5. Photos of People Who Don’t Look Like You.
I’m all for using stock photography because of the quality—use it. You can get great and inexpensive photography at istock.com.
However, please use photography that looks like your church. Age, beauty, and ethnicity are the three biggest misrepresented aspects here. If your church is graying, reconsider the pictures you’re showing of young families.
Your church isn’t full of models, so show us some average Joes and Sues. If your church isn’t ethnically diverse, then your photo choices should reflect that. Use photos of people that look like you—not who you want to be.
6. Too Deep.
Calvin’s Institutes, The Westminster Confession, The Baptist Faith and Message, by-laws, charter information, etc. should not be found on a church Web site. Ever.
A single Web page that reviews what you believe in 500 words or less is fine, but please leave it to that. The only people who read Web by-laws are disgruntled members or visitors bringing a lot of baggage to your church.
Keep it simple. State your denominational affiliation (if you have one), but leave the systematic theology for small groups.
7. No Sermons.
People want to hear and see what a sermon at your church sounds and looks like. Share it with them. Provide every sermon that’s been preached over the past quarter and year if possible. Just be sure you provide quality audio and video.
All right, we want to hear from you. How many of these mistakes are you guilty of committing? Hopefully, just a few. I particularly want to hear from you if you are guilty of none of them.
The great news is you can tackle most of these mistakes without a new Website. Identify the mistakes that you can most quickly correct and tackle them. Then you can begin working on those that require a little more commitment.
