A Simple Website is a Powerful Website
Knowing who you are targeting your website towards will help you, not only in creating the website by giving you direction, but it will keep the message that you want people to grasp clear.
Simplicity and clarity are key in creating a website that people will want to visit. Knowing who you are talking to will help greatly with this and you can read more about how to do this by clicking here to read ‘who is your website aimed at'.
Once you have a direction for your website and a strong message, do not be tempted to water it down by including everything on one page. People who visit websites do so for a reason, for your church website this reason will vary from person to person. New visitors may want to know more about the church history or the leadership team, whereas members of the church may visit the website to find details of the service this Sunday and those who aren’t Christian may want to know about what Christians believe (you can click here for more advice on creating a page on your beliefs) - help to make it clear to the user where they can find the information most relevant to their needs.
You may want to add all of these elements to your website, however by including it all on one page such as the homepage, the main aspect that a person is on your website to look for can become lost - the average time spent on a single website page can be less than 15 seconds, if they haven’t found by then what they were looking for they may close your website rather than spend time looking further. If you are using your website as a missional tool for non-Christians, then losing people this way can be frustrating for Church growth.
Keep your website simple, clutter free and organised. Utilise your homepage to create clear directives that will guide people to the information they need (click here for further advice on creating your homepage). Below are some tips to consider to keep your website simple:
- Don’t be too wordy, people will usually skim read pages on a website, unless they are really interested in the content. If you have a lot to say then consider writing a summary at the top, whilst providing the option to read further.
- Write your content to be ‘skimmable’
- The right image can speak a thousand word, so consider adding images. However, do take thought in using the right images for your website because having too many can have a cluttered look and could also slow down your website.
- Keep your navigation simple. Having too many items on your main navigation bar can be overwhelming, only include your most essential menu items and if you need more then you can create sub menus. With Church Edit this is easy to do, if you need help then you can contact our team.
If you need further help or advice on creating your church website then contact a member of the Church Edit team who are happy to provide help and support. You can email us on hello@churchedit.co.uk or call us on 0121 651 1120.