What makes a church website really shine? It’s easy to look at a dazzling church website and think, “Wow. That website rocks! That must have cost them a ton of money! There’s no way we can do that with our website.”
Think again.
What Are the Key Elements Found in the Best Church Websites?
We’re going to give you just three secrets to a great website. You should know the Ten Commandments for a good church website. Here, we’re providing a level beyond those ten commandments—breakthrough secrets to a church website that makes a big splash. But first, let’s go over some of the no-no’s.
Three No-No’s in Creating the Best Church Websites
Listen to the ground rules from the negative perspective. Here are the common pitfalls that you must learn to avoid in analyzing or planning to have a best church website. They’re simple no-no’s, but oh-so important to learn.
- Bigger is not better.
- Flashier is not better.
- Expensive is not better.
Got it? Okay, let’s move on.
Three Rules for Creating the Best Church Websites
Now, for the key elements found in the best church websites. You may be surprised
1. The best church websites have a sufficient number of good-looking graphics.
Overall, the most outstanding mark of the best church website is the graphics. What is included in “graphics?” Graphics includes a whole lot. It includes the color scheme, background images or colors, font face, font color, font size, layout, images, logo, etc. Graphics are really important, because they give people an immediate sense of what kind of church you are. For example, colors are important, because they can actually affect a person’s emotions, positively or negatively. The readability of the type is crucial to a visitor’s being able to find out the information. As we have researched the best church websites, we’ve found that a rotating banner of images is one of the best ways to provide a stunning graphical interface. The first step to having a jaw-dropping-awesome church website is the law of the visual. It’s got to look good.
Sharefaith has created hundreds of website banners, website gadgets, and website sidebars so you can change the look and feel of your site as often as you like. On top of that, you receive access to more than 38,000 worship media templates giving you unlimited graphics for your church website. 38,000. How’s that for plenty of good-looking graphics?
Remember, though, that you don’t want to stuff your website with tons of pictures and graphics just because you can. More is not better. Be selective with your graphics, but by all means, use good ones.
2. The best church websites have in-your-face obvious navigation.
The second element of the best church websites has to do with the navigation. There’s just one feature to remember: make it obvious. Did you get that? OBVIOUS! We’ll say it again. OBVIOUS. Navigation should be obvious. Obvious navigation goes back to the design of the website.
Navigation links should be in an obvious location on the page. Usually, this means that you will have the main navigation links at the very top of the page. Let’s take our cue from Google.com, the most visited page on the Internet. Where are the navigation links on Google.com? They’re on the top left of the page. That’s obvious. Thus, obvious layout is the first determining factor in awesome navigation.
Second, the labels on your navigation are important for helping people around. If you try to get fancy or trendy with navigation labels, you’re just going to lose people. Simple titles such as “About Us,” and “Directions” are best.
Finally, the look of the link buttons or the text is important. Keep the navigation items large enough and obvious enough so people don’t have to hunt them down. They should be staring people in the face everywhere they navigate on the site.
It’s about being obvious.
Obviously.
3. The best church websites are simple, simple, simple.
There are just two basic rules for maintaining simplicity. First, keep lots of white space in the design. The definition of “white space” is anywhere that there is nothing. White space does refer to the presence or absence of color or texture, but rather the absence of elements such as text, graphics, etc. Let’s go back and think about Google.com. Tons of white space. The simplicity of the page makes it incredibly obvious as to where you’re supposed to click. Have you gone to Google and wondered, “Huh? I wonder what I’m supposed to do in order to search for something!” Of course not. The white space creates a sense of simplicity and ease-of-use.
Second, don’t include anything that is extraneous to the purpose of the website as a whole, and to the page specifically. This guideline is a bit more subjective, but it is no less important. As you consider typing something or adding something to your website, ask yourself: is this important for a user to see or to read? If not, just drop it and keep things simple. The simpler, the better. Cluttering the website with unnecessary information is to sabotage the integrity of the website.
Basically, what we’re saying is that the best church websites come from Sharefaith. We’re not trying to brag, but we’ve done our homework on the best church websites, put our nose to the grindstone, and have developed a product that is second to none. We’ve done all the research, the programming, the designing, the developing, the coffee-chugging, the sweat, the tears, and the occasional all-nighters. We offer it now to you.
(Breathe a sigh of relief.)
We want you to enjoy the best church websites available on the Internet.
If there was ever a time to remain or become a Sharefaith member, it is now!