Our team at OurChurch.Com wants to help you overcome your web design challenges and questions. We’ve declared September to be Web Design Month. Each week this month we are going to “crowd source” a blog post. If you’re not a techno-geek, that means we want as many Christian Web Trends readers as possible to contribute to this post.
To make things interesting, we’re going to give away a $50 Visa gift card (redeemable any place that accepts Visa)
This week’s question: What is your #1 Web Design Tip?
To be eligible for the $50 gift card all you have to do is.
- Share this post on Twitter or Facebook
- Answer this week’s question in a comment and mention the Twitter or FB profile where you shared the post.
On Monday Sept 17, we’ll select the winner and post next week’s question. You must be a U.S. resident to be eligible for the gift card, but everyone everywhere is welcome to post their web design tips.
Congrats to Justin Grice winner of the last drawing from last week’s post: What’s Your #1 Web Design Question?
Thanks for participating!
18 Comments
My number one tip would be to make the navigation clear and orderly, with not everything being on the homepage, but able to get to most places from a good tiered navigation system.
Tweeted at pinebeltdesign
Don't care about the gift card, but lets go!
1. Work with what you got!
I have re-designed things to many times myself – now i know that re-designs just cost more time.
I suggest that a site lists its ministry address and phone # at the bottom of every page along the normal copyright line. Doing this says you are user friendly and don't mind personal contact. You can also place an email hyperlink there too.
Thanks Mark! Good tip! I agree completely. Did you share this post on Facebook or Twitter? If so, please post a link to your profile so you can be eligible for the $50 GC.
get other people to test your design – people in different age and stage (not just your target)
then listen to them
shared on twitter account: phillipgibb: https://twitter.com/phillipgibb/status/2458539370…
Thanks Phill. Great tip! Getting feedback from different perspectives is important. And when we get that feedback, its especially important not to "blame the visitor" if they have trouble understanding or using parts of the site.
Get feedback. Lots and lots of feedback. From people who can be direct and honest.
I’ve designed a few sites in the past I thought were perfect. Easy to navigate. Looked good. Feedback showed me its flaws.
https://twitter.com/jeremysarber/status/245861789747798016
Get feedback. Lots and lots of feedback. You need people who will be honest and direct. In a church, you'll have many age groups with various Internet experience. I've designed a few sites that I thought were perfect. Come to find out, they had flaws.
https://twitter.com/jeremysarber/status/245861789…
Great advice Jeremy. Looks like you and Phill are on the same wavelength. 🙂
My number one tip is use photos of actual people from your church doing actual things on your website. (Video, if you can). Look at your Facebook insights, and you'll probably see a dramatic increase in activity on posts that include photos from your church events. People like to see other people, real people, doing good and having fun in community. Your photos can help people feel like they could fit in at your church ("I can make pancakes! I can paint a wall! That could be me."). Seeing photos of people in and around your church building can also eliminate some of the fear visitors have of entering a new place ("So that's where people put their coats during service…"). A picture speaks a thousand words, and photos on your website will have people lingering on the site and feeling connected before they set a single foot in the door. https://twitter.com/singingcarolyn
Excellent advice Carolyn! Photos of people can be included in the design of your site as well as the content and ongoing communications in social media, blogs, email, etc.
Spell Check! https://twitter.com/CajunPygmy/status/24634117382…
Thanks Roy. This is another benefit of using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress for your site – the spell checker is built into the editor and automatically highlights misspelled words.
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find
this topic to be really something that I think I would never understand.
It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I am looking
forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang
of it!