Unfortunately there are still some really basic mistakes that I see lot of churches making when it comes to their websites. These mistakes hinder your ministry by turning people away, putting them off, or leaving them without enough information to come along. Luckily, many of these mistakes are quite easy to fix.

1.  Websites with no service times or location information

Surely you would love for visitors to come along and check out one of your services or other ministries through the week. Not having location and time information clearly and readily available is the equivalent of leaving the church doors locked on a Sunday morning.

Instead, why not make it easy for people to find out when and where to come along. I’d recommend having this information front and centre on the homepage of your website or ideally in the header and/or footer of your site so it appears on every page.

2. Websites that are out of date

Nothing makes a church look less active than a website where the ‘Latest News’ is 18 months old. Out of date content gives visitors to your website the impression that nothing is going on at your church. It looks like a lack of care about how you communicate to people, which can certainly put people off.

Having a news/blog section of your website is a great plan as long as you can keep it updated. If it is something you don’t think can be maintained, avoid making any reference to times and dates within your content. That way your content appears more evergreen and less out of date.

3. Websites that don’t work on mobile devices

The numbers of people browsing the web on phones and other mobile devices like tablets is booming. Yet the majority of churches don’t have websites that allow for this. For some, the website simply shrinks down to fit on the smaller screen (making it unreadable unless the reader zooms in). Or even worse, the website is built on flash and just doesn’t load on many devices (specifically iPhones and iPads).

The last two years has seen the rise of the ‘responsive’ website–websites built in such a way that the content and design reformat depending on the size of the device they are viewing. These sites make the experience for users of any device a much nicer one, making it easier for them to find out more about your church, and come along.

4. Websites full of stock photography

One of my pet hates is church websites which clearly have generic (or stock) photos used throughout. Pictures of hands on bibles, newly sprouted plants, stained glass windows, and shiny happy people holding hands. It can sometimes be difficult to source original photography within a church, but it is worth it.

Here’s the thing: real photos help people see what your church is like. They see the building (and know where to come), they see the service (and get an idea of what to expect), they see the people in your congregation and feel welcomed. So even if you think the photos you have of your church, services and events aren’t great, they hold much more value than you realise.

5. Websites that focus on existing members rather than potential visitors

Many church websites I come across have the problem of focusing more on internal needs of the church than on outreach. It seems to be a place to tell members about upcoming meetings, share announcements and otherwise build up the internal body of the church. These are not bad things for a church to be doing,  but I would argue that there are other ways to communicate that information.

That frees up the website to be a tool that communicates to the community around you. Church members have many other ways of finding out information (in announcements, through email, person-to-person), but for a member of the public, the website is likely theonly place they can find out more about your church. With this in mind, try to think about the content in your website and focus it to potential visitors and the public.

6.Websites that don’t reflect the church’s character

Each church has its own character, made up of all sorts of things like the congregation makeup, worship style, level of formality and more. It would make sense for visitors to your website to start to get a feel for what your church is like (its character) when they are having a look.

Yet when I look at a lot of church’s websites I can’t see any reflection of this character. Websites are typically either old and out of date, or really big, polished and flashy. Now, these sorts of site might reflect your church, but for most church I would suspect not. Try to think of ways your website can present what people would expect to see and feel if they came along to visit.

Image credit: Jason Santa Maria