6 Good Reasons To Build a New Church Website
Just when you think you’ve got your church website dialed in with the newest platform, the freshest design, and all the latest features, some other church down the road goes and creates something even better making you think you need to start over again and make something even cooler.
It's easy to feel this way when you see something that seems better than what you have. We all like to keep up with the Jones’. Plus, when our goal is to reach new people, how can we afford not to pour the time and resources into a brand new website that may help people take a step toward coming on Sunday morning and hearing the Gospel?
While I completely understand this impulse, this perspective has tricked many churches into thinking they need a new website, when in reality, they really don’t.
Website design trends come and go much quicker than normal churches with limited resources can keep up with and it’s usually a false assumption that if our website can just look like this other website, then people will begin to visit our church in droves.
To pile on even more pressure, website companies and website designers (like yours truly) make their living off convincing you that your current website isn’t good enough and that your problems will be solved if you just use their product.
While I love building websites and it does help my “business as ministry” to work with churches in this capacity, I fortunately love churches enough to warn them that there are good and bad reasons to build a new website. I’ve just mentioned some of the bad ones, so let's take a look at some of the good ones.
You Don’t Have One
As surprising as it is, there are still churches in 2020 that don’t have a website. Maybe they never got around to it. Maybe they never had the resources to make it happen. Regardless, if you don’t have a website I would encourage you to prioritize this need and do it right. Don’t just quickly put something up thinking it’s better to have something rather than nothing, because with websites it can actually be worse to have something bad over nothing at all. Make this a budget item for next year and do it right.
Lacks Key Features
It might be time to rebuild if your current platform doesn’t offer essential features. If your website is not mobile first or friendly, doesn’t embed outside content, doesn’t come equipped with great media capabilities, then you may be in need of an upgrade.
One of the services we provide at Clearpath is a website assessment, which looks at all the key areas of a website, including the functionality of the platform it is built on. The reality is that not all platforms are created equal. While you may be able to make small changes on your website, for it to function the way it should may require a new platform and/or a total overhaul.
Outdated Design
There are two main categories of “outdated design.” There’s “kind of” outdated and then there’s “dawn of the internet” outdated. If your website is just kind of outdated, you probably shouldn’t feel urgent about building a new website. Don’t get me wrong, you should definitely update your website to a modern design as soon as you have the time and resources. But if you’re design looks like it’s been around since the 90s and therefore is lacking numerous key elements, you may want to make a new website priority #1.
Looks aren’t everything, but if a young person or family visits your website and it looks like it hasn’t been touched in 20 years, it sends a loud and negative message about where you’re at as a community. They will likely assume you are an older church, not up to date on other kinds of technology & trends, and it also communicates a certain lack of professionalism.
Poor User Experience
One of the things I talk about a lot is the importance of having a simple and intuitive user experience. You have to look at your website through the eyes of a first-time visitor. If the navigation, design, and content are not easily accessible, you are likely missing out on potential visitors. Things that contribute to this are a poor mobile experience, slow loading time, low resolution graphics, broken links, and difficult to read typeface. If new people can’t easily use your website, then it’s probably hurting you.
Frustrating CMS
On the administrative side of things, if you have a clunky CMS (content management system), this can be enough to throw in the towel on any platform. Whoever updates your website needs editing tools that are quick, easy, and effective. If it takes a half hour to do a simple update, then you’re wasting time and money. Find a platform that has simple yet powerful admin tools. Then, make sure you can spend some time testing out the platform on a trial basis. This will help you determine if the platform is intuitive enough for you and will be a good investment in the long haul.
Doesn’t Empower Your Marcom Strategy
This final reason is really just a summary of all the other reasons combined. If your church has communications goals (and it should), then it’s possible your current website simply may not have the features, integrations, design, and overall capability to get you there. Maybe you want systems that allow your website and mobile app to be on the same platform, then you’re going to want to move your website to Subsplash so they can all update in the same place. Perhaps you need your Church Management System fully integrated with your website. In this case you’ll want to move your website to The Church Co and take advantage of their built in Planning Center integration. Consider what your goals are and then make a decision on your rebuild accordingly.
Bottom line, as you make your decision about whether or not to build a new website, make sure you’re doing it for good reasons.
