Wisdom & Insight for Your Website - Entries tagged "Best Practices for Church Websites"Why Add Highlights?How Highlights improve the look and function of each page on your church website. Each page, news item, and event on your iMinistries website has five "slots" to insert highlights . Highlights are other pages, blog entries, news, events, or content... More  Your Church Media: WidgetsWhat is a Widget? A widget is a “chunk” of HTML code which commands content to display on a page. The great thing about a widget is you don’t have to know anything about HTML or writing code to utilize it. You just plug in your information and the... More Your Church Media: VideoThe modern website visitor is one with a short attention span. They want information, and they want it immediately. They want news, and they want it the second it occurs. And the less effort they have to put forth, the better. Video is a great... More Your Church Media: PodcastingIn this communication age, it is important to utilize as many ways as possible to reach your audience. In a previous blog entry, we explained how to find your audience and your writing voice . Through Podcasting your sermons and lessons, you can use... More Better Web Writing, Part 3: I Like Your StyleNow that you have found your voice and learned how to beautify your text , it's important to set some rules for your content. You wouldn't teach your child to speak, dress them in their Sunday best, and then let them run amok. You shouldn't do the... More Better Web Writing, Part 2: Words As PicturesWriting Compelling Content for Your Church Website. There's a saying that "pictures are worth a thousand words." On the Web, because attention spans are so brief and space is so important, words have to be pictures. Confused? Use the advice below to... More Better Web Writing, Part 1: Finding Your VoiceWriting Compelling Content for Your Church Website. Visitors will come to your church website because of flashy imagery, but they'll keep coming back for fresh, well written content. Writing for the Web is different than writing for other mediums.... More Improving Search Results, Chapter 2: Utilizing Meta TagsMake Your Ministry Website More Visible With Meta Tags What are Meta Tags? Meta Tags are keywords and phrases hidden in the background of your church website to describe your page to search engines. These tags help them determine if your site is... More Improving Search Results, Chapter 1: The Google MonsterMake Your Site More Visible on Google Search Results By Improving Your PageRank. How Does Google Determine Search Ranking? Many new visitors to your church website find you through search engines. Whether they type in generic terms like “churches in... More Make Your Location Map InteractiveUse the Google Map Widget to Embed an Interactive Map on Your Church Website To make it easier for your church website users to visit your ministry in person, consider embedding a map, like the one below, from Google in your About Us section. To... More Bounce Rate and How to Reduce ItWhat is Bounce Rate? A bounce occurs when a person visits your church website and leaves without visiting any other pages on your site. This is the equivalent to a visitor attending your church and then leaving after they hear your opening prayer.... More About Us: Beginning The ConversationUse Your About Us Page to Introduce Yourself to Visitors When you first meet someone, you both ask questions to begin your interaction. What do you do? Where are you from? What do you like to do? The answers to these initial ice breakers often... More Using Your Church Website to Promote Your BrandBad News, Good News Bad news : The amount of time spent by visitors on your church website can be measured in a few short minutes. And because of the modern Web-surfer's short attention span, it has become critical for ministries to focus more on... More Streaming VideoAdding video to your church website has never been easier. You see, streaming video is not the easiest thing to "serve up" on end-user machines (that is, the people who are surfing on your website). I won't go into the details of: Having the content... More Browsers: Switch or Upgrade...?We want you to have the best web experience possible. Because of that, we want you to think about the tools that you use when you are online. This post is geared specifically at web browsers. Browsers Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox (FF), and Safari... More Google AnalyticsWe are excited to offer you the ability to track your church website's hits through Google Analytics . Setting it up is easy and free and the information that Google provides you is, in a word...amazing. To begin, you must create a Google account .... More Shortcuts to SuccessWhile I wait for church to start on Sunday morning, I have begun playing a little game. Since our church is an iMinistries customer, I read through the bulletin and look for references to the church website. I've had weeks where the website gets 20+... More Fill It Out With HighlightsWe believe strongly that your church website can be a great tool for your ministry and help fulfill your ministry goals. As we've discussed before, two of the strongest contributions your site might make are: To connect new people with your ministry... More Spring Cleaning for Your WebsiteOne of the premier web usability books on the market today is abruptly titled, Don't Make Me Think . The premise of the book is based on the title. No surprise. The author asserts that web users not only don't want to think, but that they won't .... More How Fast is Your Website?When someone requests a page from your church website, a number of things are happening at the same time. The user's computer checks a domain name server (DNS) server to find your domain. The browser checks its cache to see if it has a copy of your... More How to Write for the WebToday, I'm simply going to point you to another website. This article was written by Jakob Nielsen. Jakob is widely regarded as the world's foremost usability expert. As a usability expert, his primary concern is not with the way computer... More What RSS is and Why You Should CareWhat is RSS? RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication , is a standard created to enable sharing of content across the internet. The goal is to make it easier for people who created internet content to distribute the content. There are several... More Under Construction is AssumedApart from animated images, nothing says "this website is lame" better than "Under Construction" pages. The dirty little secret of the web is that every site is under construction. Websites are meant to constantly change. This is what makes websites... More |
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