What features do you need in your church website?

To answer that question, we start by thinking about the purpose of the website. What do you want it to accomplish for your church?

Most churches want their websites to:

• Provide information about the church to potential visitors
• Provide information about events, groups, and ministry opportunities to members

But there may also be other things your church wants to accomplish with its website:

• Provide materials for discipleship
• Provide an easy way for members to send their tithes and offerings to the church
• Help people connect with the church via email or social media
• Help people get in touch with staff, ministry leaders or other members
• Help people sign up for events
• Sell books, Christian gifts, or church merch (branded shirts, coffee mugs, etc)

Once you know what you want your church website to do, you can then consider the features and functionality to accomplish these things.

We looked at the features most requested by our Custom Web Design clients, feedback from our WP-EZ Church Website Builder users, and church website trends to put together this list of:

The Top 5 Must-Have Church Website Builder Features

1) Calendar

If you want church members to get more involved and better connected, they need to know when things are happening.  A calendar is essential.  Additionally, not every new person starts by coming to a Sunday service. Sometimes people start by going to a bible study, Celebrate Recovery, or some other event.

While it’s ideal to have a calendar feature provided by the website builder, another option is to integrate a 3rd party calendar like Google Calendar. If your church is already using another calendar system, it may easier to continuing using that. If you do, make sure that calendar can be embedded into a website, and make sure your website builder can embed the calendar.

2) Sermon Manager

Putting audio, video, and/or notes from your sermons online can accomplish several different goals. It helps prospective visitors get a better idea of what to expect, it helps members stay connected when they miss a Sunday, it can help with discipleship, and it can even help with outreach if you encourage people to share sermons or snippets of sermons online.

The best option is to us a website builder that has a sermon manager built into it. However, if your website builder doesn’t have a sermon manager, it’s also possible to use a blogging feature to blog sermon audio, video, and/or notes each week.

3) Online Giving

Most people pay their bills and manage their money online. By facilitating online giving on your website, you can help your members give more consistently.

Online giving is another feature where it is ideal if its integrated into the website builder. However, if you’re already using an online giving system, it may be easier to continue using that system as long as you can embed a “Donate” button into the header of your website and/or a give page.

4) Email Subscription

The number one form of communication for many churches is email. Yes, most churches still do announcements during their gatherings and most hand out a printed bulletin, but many people don’t hear/read these. Plus most people miss one or two Sundays every month. Email is the most reliable way to communicate with people during the week, so providing a way for people to subscribe to receive your emails is important.

While we used to advocate for choosing a website builder with a built-in newsletter feature. Today, 3rd party email service providers like MailChimp provide do a better job of combating spam and managing subscribers. So, we suggest using an email service and then embedding the “Subscribe” and “Archive” features into your website.

5) Social Media Integration

Another good way to help people stay connected with your church is through social media.  Having icons/links to your social channels on your website helps with this. And having social share buttons on pages and posts helps people share things from your church with their friends.

The bottom line is…

Make sure your church website builder has the functionality to connect and communicate effectively with visitors and members.

Build a website with website builder that supports all these features!

If you are searching for the best church website builder, we’re pleased to inform you our WP-EZ Church Website Builder has all these features and more.  Save yourself time and start building your church website now!

Or if you would rather have OurChurch.Com build your website for you, fill out the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop).

Comment and Discuss… What are the most important features you want in your church website?

Continuing reading Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post Church Website Builder Must-Have Features! appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Church website themes have changed a lot over the years.

When we developed our first church website builder more than 20 years ago, it was common to have Christian symbols in the header – crosses, doves, bibles, etc.  Every once in a while we still have people contact us and ask us if we have themes like that.  (No, sorry, we don’t.)

When selecting the theme for your church website, it’s important to understand that your goal is to help your website visitors understand who your church is and find the information they are looking for quickly and easily.

