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10 Things To Include on your Church Website

*Trigger Warning for Satire*

Earlier on today, I found myself in a conversation about Church websites, and what should really be included on them. Here are the list of things we had that should be included on a church website*:

  1. Make sure you include an in-depth history of the church as well – for new comers.
  2. How long have you had a Church newsletter / magazine for? Include all of them on the website. As scanned in, PDF downloads.
  3. Lots and lots of photos of everyone. Don’t worry about any child / vulnerable person protection policies…
  4. Lots of images are good! Need an image? Google has it!
  5. Have “podcasts” available of your sermons. Don’t worry about having them available from iTunes, as people will come to your site anyway.
  6. A step by step theological guide explaining why your services are structured in the correct manner.
  7. Make sure you include a photo of the smiling lead minister and his / her smiling family.
  8. Flash animations. They look pretty.
  9. Blessed with creative musicians? Include their tunes on the website. Have the tunes playing automatically as the website loads.
  10. Ensure you include input from everyone you know within the church. After all, the church is a group of people – they must all have a say in the website. Right?

Is there anything we’ve missed out?

Please bear in mind we are not experts and some of this advice may be well out.

Update – Some extra suggestions from Twitter:

  1. Include directions from 50 miles away in every direction. After all, visitors may not know where your city is. (@gods_toddler)
  2. And ensure the “Latest News” section and “Forthcoming Events” are months out of date. (@grahamsoton72)
  3. And don’t put in service times – after all, churches all have their services at the same time (@grahamsoton72)
  4. Include only your church name on the website. Don’t include your city, state, or country unless it is a part of the name. (@MrChurchGuy)
  5. “To view the information on this page, first please enter your email address here” (@edaross)
  6. Don’t standardize design across pages. (@ubinam_rosarium)

Anymore?