7 Church Website Design Mistakes that will Scare Visitors Away

Most people will visit your church website before they’ll visit your church. Based on what they see on your website, they will decide if they want to try visiting a service or gathering in person.

There are certain things that are “yellow flags” or even “red flags” that will scare people away and cause them not to want to visit your church.

Ask a person who chooses not to visit and they may not even be able to cite specific reasons, but just a general sense that they didn’t connect, didn’t feel welcome, or it didn’t seem like a good fit.

7 Things on Your Church Website that will Scare Visitors Away

1) A free web address

If your website has a free web address like fbc.wordpress.com or freesites.ourchurch.com/fbc it screams, “We care so little about reaching people in our community that we’re not willing to spend even $10/mo for a domain name and web hosting.”

2) Old announcements

If your website still has announcements from last month on it, it tells people you’re not very consistent with your communications and there’s probably not much planned for the future.

3) Prominent requests for donations

Many churches make it possible for their members to give online. Nobody will be offended by a “Give” button or “Donate” page. But if it’s the biggest or most prominent button in the header, the first item in your navigation menu, or prominent on your homepage, it sends a signal – intended or not – that getting money from people is really important to your church.

4) Old, outdated images

I probably don’t need to explain this one, but I don’t want to make any assumptions. If you’re using old, outdated images on your website like the infamous animated dove, it signals that your church is old and outdated.

5) An all-text homepage

Photos and videos give life to your website. If you have no pictures on your homepage at all, it gives the impression that your congregation is boring and lifeless.

Plus people want to know what to expect before they visit. They want to see what a worship service looks like, what the people look like. Are there people like me there? Will they welcome me?  This reduces uncertainty and anxiety.

Without good photos, people will most likely visit another church that seems like a better fit.

6) No address or service times

The best way to keep people from visiting your church is make it hard to find out when and where you meet. Your address should be in the header or footer of your website, so that it’s on every page. Service times should be prominently listed on your homepage.

7) Christianeese

Long-time Christians use a lot of words and phrases that are completely unknown outside of the Christian universe. If you use Christianeese words and phrases on your website, it tells unchurched people that if they visit your church they are not going to understand what’s going on or what people are talking about.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Watch this funny video…

 

 

 

 

 

Now go take action…

Look at your website from the perspective of a visitor, and eliminate things that will scare visitors away.

Looking for a trusted church website guide?

If you feel like you’re entire website will scare visitors away and you’re ready to scrap it and start over, check out our church website design services or our DIY church website builder.  Not sure what your next step should be? We’d be happy to talk with you and point you in the right direction.

Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a call.

Comment and discuss…

• Did you find any of these “scary” items on your website?
• What other things on a church website would scare you away from that church?

Read more articles in our Church Outreach blog series