With that in mind, here are…

3 Secrets to Selecting the Best Church Website Builder Theme

1) Mobile-friendly

More than half of website visits are made using mobile devices.  Therefore it’s absolutely essential that when you build a church website, the theme is responsive and mobile-friendly.

“Responsive” means the theme responds to the device the viewer is using – phone, tablet, computer- and displays each element of each web page in a way that looks good and functions well.

2) Page templates

Page templates are pre-made pages you can add to your website. The page is all laid out for you, you just have to replace the sample text with your text and the sample images with your images.

Page templates are helpful because instead of creating each page from scratch, you start with a page layout that has already been designed by a website developer. If you use a church-specific website builder, its developers probably understand the needs and goals of churches and their website visitors and designed those page templates to meet those needs and goals.

3) Brand consistency

Branding is communicating the values and culture of your church through the way you talk about and present yourself.

When most people hear “branding” they think logo.  Yes, your logo is an important part of your brand.  But in addition to your logo, the colors, fonts, icons and images you use on your website also communicate your brand.

Colors – The colors used throughout your website should be consistent with the colors in your logo.  If you’re not crazy about your logo colors, learn more about the psychology of color. It might be time for a new logo with new colors that better fit the culture of your church.

Font – As with colors, the font used throughout your website should be consistent with the font used in your logo. The font you use communicates culture – serious, playful, casual, fancy.

And yes, I used the singular form of the word – font, not fonts. Don’t be using different fonts on different pages or multiple fonts on one page. Your website is not hosting a calligraphy festival.

Icons and images – The style, shape, and color of the icons and images used throughout your website also communicate something about your culture.

This is why website designs are called “themes” – because the colors, font, icons and images are all designed to communicate a specific theme.  So, choose a website theme that matches the style of your church – formal, casual, urban, country, artistic, or whatever.

The bottom line is…

The best church website builders have themes that are mobile-friendly, include page templates, and compliment your church’s brand.

Get the best church themes!

OurChurch.Com’s WP-EZ Church Website Builder includes a wide variety of church themes. All our themes are mobile-friendly, come with page templates, accommodate a logo and can be customized to match your logo’s colors.

If you prefer to have us create a custom church website design for your church, we can do that. And if you’re thinking about logo design or branding services, we’d be happy to talk more about that too.

Fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to request a free consultation.

Comment and discuss…

• What do you think is important to look for in a church website theme?
• What questions do you have about church themes?

Continuing reading Church Website Builder Tips and Tools

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post 3 Secrets To The Best Church Website Builder Designs appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Ok, from the example above, maybe I’m not the best storyteller.

However, we all love stories.  That is why books and movies are so successful: they tell stories.  And before books and movies, people would gather in villages, around fires, and tell stories.  Even Jesus demonstrated the power of storytelling.

Why do we love stories?

Stories are engaging.  We identify with the characters in the the stories. Stories help us understand life and how the universe we live in works. Plus, good stories evoke feelings of joy, sadness, anticipation, fear, and other emotions.

Are you telling stories on your website?

People may visit your website looking for logistical details about your organization and its upcoming events. But they are also looking to connect with people (and hopefully God). They want to know that your church, ministry, or business understands people like them, and they want to hear how God is using your church or ministry to transform people’s lives.

The week after Easter is a great time to tell stories on your church website. 

You have the opportunity to share stories of what God has been doing by posting videos and pictures of the events that happened over the Easter weekend.

And because Easter is all about new life in Christ, post a story (or two, three) from people in your church, sharing their journey, and how the Church helped them draw closer to our risen Savior.

These real life stories are what people will identify with.  Although video is usually the most effective method of story telling, these stories don’t have to be video.  They can be written stories with a photo of the person who shared their story.

Storytelling is the single most powerful form of human communication. –Peg Neuhauser

Want some help? We can help you tell and share these stories.

If you are tired, overwhelmed, or busy with all the other things demanding your time and attention, the OurChurch.com can help lighten your load and get things right the first time.

