Christian Web Resources

FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions - we've become accustomed to looking for them on web sites we visit. But, should we? If everyone is asking, why didn't we anticipate the questions? Here's a look at answering and anticipating the questions your visitors are probably asking.

FAQ sections are good signs your original content is bad.

How much of an impact does the look of your site have on the messages you convey with it? Do you think it matters?

It certainly does! Here's a little example of how the media shapes the message. Write a note and hand it to someone - you have just delivered your message to the person it was intended for. Now, take the same note, wrap it around a rock and throw it through the same person's window. The message hasn't changed, the sender hasn't changed, the recipient hasn't changed, but the method of delivery (or, the 'media') has changed. Do you think the recipient would regard the content the same in both instances?

Now - let's talk about your church website design and learn the right questions to ask before you use, buy, or hire a designer to design a custom theme for your church web site.

What do you know about Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut, MyChurch and other social networking sites? Do you know how to leverage these sites in your ministry? We'll take a quick look at what they are, why they are significant to your church web presence and how to connect with others using these Internet applications.

This isn't a Top 10 list, or about comparing your site to another church website, or even to any kind of website. It's about applying some basic principles to your web presence to best represent your ministry online and connect with people. Point-and-click and drag-and-drop web publishing systems make make things seem easier, but that doesn't always (in fact, almost never) make those websites better. In this article, I survey the sites listed in our site showcase and share the results with you.

After you have done all your planning and organizing and finally have your site online, is it doing what you expected it to? Your web site is quite a bit different than the place where you worship - you don't see the faces that visit your web site or get a chance to shake their hands. You will need some tools to help you discover if you are hitting your goals for your web site. You will need more than just a simple counter to properly gather and analyze the statistics and trends for your site.