions. He is deliberate, wise, and thoughtful; he knows what to look for in a good church. Yet he made his church decision based on several factors, most of which pertained to the church’s website. He listened to online recordings of the pastor’s preaching and read the website content.
Point two, then, is that good things can happen with church website content. There is potential for powerful impact. So, ask yourself, how can your church website content become even more powerful and effective?
Okay, what now?
Here are the areas to concentrate on as you develop content.
- Church website content should be absolutely, entirely, perfectly, error-free.
- Church website content should answer the appropriate questions about the church. (E.g., church’s philosophy, affiliations, children, size, worship, etc.). You can’t provide too much information, provided it is appropriately organized and easy to find. Which leads me to say…
- Church website content should be organized and easy to find. Few things are more frustrating than a disorganized website. Your content is important, so make sure you have organized your pages and subpages in a way that is logical, and easy-to-follow.
Parting Words
Developing stellar content is not easy. Many websites pay professional copywriters thousands of dollars to develop a few pages of pristine, powerful content. You don’t want a pitiful church website. You want a powerful church website. Content is the way to get a powerful church website. Here are a few parting suggestions:
- Plan it out. Have a clear idea of what kind of content is necessary for your church website. Take some time to plan before hurtling headlong into an all-night content writing session.
- Take your time. You’re probably (eventually) going to have a lot of content. Don’t rush it. Think through it.
- Find a pro. It’s okay to hire an expensive copywriter to do your website content, but you probably don’t have to. Find someone in your church who is gifted in writing. Collaborate with them on the content, and develop some compelling stuff.
Sharefaith is committed to the importance of church websites, which is why we’ve poured years of research, months of development, and large amounts of money into creating a better church website model. Church websites don’t have to be pitiful. They can be powerful. But it’s up to you to create that accurate, incisive, effective, and compelling content.