Our website design and SEO services include content creation (writing web pages, blog articles and more). We can help your church, school, ministry or businesses tell your stories better, faster, and with less work required by you.

Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call.

Comment and Discuss

• Do you have a great story you have shared on your church or Christian website?  Post a brief description of the story along with a link to it on your website.

Read more articles in our Easter series.

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes! But There it Was, Headed Right at Me… appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Today, I want to say how thankful I am for the gift that God the Father gave to me and everyone who is willing to receive it… His Son, Jesus Christ.

This past weekend we remembered the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus paid through his death on the cross.  And although His death is remembered in a somber way, His resurrection is a joyous event that promises new life!

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. -Matthew 28:6 

The same can be true about your website.

If you currently have a website that is frustrating, out of date, or difficult to work with, it doesn’t need to stay that way.  Your website can have new life.

Granted it will probably take more than 3 days to turn your site around but there’s no better time than the present to get moving.

Complete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a time to chat about website design and how it can help your organization live out its mission online.

Comment and discussion…

• How did you celebrate Easter this year? What was most meaningful about the celebration?

Read more articles in our Easter series.

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post Happy Easter! He is Risen!! appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Easter is one of the best times of the year for churches to connect with people in their community, and one of the best times of the year to help people deepen their relationship with God. Therefore, our focus until Easter is going to be on helping you prepare for Easter and then taking things to the next level after Easter.

Let’s start with your church website.

Because your website is the front door to your church, it is important to do these…

5 Things To Prep Your Church Website For Easter

1. Make sure you have Easter service times prominently displayed on your homepage.

Even if your church isn’t changing service times for Easter services, it is important to have your “Easter Service Times” displayed near the top of your homepage.

2. Post info/links to other Easter weekend activities.

If your church is having an egg hunt, Easter brunch, or any other special activities, give special attention to those events on your homepage.

But, you don’t have to have all the details of every event on your homepage. Usually it’s better to just post a headline or promotional graphic for each event and have it link to a calendar or event page that gives more details.

3. Create a welcome message.

Although this is a good idea for any time of the year, it is especially important at Easter when so many new visitors will be attending.

The welcome video should be short (1-2 minutes), friendly, and… yes, welcoming.  The information included should address the question, “What should I expect if I visit your church?”

4. Remove outdated information.

If you haven’t gotten around to the spring cleaning of your website (removing of old, outdated information), you absolutely should do it now.

Nothing screams that your church is “irrelevant” more than outdated, irrelevant information on your website.

5. Volunteers needed.

Because attendance will be higher than usual, you will likely need more volunteers than usual.  Give special attention on your website to the need for volunteers and link to a page that gives specifics on what serving opportunities are needed most and who to contact for each.

Insight to Improve Your Church’s Easter Communications:

1. 22 Easter Ideas for Church Outreach (events and online)
2. Why Your Church Should Use the Plan Your Visit Strategy
3. What is the Plan Your Visit strategy?
4. How to Optimize Your Church Website for Easter
5. How to Get Your Church Website to Rank for “Easter Service Near Me”
6. May Your Easter Communications Do This
7. Will There Be Life After Easter?
8. 10 Funny and Inspiring Easter Videos
9. Video: It’s Friday… But Sunday’s a Coming
10. Happy Easter! He is Risen!!
11. I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes! But There it Was, Headed Right at Me…
12. Secrets Revealed by Easter Analytics
13. An Easter Revelation

Plus bonus articles

1. 22 Mother’s Day Ideas for Church Outreach (events and online)
2. 7 Ways Your Website Can Help You Go Green for Earth Day

The bottom line is…

As you prepare your heart for Holy Week, don’t forget to prepare your church website as well.

Improve Your Church’s Easter Communications

1. 22 Easter Ideas for Church Outreach (events and online)

Looking for new, innovative ways to reach people in your local community this Easter?  Check out this detailed list of outreach ideas that includes both events your church can host and ways your church can connect with people online.

