Your website needs to be mobile-friendly right now. Not next year. Not next time you get the funds. Right now. A church, school, or child care, competing with all the other similar entities in a community, cannot be the one that nobody can access because the website is too old. Yes, some of our clients just bought a website a few years back, and they often paid a lot of money for those sites. Unfortunately, you cannot rest too long when it comes to website design.

 

If you get a decent CMS (like Joomla, WordPress, or Drupal), you can hire someone to update the site and keep the content, while making it mobile-friendly. If you are stuck with a Dreamweaver, Frontpage, or hand-written code site (and I can tell many churches are), you need to get with the movement towards a content management system, mostly because you also need to have some content once in a while, but also because those sites get updated as new technology emerges. LutherNet is your simple, easy solution to getting your page mobile-friendly, while also creating sites that you can edit and add to.

Content is the second key to having a fresh website. Yes, you can have a dozen pages (categories) on a site, but if you just leave the content there that was there when someone built the site for you, Google will think nothing is happening. And Facebook post or Google Calendar posts don't show up on your domain as content. We're talking about articles that might discuss theology or the latest fundraiser. Updates of any kind. Each staff member should be responsible for one update a week, maybe more. That's when you will see the true benefits of a CMS. You can't blame your last web designer for that one, unless the task was left out of your hands. LutherNet sites put the task squarely in your hands. We can advise, but only you can write about what's going on with your ministries. Only you can let others know about the grace of God and how it affects those who attend your church. Only you can publish content that promotes your Christ-centered school.

You might want to avoid the need for a great, mobile-friendly website with up-to-date content, but the other guy is embracing the technique. Just check out the websites of the local megachurches and you will see one of the reasons people attend that church. When potential members search for a church home, they need to walk in the door, but before that ever happens, they will look for you online, maybe even as they drive around on a Sunday morning. Can you afford to have the site that they can't access on a smart phone? Can you have the site that doesn't have a working contact page? Can you appear relevant when your content and Copyright date is from last decade? When you decide to add a website from LutherNet, you have a tool that can help to retain members while also bringing new church shoppers around for a visit.