Advice for church websites:
Think before you create
___By David Winfrey
___Kentucky Western Recorder
___LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP)--As more churches launch websites, too few are reaching their potential because church leaders don't define why they want a site or they fail to develop a strategy for what they hope to accomplish.
___That's the collective opinion of several Web specialists throughout the country. They say too many church leaders are enamored by the gee-whiz technology of the Internet but
aren't considering how to link their websites to their overall communications strategy.
___"A lot of people just put up something because, 'Oh, I have to have a website.' But it doesn't meet any needs," said Lisa McMahon, senior Web administrator at the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and a consultant for Web design for the past five years.
___Many churches are hosting essentially a "billboard" site, advertising their location or church service times but "they're totally missing the potential of what can be done," said Steve Hewitt, editor of Christian Computing Magazine. "We say there are like 50,000 churches on the Web and 49,995 are doing it wrong."
___That's precisely the reason the Baptist Standard recently launched a mechanism to help Texas Baptist churches harness the power of the Internet, added Editor Marv Knox.
___Last October, the Standard launched Good News Texas, which offers complete website hosting and a set of easy-to-use design and maintenance tools for $12.50 per month.
___"We spent more than a year working on this project, researching the best way to offer help to churches," Knox said. "We knew we wanted to provide a resource that was affordable and easy to use. We also wanted to help churches move beyond the billboard sites that are so common."
___As an example of the challenges churches sometimes face, he cited the experience of his own church, which paid to have a billboard-type website designed. When a staff member resigned, it took months to get that person's name and information off the church website because no one in the office knew how to do it, he said.
___"This story illustrates the danger of churches spending too much money on static websites that may be pretty but could be out of date before the bills are paid," Knox said. "Our goal was to help churches avoid that trap and show them a way to make their websites more useful."
___A church's vision for its website can be incredibly complex, including recordings of church services, chat rooms for Bible studies or multimedia presentations explaining the Christian faith to non-believers. Or it can be as simple as a page that lists a church's worship schedule and phone number.
___The key, consultants insist, is planning.
___Rather than being distracted by all the possibilities posed by the Internet, Dave Stahl recommends that churches design their websites to match their mission statements.
___"I always encourage churches to forget about tools," said Stahl, communications director for Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. "Do your strategy, because tools are going to change, and you don't want your strategy to change over time."
___Ryan Bradley, Web manager for Beuchel Park Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., agreed. Another common pitfall, he said, is trying to do too much too soon.
___"Instead, start small then slowly build," said Bradley, who has led workshops on how to build a church website.
___McMahon suggests most church websites should be classified according to one of two goals--helping keep members informed or advertising to people outside the church.
___Websites targeting church members will require more constant updates for such services as membership directories or online newsletters, she said.
___On the other hand, churches that use their websites for outreach are going to want to avoid "churchy" language that might confuse non-Christians, according to McMahon and others.
___"People are used to being entertained," she added. "You might have to have more of the cutting-edge technology."
___Ask two questions, McMahon suggests: Who is your target audience? And what is your goal for the site?
___"If they don't know who their primary audience is, they really don't know what their purpose is," McMahon said.
___Other issues to consider:
___ How will your site serve your primary audience?
___ What type of information will your primary audience expect to find on your website?
___ What information do you have readily available to provide to your audience?
___ Who will serve as the manager for the site? The manager is the primary contact person for a site. That person also monitors access privileges to the site account for page-editing purposes.
___ How often do you expect to update the content on your site?
___ How much time per week or per month will you dedicate to updating your site?
___ Who will be responsible for answering e-mail that comes via a link on each page of the Web site?
___For more information about Good New Texas, visit the website www.goodnewstx.com or call John Rutledge at (800) 749-4610, ext. 21.
___Special programs also are available for Texas Baptist associations and other Baptist agencies.
The Baptist Standard
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