Click to 22 Easter Ideas for Church Outreach (events and online)

2. Why Your Church Should Use the Plan Your Visit Strategy

Most of the time when people are looking for a church, they search online, view a church’s website, and then maybe they visit on a Sunday… and maybe they don’t. If they don’t, you’ll never know.

With Plan Your Visit, you give website visitors the opportunity to schedule their visit using a short online form. Then you have a host to does a number of things before, during, and after their visit. In this article we explain what those things are and why they dramatically increase the likelihood a person will visit and return.

Check out Why Your Church Should Use the Plan Your Visit Strategy

3. What is Plan Your Visit?

“Plan Your Visit” is a church outreach strategy designed to make it easier for people to visit a church for the first time, have a good first visit, and return to get better connected.

Because there’s an online component to Plan Your Visit, some people mistakenly assume that Plan Your Visit is just a web page, a button, and an online form. But there’s so much more to it than that!

Learn the 6 Parts to the Plan Your Visit Strategy in What is Plan Your Visit?

4. How to Optimize Your Church Website for Easter

According to the Pew Research Center, more Americans search for “church” around Easter than at any other time. In this immensely practical article, we share with you 8 specific things you can do to help you church rank better in search results and connect with more people searching for a church or Easter events this year.

Check out How to Optimize Your Church Website for Easter

5. How to Get Your Church Website to Rank for “Easter Service Near Me”

Most people start their search for a church online, so one of the best ways a church can connect with people looking for a church to worship with on Easter is through search engines like Google.

To get your church to appear in the search results when someone searches for “Easter service near me” takes different tactics compared with getting into the results for “church near me.” Here’s why and what those tactics are.

See How to Get Your Church Website to Rank for “Easter Service Near Me”

6. May Your Easter Communications Do This

There is a tendency for those of us who spend our days immersed in online communications to get caught up in the details of technology.

It can be fun to make our websites better, move towards the top of search rankings and grow our engagement in social media.

But as we observe Holy Week over the next week and a half,  it’s a good time to reflect on why we do what we do.

Take a step back to put your Easter communications into perspective with May Your Easter Communications Do This

7. Will There Be Life After Easter?

If you work or volunteer in church communications, this is one of your busiest weeks of the year.

It may be tempting to think, “The end is near! Easter is almost hear! I can see the finish line!”

But Easter has never been about endings, has it?

We share 4 Ways to Help Cultivate the New Life God Creates this Easter (how to prepare for what happens after Easter).

Check out Will There Be Life After Easter?

8.10 Funny and Inspiring Easter Videos

From hilarious videos of kids being kids to inspirational Easter-themed music videos, we’ve got the full gamut of Easter videos that will make you laugh and stir your heart.

They’re great to share on social media and can serve as spiritual conversation starters.

Don’t miss… 10 Funny and Inspiring Easter Videos

9. Video: It’s Friday… But Sunday’s a Coming

This short message by S.M. Lockridge is one of my personal favorites and really helps to put Good Friday into perspective.

See It’s Friday… But Sunday’s a Coming

10. Happy Easter! He is Risen!!

Normally, each week we write about something related to website design, an article that includes information that is relevant and helpful to you and your organization.

Today, I want to say how thankful I am for the gift that God the Father gave to me and everyone who is willing to receive it… His Son, Jesus Christ.

Read more in Happy Easter! He is Risen!!

11. I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes! But There it Was, Headed Right at Me…

We all love stories. That is why books and movies are so successful: they tell stories. And before books and movies, people would gather in villages, around fires, and tell stories. Even Jesus demonstrated the power of storytelling.

Stories are engaging. We identify with the characters in the the stories. Stories help us understand life and how the universe we live in works. Plus, good stories evoke feelings of joy, sadness, anticipation, fear, and other emotions.

So… Are you telling stories on your website?

