Get a Complimentary Website Review and Best Church Websites Award

We at OurChurch.Com believe no matter how big your church is or how big it’s budget, you can have an award-winning website, one of the best church websites. (Wait, no, I’m not trying to sell you anything.)

But there are 2 main problems…

First, many church websites are pretty bad.

They are not bad on purpose, of course.  But most church website administrators are either volunteers or staff who have some other area of ministry as their primary responsibility. They’re doing the best they can, but just don’t know and don’t have the time to learn good design and usability principles.

Second, most Best Church Websites lists are made up of mega-church sites.

I understand the people who make these lists want to recognize the best of the best. And, sure, it’s good for church website developers to be inspired by the creativity of others. Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of many of these “best church websites” lists is actually the opposite.  Many church website admins see the websites on these lists and try to mimic high-end features that cost thousands of dollars to develop. Or even worse, they get frustrated, thinking “We’ll never be able to compete with that!” and give up.

But I believe…

The best church websites aren’t the flashiest but those that help connect people to the info, resources & people they’re looking for.

So, we created a 3 part plan to help more churches create websites that help people connect to the information and people they’re looking for.

1) 10 Point Website Checklist

Are you familiar with the 80-20 rule? Often 80% of the outcome is produced by 20% of the resources. 80% of the work is done by 20% of volunteers. 80% of the revenue is produced by 20% of the clients. Along those lines, we believe 80% of church website problems are caused by 10 basic issues.

So, we took the 10 most common issues we see with websites and created a 10 Point Website Checklist.

If website administrators addressed these 10 issues, it would eliminate 80% of the problems we see with websites.

2) Best Christian/Church Websites Awards

Next, we want to recognize the churches whose websites address all 10 points on the checklist by giving them the Best Church Websites Award. And similarly we want to recognize other Christian websites (schools, ministries, businesses) with the Best Christian Websites Award.

By giving out these awards we hope to show that any Christian organization – no matter what the size or budget – can have one of the best Christian websites.

And we hope that when your church website or Christian website wins the award (that’s right, not if but when…), you will inspire other website administrators to address these 10 common issues so their websites also are among the best.

3) Win a $50 Gift Card

Third, for those websites hosted by OurChurch.Com, we are giving points towards the monthly Top Websites Challenge for each of the items on the 10-Point Checklist! The top 3 sites and one random winner receives a gift card of up to $50 each month.

After you nominate your website, we will review it as quickly as possible. Within a day or two you should receive an email either congratulating you on your award or letting you know about specific things you can improve on your website. If there are any issues, we hope you’ll fix them and let us know when they’ve been addressed so we get you your award.

This will be an annual award, so web administrators are inspired to keep their website going strong and be recognized each year for doing so.

Comment and Discuss

• Do you think the 10 point checklist will help you and other website administrators to address common problems and make their websites better?
• What are your thoughts on the Best Christian/Church Website Awards?

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.