Many pastors and church leaders feel overwhelmed when thinking about two things: 1) How am I going to get our church family online? and 2) How am I going to take this site I've inherited (that is by no means the best church website) and make it something to be proud of? Something that equips the church and attracts our community?
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS - The first thing to consider are the resources you currently have. Do you have any social media accounts? Do you have access to them? If not, do you know who does? It is important to take control and clean them up. (reach out for assistance).
IF YOU HAVE A WEBSITE - Make a list of the most painful parts of the site AND a list of what you like. Logo, layout, functionality on a mobile device, highlighting important information (sermon, giving, connecting, etc.). Do you have a webmaster (someone who has credentials and know-how to login and update website? If not, let me know I'd love to help. And if you do then I have worked with webmasters who are willing but not quite able to clean things up, update pages, making the church website run faster and look great. Some churches have seen a large uptick to giving just by having me work with their point person to fix the church site.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE - Although it seems hopeless, you actually find yourself in a great situation! You have a fairly blank canvas to work with and can really go anywhere you'd like without having to worry about cranky webmasters that may take your initiative as a personal attack. Be careful not to get too far down the rabbit hole of services that call themselves the best church website builder - it takes patience, experience and time (the latter of which you may not have a copious amount of).
EITHER WAY - You'll want to connect with someone that has an eye for what looks good and what doesn't. Many people use a church website builder because the church website design that other pastors can come up with through those "drag and drop" services look great but you just can't seem to make it look any better than a grade 2 art project. Never fear, let me know how I can serve you.
I JUST WANT A SIMPLE CHURCH WEBSITE - that's great! Check out www.KenastonEMC.com and www.ThisIsOurHope.ca ... both are simple church websites that don't break the bank. I can even set it up, teach you (or someone else) how to update the content, events calendar (that looks great), and even refresh your church brand or church logo.
In the end, you need to consider: 1) what you have, 2) what you don't, 3) who will make the decisions, 4) what is your church website budget and 5) who will maintain it (JLM Designs, a current webmaster, you [I don't suggest that], secretary, etc.
Feel free to check out my portfolio of great church website designs and let me know how I can serve your church with a fantastic online web presence so you can focus on leading your people as you follow Christ!
Blessings!
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Jason Moffat
306-270-6297