5 Signs Your Church Website Needs Updating

I love Twitter for a lot of reasons, but one reason is keeping up with cool clients, like Jonathan Pearson, a blogger with a great sense of humor, as well as a pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Orangeburg, S.C. Last week, he re-tweeted a comment from Brandon Cox, who, among other duties, writes for Rick Warren’s Pastors.com.
Here’s the quote:
No “home page” should ever say “enter our website here.” Ever.  #communication
The tweet made me laugh, and it also inspired me to write a blog post! Here’s the full list –
5 Signs Your Church Website Needs Updating:
1. You have an introduction to your site.
There was a time when it was popular to make your homepage some sort of quirky introduction with a “click to enter” button. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons. It dates your site, and it can be an indicator to search engines like Google that you don’t have good content on your website. And if search engines don’t like your website, they won’t share it with people in your area who are looking for a church!
*Note: This does not apply to Facebook pages. Landing pages, also called “like-gates,” can actually be a fun tool for Facebook. We’ll share more about that later …
2. You have a calendar on your website … with no events on the calendar.
This one’s obvious. Without a system in place to keep the calendar updated, a visitor to your site is left wondering. Is the church a ghost town? Or is there just no one on staff who has the time to keep the calendar updated? Either way, an empty calendar isn’t just an eyesore … it’s a warning sign.
3. You use a Flash intro on your website.
A fancy Flash intro was a really cool idea at one point in time. That time is gone, Flash is dead.
4. Your church website is (or looks like it is) more than 5 years old.
Look, if your church website was put together five years ago, and hasn’t been touched since – the chances of it still looking fresh are nil. I know it sounds harsh, and I wish it didn’t. But tastes change, and if you want to make a good web impression, your look should be updated every couple of years.
Yes, count me among the many, many people who cannot stand comic sans. If you’re not aware of the movement to ban this typeface, just Google “comic sans” (warning: some of the sites get worked up about comic sans – and language may get … colorful).  My favorite comic sans rant is on Comicsanscriminal.com. It explains how comic sans was born for comics, and was used for children’s material. But, then, “hospitals, offices, churches … were printing serious information … in this comical font.” It’s not cute. Let it go. And if you see someone using it, send them a link to Comicsansriminal.com.