5 practical ways to improve your website
Written by Lynne M. Baab
1. Write for the Web. Words on a computer screen (or mobile device) read differently than in print. Generally speaking, people read faster on the Web. They scan for meaning. Be concise. Choose your words carefully.
2. Simplify. Giving people fewer navigation choices improves their experience. Think about what people want from your site. Why are they there? Can you think of logical categories for your information? Can you make some information more prominent than other information? Can you combine links? Replace a lot of words with bold graphics or visual images when you can. Take advantage of white space to create contrast and emphasis.
3. Be selective about fonts. Fonts are divided into two main groups—serif and sans serif, which means without serifs. Serifs are the tiny horizontal lines added to the top and bottom of letters in fonts such as Times New Roman and Georgia. This text is in a serif font. Sans serif fonts lack those little lines and have a cleaner, simpler look. Examples of sans serif fonts are Arial and Verdana.
Mixing and matching different fonts usually results in a chaotic looking page.
4. Don't confuse your building with your congregation. Many congregational websites feature a photo of the building at the top of the home page. Often that photo is the only photo on the home page. If a congregation wants to communicate that its values are closely connected to its building, then a photo of the building is perfectly appropriate. However, I imagine that most leaders of congregations would not talk about their building first when they discuss their congregation's values.
5. Offer more ways for people to contact you, then be sure to respond promptly when they do. I can't tell you the number of websites I've visited that make it difficult or impossible to find a way to contact someone—anyone—in the congregation. Or how often I've e-mailed a main contact e-mail and never received a reply. Even if you prefer for all web inquiries to go to a main contact e-mail, make the it easy to find from the home page, and make sure it goes to someone who can respond within a day. If you want to thwart spam robots, format it as an image file or do not make it clickable (e.g., pastor [at] ourchurch.org).
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This resource was written by Lynne M. Baab, author of the book "