Learn more about the opportunities to share Easter stories in I Couldn’t Believe My Eyes! But There it Was, Headed Right at Me…

12. Secrets Revealed by Easter Analytics

Once Easter has passed, I hope you can take a breath now. But you’ve got one more important Easter task to do…

Review Your Easter Analytics

This will help you better understand what aspects of our Easter outreach worked well and which didn’t, so you can learn from this year and do things even better next year.

Continue reading… Secrets Revealed by Easter Analytics

13. An Easter Revelation

What have you learned from your Easter communications? And what changes do you want to make?

To help with this, we’ve provided some assessment questions as well insight you might for your website, SEO, and social media.

Continue reading… An Easter Revelation

We’d love to hear what you’re doing and your perspective on Easter and AI in this month’s Listening Post survey.

Let OurChurch.Com Be Your Easter Guide

If your Christian church, ministry or business wants to reach more people through a new Christian website design or  Christian SEO services, we’d love to talk with you.

Fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a time to talk with a member of our team. 

Comment & Discuss

• What things are you doing to prepare your church website for Easter?
• Is your church using Plan Your Visit or are you considering it?

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post 5 Things To Prep Your Church Website For Easter appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Stop doing it alone!

In this Website Design Frequently Asked Questions (Web Design FAQs) video blog, I address the questions…  What is a web team? Who should be on it? What roles and responsibilities should everyone have?

For those who prefer to read…

What is a web team?

A web team, quite simply, the team of people responsible for building, updating and managing your website. They’re going to be the people that make the decisions about the website and also the people that maintain the website. It can be as small as three people, and certainly should be more than one individual.

Why do I need a web team?

Here are 4 compelling reasons for building a website team:

1. Staffing Redundancy: If you rely on a single individual to manage your website and that person becomes unavailable due to illness, vacation, or leaving the organization, you have a problem. What if the website goes down? What if there is something you want communicate? Does info about last week’s events stay on the website? Having multiple team members ensures continuity.
2. Shared Workload: “Many hands make light work.” Dividing responsibilities among team members eases the burden on each person, making it easier to build and maintain your website effectively.
3. More Expertise: Different team members can specialize in various aspects of web development, such as content creation, photography, or technical expertise. This diversity of skills enhances the overall quality of your website.
4. Multiple Perspectives: A web team can provide a broader range of perspectives, including those of leadership, marketing, customer service, and more. Diverse viewpoints can lead to a more well-rounded and functional website.

Who Should Be on Your Web Team?

Building the right web team starts with identifying key roles:

• Team Leader: This individual, often your communications or marketing director, takes charge of leading, organizing, and making final decisions for the team.
• Content Writer: A skilled writer responsible for crafting engaging text for web pages, blog articles, and announcements.
• Photographer: While this role can be outsourced, having an in-house person with an eye for photography can be a valuable asset.
• Technical/IT Expert: Responsible for installing website software, managing plugin updates, and addressing technical issues. This role is crucial for a smoothly functioning website.
• Consultants: Many organizations don’t have people with the skills needed for all of these roles, or those people don’t have the time to take full responsibility for that role.  In these situations, it makes sense to hire professionals – perhaps a professional website developer, a professional photographer, or a professional SEO.

These four roles form the core of your web team, but you can expand or customize it to suit your organization’s specific needs.

Defining Roles and Responsibilities

Once you’ve established your web team, it’s essential to define their roles, responsibilities, and authority:

• Content Updates: Clearly define who is responsible for various aspects of website updates, such as main pages, blog articles, photos, and technical updates. Specify how often these tasks should be completed.
• Design Decision-Making: Identify who has the final say on design-related matters, ensuring that design decisions remain consistent and efficient.
• Financial Expenditures: Clearly define who can authorize financial expenditures related to website improvements, functionality additions, or SEO services.
• Points of Contact: Designate a single point of contact for external web development teams or companies. Also, establish an internal point of contact for when ministry teams or groups within your organization want to add announcements or other information to the website.

We hope that this post has been informative and it has provided some good guidance on a web team and the importance of a web team.

