1. Church website design : Part I
Web Sites…In The Beginning
For many business areas, the Internet has set a new standard and changed the playing field. To take
advantage, you need a site. But where do you start?
Web Sites…In The Beginning
Your first thoughts regarding a web site are guaranteed to be misplaced. If you have a current business
you want to create a site for, you are viewing it using techniques you have developed in the brick and
mortar world. If you have decided to start an entirely new business on the web, you are probably
brainstorming about potential ideas. If you want to avoid wasting time and money as well as major
frustration, you need to understand that both approaches are simply, utterly, truly wrong! Well, most of
the time.
If you can accept that statement, you will avoid the mistakes millions of small and huge businesses have
made. You don’t want to be like that frustrated person you met at some party who got killed on the
web. As difficult as it will be, you must accept the fact you understand nothing about e-commerce. If you
can check your ego and opinion at the door, you are half way to making profits. Assuming you haven’t
hit the back button, let’s talk about the key issue.
There is one word to memorize if you want to have a successful site - Research. Don’t worry, it isn’t
difficult to do. Imagine if you could find out what all the people in your city think of when they have a
problem your business can solve? Imagine you new the exact phrases they thought of most often. The
information would be worth more than its weight in gold. Far more. On the web, you can get this
information.
The most important step you, I or any other person will take in starting a site is first determining if we
should! To let the cat out of the bag, there are more than a few industries that don’t do well on the web.
The business just doesn’t translate well or people prefer to touch the product or talk to the person.
Wouldn’t you hate to spend thousands of dollars or a couple hundred hours working on a site only to
find out there is no interest on the web? It would be maddening, not to mention putting macaroni and
cheese front and center in your diet.
2. The best way to deal with this issue is to use a site called Wordtracker. Wordtracker is a brilliant, cheap
program. You enter a church website design, click and it tells you all the phrases being used in searches
that include that church website design. It also tells you how many searches occur for each church
website design phrase in a 24 hour period. Do you realize the value of that?
Assume you have an existing business that sells purple balloons for weddings. You are budgeting a
bunch of time or money to have a site built. Having read this article, you go to Wordtracker and do a
test for “purple balloons.” You find out there are only 50 total searches a day for all possible church
website design phrases. You now know the site isn’t worth pursuing. Unlike most businesses, you’ve
saved a lot of money and a lot of time.
Large and small businesses have crashed and burned on the Internet because they never took the time
to figure out if there was a market for their product or service. Now we know you aren’t going to make
the same mistake.
Hiring a web designer to come up with the custom solution that you need can set you back a few
thousand bucks. But you can do the whole thing yourself and make it drag and drop simple for mere
pennies with a tool like Breezy Websites. See http://breezywebsites.com for details!
Church website design : End of Part I
Web sites are for Your Audience, Not for You
It is easy to forget that building a web site is a process of bringing about solutions to your end-user's
problems (as in, how can I help my customers find my store? By adding a map to the web site). Many
people create their web site with only their own goals in mind. This is a big mistake. People don't care
about how neat your site is, or how much Flash you have developed, or the intricate JavaScript that you
hand-coded. They are interested in getting their problems solved, and solved quickly.
3. So here are some tips on how you can make sure your site is based on your user's goals. First, find out
what your users goals are. Find a sampling of people who are typical end users and email or call them.
Politely ask them the kind of questions that will elicit useful feedback on their goals when they come to
your site (for example, what are the three things you want above all when you visit our site?). If you
already have a site, ask them what things do they find challenging about the site. This is an ideal chance
to identify and fix things as well.
As you actually create (or update) your web site, again keep the end user's goals in mind and make sure
that they can get to the information quickly and easily. Nothing is more annoying than finding a site that
has exactly what you are after and then be unable to purchase the item! The process of designing a site
so it is easy to use is far harder than it looks at first. Usability, as it is called, is an entire realm of study
when it comes to web sites. But in general, make sure users can navigate (that is, click around) to the
most important features of your site easily. Do you offer a free tutorial on how to use your shareware
software? Make sure you have a link to it on your navigation bar or at least prominently displayed on
the home page. A pleasing design can go hand in hand with usability. However, it you are not a whiz at
web design, then don't fret. A simple design that lets users navigate to their intended goal is far more
preferable to a gorgeous site that people can't navigate. So make it look as attractive as possible but
usability should always come first.
And remember, the site is for your audience... not for you.
Hiring a web designer to come up with the custom solution that you need can set you back a few
thousand bucks. But you can do the whole thing yourself and make it drag and drop simple for mere
pennies with a tool like Breezy Websites. See http://breezywebsites.com for details!
Church website design : End of Part II
Web Site Turn Ons
When you develop a sales brochure, you have a mental checklist of what needs to be in it. You probably
look at brochures from other vendors. You get advice from friends and colleagues. You probably also
notice the sales flyers you get in the mail. What do you notice? What gets your attention?
4. A web site for your business has many of the same purposes as a sales brochure. At the same time, it is
more “delicate” and requires more attention. It is technically more advanced and therefore more
challenging to design as well as to keep up to date.
Below are 10 things you should consider when developing a web site. These will give you a good start.
After reading them, you may be able to add more.
Know your audience. You need to know who are the people most likely to look at your site so that you
can target that audience. Who are your current and potential customers? What kinds of words or
pictures do they respond to? You are more likely to make sales to those who spend time at your site, so
you need to make the pitch to your most likely candidates.
Learn from the best. Spend some time on the web. Look at your competitors' sites as well as unrelated
sites. Discover which presentations you like and what colors work well together. Take note of how easy
or hard it is to navigate through the sites. Save the addresses you like so that you can return to them
easily (this is called a “bookmark”). The better your web site looks, the more time people will spend
with it and the better your chances of increased business or sales.
Plan ahead. Once you know your audience (who is most likely to be interested in your product or
service) take time to lay out the content of each page and how different pages will link to each other.
The more planning you do up front, the easier it will be to get up and running, and the fewer changes
you will need to make down the road.
Graphics are worth 10,000 pixels. This is a play on the expression, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.”
Text in different colors can highlight important information. Animation, sound, and video may be
important, especially if they are business related. Be aware, however, that if graphics take more than 8
seconds to load, a potential customer may get impatient and move on. On the other hand, the effective
and efficient use of graphics can provide a lot of information that will catch people's attention. Potential
customers may not take the time to read text, but they can judge quickly from a picture if the product or
service will meet their needs.
Be a good neighbor. If you want to quote a source, get permission. If some of the ideas you present are
not yours, give credit where credit is due. Use disclaimers or disclosures when required or appropriate.
This enhances your reputation as a vendor.
6. Hiring a web designer to come up with the custom solution that you need can set you back a few
thousand bucks. But you can do the whole thing yourself and make it drag and drop simple for mere
pennies with a tool like Breezy Websites. See http://breezywebsites.com for details!
Church website design : End of Part III
