Requesting Feedback on New Church Website

PastorRonB · Postby **PastorRonB** » April 2nd, 2009, 8:47 am

We're about to launch a new website for our church and before I make it public locally I would appreciate some feedback from others who might have a more keen eye than myself. I'm not very experienced at this type of thing. Although all the functionality of the site is not yet up and running (ie, the donation page, etc.), the basics are there. Thanks for your help. Ron

http://www.newliferolesville.org

scooter · Postby **scooter** » April 2nd, 2009, 8:50 am

Looks great. I look forward to seeing some pictures.

Postby **Pastor Gary** » April 2nd, 2009, 10:08 am

Great start... good, clean template with clear navigation. Just a comment: I certainly understand featuring a facility as nice as that illustration -- I am envious! But -- as a rule -- I love to see PEOPLE over buildings, so when that vision is realized, perhaps you might start to feature the smiling faces of the people of new life... they are, after all, the church.

Nice work.

RamboPreacher · Postby **RamboPreacher** » April 2nd, 2009, 10:16 am

Pastor Gary wrote:Great start... good, clean template with clear navigation. Just a comment: I certainly understand featuring a facility as nice as that illustration -- I am envious! But -- as a rule -- I love to see PEOPLE over buildings, so when that vision is realized, perhaps you might start to feature the smiling faces of the people of new life... they are, after all, the church.

Nice work.

ditto (but don't look at our church site's front page for pictures

)
I though the picture on the front page was about someone's red car, then I noticed a church in the background.

Ilovebigcats · Postby **Ilovebigcats** » April 2nd, 2009, 10:30 am

Is that a real photo of the church?? It looks fake. lol

The woman with the bird sorta freaks me out. haha

I personally think less is more. Maybe combine the navigation.

But overall... really good job. Far better than most I have seen!

Billy n NC · Postby **Billy n NC** » April 2nd, 2009, 12:10 pm

Pastor Ron, It looks good.
I agree with Pastor G comments.
Maybe having the artist drawing of the new building as a banner across the top.

I am the first to say I am creatively challenged.
But Good Job..

Websites are evolving work. I have seen some websites never get more than 40-50 % completed with several pages Under construction and go back and visit and find they have changed templates/design all over again. LOL.

Its a lot of work.

Here is a webmasters help site sort of.

http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/

Also check out his 25 helpful website tips. You will see some of the
suggestions that Pastor G mentioned as important also.

And get some pictures of that building site up soon. Looking forward to seeing it in real life.

beckrl · Postby **beckrl** » April 2nd, 2009, 12:15 pm

That a Great start, I really like the Header.
And about the church photo I see were you stated:

The New Life Ministry Center (pictured above) is being built at the intersection of Highways 401 and 96, about 1.5 miles north of our present location.

Also like:It’s quite an undertaking for a small church, but our vision isn’t small - and our God certainly is not small! Since we’re not building for ourselves, but for the purposes of extending the Kingdom of God into our community

PastorRonB · Postby **PastorRonB** » April 2nd, 2009, 2:16 pm

Thanks to each of you for your comments. For the most part I've had the same thoughts - especially the doubt about the woman and the bird in the header.
Having pics of people instead of a building on the Home Page is also a great idea. The best thing we've got going for us right now is the excitement of a new building. Locally, that's what will get the attention of new people. After it's completed we will need to focus on people for sure (on the website).
I was astounded a few days ago to read that 82% of new people who visit a church have been to the church website first. I had no idea!
It is a work in progress to be sure and we just want to get it right. That's why input from you guys is so helpful. Thanks again.

Postby **Pastor Gary** » April 2nd, 2009, 2:23 pm

PastorRonB wrote:...82% of new people who visit a church have been to the church website first. I had no idea!

It is the 21st century version of the yellow pages or Religion page newspaper ad. Almost every new person/family we have gained in the past few years have been directly traced to our website. Churches who fail to see that trend are wasting money running big yellow page ads.

stevenson · Postby **stevenson** » April 2nd, 2009, 3:31 pm

I agree about pic of the church on the front page. But what I will say is that I like to see a pic of the church on the "directions" page. This gives me an idea of what I'm looking for when I driving down the road.

Reason? It's hard to read addresses on buildings and mailboxes. And some modern churches don't look like a church!! Some are in warehouses, old malls, etc.... .

Here's a good example of what I like...http://www.genoachurch.org/genoa.asp?tarea=3

BTW, great looking site! :wink:

Messianic Believer · Postby **Messianic Believer** » April 3rd, 2009, 4:55 pm

Great looking site...like Pastor Gary stated, clean lines, easy to navigate and read.

But I have one question for you....is the Pastoral Staff under construction or just the page? :wink:

I was taught that when designing a web page, never use an under construction notice, just leave it blank or off the site completely until the page is completed.

Other than that, again I say nice website.

PastorRonB · Postby **PastorRonB** » April 3rd, 2009, 5:08 pm

Thanks for the comment. I have no experience designing websites. We had the intitial site put together by pros and they put the "under construction" sign in place. It will be my job to figure out how to change and update the site. So, based on your comment, I will delete the "under construction" signs. RB

Jude 2