There is no i in team but we sure are glad there is u in our volunteers. – Unknown

Add our team of pros to your team

If you don’t have a web design expert or an SEO expert on your team, or they don’t have the time to fulfill those roles, our team can help fill those roles. Take a look at our website design and SEO services, and compete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call to see if OurChurch.Com is the right fit for your team.

Comment and discuss

• What’s the state of your web team? Who’s on it?

Read or watch more Web Design FAQs 

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post Why do I need a web team? How do I build one? appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Sometimes the planning for the year involves evaluating the church website.

And if you are going through the process of considering a new church website design, the first question you need to ask is:

What is the purpose of our website?

This is the critical first step because as John F Kennedy said…

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.  -John F Kennedy

For most churches, the purpose of their church website is two-fold:

1. Connect with people in the community
2. Communicate with church members

Once you have determined your website’s purpose, the next step is to determine the projects or tasks you’re going to do to accomplish this purpose.

Some examples of how you may accomplish your website’s purpose include:

Connect with people our community

1. Start Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the website so it moves into the top 10 (or better) in the Google search results and stays there.
2. Add a welcome video to the homepage, where the lead pastor is the voice-over to a video that shows what visiting on Sunday will look like (walking up to the church, inside the welcome area, inside the church service, dropping off kids in the kids zone, coffee and reception area, etc)
3. Add event information to the homepage about one upcoming community outreach event that is happening in the next month

Communicate with church members

1. Add subscribe options so new people can get on your email list and text list.
2. Add quick links to getting involved in a small group Bible study, calendar of events, and service opportunities.
3. Add a link to the “Give” page in your primary navigation menu to make it very easy to give online
4. Add online event registration to your website for youth retreats, VBS, and other upcoming events

These are just a few examples of projects or tasks a church might choose to do to accomplish the purpose of its church website.

After you have listed the steps of how you will accomplish your website’s purpose, it is important to create a detailed plan for how each will be implemented and how each will be evaluated to determine whether or not these measures are effective.

Discover a Better Way to Move Forward

If you want to gain more clarity about your goals for this year, how to accomplish them, and whether partnering with an experienced, professional website design and SEO agency is right for you, fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to Schedule a Discovery Call.

Post a comment. We would like to hear from you:

1. What is the purpose of your website?
2. What specific steps are you taking to accomplish the purpose of your website?

Continue reading… How to set and reach your goals in 2025!

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post Setting goals? Start here appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Christmas is a busy season.

It’s likely some people who are a part of your church will be traveling, some spending time with family, others serving in the military or away at school. They will not be able to be physically present at your Christmas Eve service or gather the Sunday after Christmas.

Some people may be shut-in or sick.

You don’t want to leave them alone and disconnected during the holidays.

So, let’s talk about…

3 Great Ways Your Church Website Can Connect Those Away for Christmas

1. Live stream your Christmas Eve and Sunday services.

In addition to the live streaming itself, there are several other thinks you can do to maximize this connection.

• Let people know ahead of time via announcements, email, website that you will be live streaming, so they can plan for .
• Embed your live stream in your website or include links to it on your website so people can find it.
• Designate a host to engage with people who are watching the live stream in the comments.

2. Post audio or video of your services on your website.

If you choose not to live stream your services, the next best thing is to publish audio or video of the services. Some tips to maximize this connection:

• Publish it as soon as possible after the event – next day or even same day if possible.
• Embed the audio or video on your website.
• Notify people via email that if they missed the gatherings they can listen or watch a reply.
• Share the audio/video on your social channels.

3. Post pictures of services and events to your church website.

Some tips for sharing these Christmas photos:

• Choose the best pics. No one wants to see 100 photos, and no one wants to see the bad ones (blurry, too dark, people chewing with their mouths open)
• Publish them as soon as possible after the event – next day or even same day if possible.
• Include one photo from each event in an email and link to the whole gallery.
• Share the pics on your social channels.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. -Matthew 2:10

Connect with the church website design experts

Does your current website make it difficult or impossible to carry out any of these recommendations? Do you not have the time or expertise? You can talk with a member of our team about your church website design.

