The secret to making a good first impression with your website (Part 2)

Last week, I wrote about the secret to making a good first impression with your website.

I included 5 tips about creating good content, these tips focused on images.

If you haven’t read that article, take a couple of minutes to read that now so you don’t miss out.

Today, I want to give 5 more tips on creating great content that will make a good first impression.

1. Don’t have diarrhea of the mouth (or keyboard):  Since most people will land on your homepage first, the homepage will be where their first impression is formed.  However, not many visitors want to read an a ton of text when they first arrive on your site.  Break up your content into easily digestible bites and link to other pages if more information is needed.
2. Proof read everything:  Don’t allow the first impression of your website be “Looks like a great church, but they can’t spell sevrice or batpism 😉
3. If you are going to create graphics, make sure they look professional:  Just like with images, graphics that you create should be professional looking.  You don’t need to to be a big church to be able to create great looking graphics.  You can check out some free options here.
4. Use videos but be aware:  Welcome videos are great and using YouTube to host your videos is a wonderful way to reduce the disk space and bandwidth of your website.  However, be aware that if you use YouTube, ads may be displayed on your video and other “related” videos may shown afterwards.  Most of the time, these suggested videos are fine, however, sometimes YouTube’s suggested videos are not necessarily appropriate.
5. No auto starting of videos or audio:  There is not much worse in making a first impression than when a visitor lands on your website and a loud welcome video starts playing without warning.  When this happens, visitors usually scramble to find a way to turn off the video, so they close out the website and move on to the next website.  If you want to have a video or audio on your website, configure it to only play when the visitor clicks the “Play” button.

What are your thoughts on these tips?  Do you have any other suggestions to make a great first impression with your website?  Post your comments and suggestions below!

Would you like to talk about getting a new website for your church, business, or ministry?  Click here for a FREE consultation.

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.