OurChurch.Com has had the privileged of serving thousands of churches over the years. Many churches have great websites but there is one area in which the websites often need improvement: Pictures!
All to often, church websites are filled with blurry, small, stretched or otherwise poor photos of church members, services, and other activities. This usually is because there is nobody who is truly in charge of taking pictures at the church. And when there is a need for pictures for the website, newsletter, or social media, it is the secretary, youth pastor, or worship pastor is asked to take pictures (in addition to their other endless list of tasks.)
The great thing about this problem is that there is typically a very simple and cost effective solution: Hire a teenager!
Most churches have a teenager who works for the school newspaper or has the hobby of photography. If so, they will have the camera needed to get good photos and will be able to provide this service at a reasonable rate. Just follow the 3 steps below to get great pictures for your church website design:
- Make an announcement at church or the next youth group meeting that the church is looking for a teenager to take pictures for the church website. If you know of someone in particular that has this skill set, you can contact them directly and skip the announcement.
- Meet with the person, review some of their work, and agree to a price.
- Ask them to take pictures one week at church services and other church events (youth group, etc), review/edit (if they know editing) the pictures taken, and share the pictures with you within a week. Make sure they share the images via Dropbox or a thumb drive. Sometimes sharing images via text and email doesn’t work well because those methods will compress the image files so they are smaller and easier to send.
- Note: When you are going to have pictures taken, it would be good to have a sign at the entrance of the church saying that pictures will be taken, so people who enter are aware that their picture may be taken and used on the website.
Don’t settle for bad pictures on your church website. Hire a teenager. -Mark Steinbrueck
If your church doesn’t have a teenager, you may have a stay-at-home mom or dad who loves photography and can fill the role.
Do you have other suggestions on how to get great pictures on your church website? Post your comments and questions below.
Would you like to talk about improving your church’s website? Click here for a free consultation.
President at OurChurch.Com
Mark has served as the President of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, leading the Custom Website and Sales departments with dedication and expertise.
Over the years, he has managed hundreds of custom website, graphic design, and marketing projects for churches, non-profits, businesses, and schools.
Beyond his professional work, Mark is deeply committed to serving his community. He coordinates and packs over 700 meals each week for children through One Community Now’s Pack A Sack for Kids program, volunteers in the Children’s Ministry at Generations Christian Church, and participates in a weekly Bible study.