Fill out the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop)!

Please add your comments below

• What things does your church do to connect with those away at Christmas?

Continue reading Your Christmas Communications Playbook

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post 3 Great Ways Your Church Website Can Connect Those Away for Christmas appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Have you figured how you’re going to celebrate the holiday?

Just like my family, millions of other families are making plans for how they are going to spend their Christmas.  A big part of their Christmas plans include where they will attend church, if at all.

According to a Pew research report, Christmas is second only to Easter as the time of the year when more Americans search the internet using the word “Church”.  This means…

There is a huge opportunity to have new visitors walk in your doors this Christmas season!

The only way that you will get the opportunity to meet these visitors is if you have the following

3 Things Your Website Needs for Christmas

1) Service Times:

Most visitors are looking for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service times.  Make sure they are easy to find on your homepage. Include info about other Christmas outreach events too.

2) Address

Because many people searching for churches in your area don’t regularly attend your church, don’t make visitors hunt for your address.  It may be listed in your footer, but during this time of the year, put it higher up on your homepage as well.

3) What To Expect

One thing I’ve learned: Frustration occurs when expectations aren’t met.

You can eliminate possible frustration for your guests by answering the questions people often have about Christmas services:

• How long will the service be?
• Are children welcome in the service? Is children’s church and/or child care provided?
• What will people be wearing?
• Will services be available online? If so, where?

Put that information either on your homepage or include a link to a “What To Expect at our Christmas Eve Services” link that takes visitors to a page with all of this information.

Having these 3 items on your homepage will show guests that you genuinely care about them and want them join you for your Christmas (Eve) services.

This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone. -Taylor Caldwell

Would you like to talk about a church website design for your church or a new website for your Christian organization? Complete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a free phone consultation.

Comment and discuss:

• What info about Christmas Eve services do you think is important to include on a church website?

Continue reading Your Christmas Communications Playbook

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post 3 Things Every Church Website Needs for Christmas appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.

Who are who are these people we often forget to thank?

Staff and volunteers

There are so many ways that you can thank your staff and volunteers, but we want to suggest a way that doesn’t cost you anything and helps your website better reflect who you are as a church.

Previously, we wrote that one aspect of a great church website is to use photos of real people from your organization on your website.  So, when you are taking pictures for your website, make sure to get some good photos of your staff and volunteers.

Where should you put those photos?

Good question! Here are…

3 Great Places on Your Website to put Photos of Your Staff and Volunteers

1. Homepage

If you have a image slider or large static image at the top of your homepage, use a picture with multiple people, including some staff and volunteers.

2. Ministry pages

We’re talking about the web pages you have for missions, youth ministry, children’s ministry, women’s ministry, and so on.  Include image(s) of people involved in that ministry and some of the staff/volunteers that lead that ministry.

3. Staff directory

Include a picture and short bio of all your paid staff staff. And if you have volunteers that lead ministries, include them on your staff directory too, so people know who to contact if they’re interested in a particular ministry.

There is no i in team but we sure are glad there is u in our volunteers. – Unknown

In this article, we’ve focused primarily on putting pics of church staff and volunteers on church websites, but these principles apply to business, ministry and school websites too.

Expand Your Team with Our Team

We’re big advocates of collaboration within the body of Christ. You don’t have to do everything yourself.  Often its better to partner with someone who has more knowledge and experience in a particular area.

If you would like to talk about how to improve your church website design or church SEO, please fill out the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a free phone call.

Comment and Discuss…

• Where on your church website are you displaying pictures your staff and volunteers?

Continue reading more ways to express gratitude during the Thanksgiving season!

Mark Steinbrueck

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.

ourchurch.com

The post Here is a simple way to show gratitude to your staff appeared first on Christian Web Trends Blog: Church Websites, Design, SEO.