1. The Diocese of Canterbury Developing Church Websites 26 April 2016

2. The Diocese of Canterbury What are you looking for today?

3. The Diocese of Canterbury Who are local church websites for?  Just looking: those who are not yet Christians  Interested: Christians who don’t yet come to your church  Family: existing church members

4. The Diocese of Canterbury Meeting the needs of different groups  Just looking: - Is this a church for me? - What do Christians believe? - Location of church, contact details, service times and types, weddings, baptisms and funeral information  Interested: - Churchmanship - Service times - Location

5. The Diocese of Canterbury  Family: - News - Service times, events - Training - Prayer for day, sermon podcasts...

6. The Diocese of Canterbury What makes a good church website?

7. The Diocese of Canterbury What makes a good church website?

8. The Diocese of Canterbury What makes a good church website?

9. The Diocese of Canterbury What makes a good church website?

10. The Diocese of Canterbury …and a bad one?

11. View dokimos.orgdokimos.org

12. View http://dokimos.org/main.html http://dokimos.org/main.html

13. …and a bad one?

15. The Diocese of Canterbury Keep it attractive  Use photos of real people and real events (get permission)  Include photos and names of ministry team/other key people  Include a heartfelt welcome  Don’t dominate the site with information about your buildings or requests for money  Update the site regularly

16. The Diocese of Canterbury Keep it simple  Make it easy to find information quickly: 3 clicks and a search box  Avoid great lumps of text  Link to a map and postcode info  Think about accessibility: Guidance available from the Government: http://bit.ly/23Lztd2http://bit.ly/23Lztd2  Avoid animations and large resolution pictures  Pages need to be compatible with different computers and mobile devices

17. The Diocese of Canterbury The homepage  A strong image that captures the culture and feel of your church  Welcome  Location  Type of church – include CofE and Diocesan logos  Sunday service times/description  Links to pages with lower priority information

18. The Diocese of Canterbury Pages you might include  Information for visitors  Weddings, baptisms and funerals  News and events  Contact (include hall hire if relevant)  What we believe/do – check out CofE pages for inspiration  Church life: outreach, mission projects, families, schools…  Worship, sermon podcasts  Links to other sites (CofE, Diocese etc…)

19. The Diocese of Canterbury Some website building services  WordPress https://en-gb.wordpress.orghttps://en-gb.wordpress.org  ChurchInsight www.churchinsight.comwww.churchinsight.com  Church Edit www.churchedit.co.ukwww.churchedit.co.uk  Church 123 www.church123.comwww.church123.com  Wix www.wix.comwww.wix.com  Tumblr www.tumblr.comwww.tumblr.com  Blogger www.blogger.comwww.blogger.com

20. The Diocese of Canterbury A Church Near You  www.achurchnearyou.com www.achurchnearyou.com  Free  Every church already has a page – it just needs an editor  Quick start guide: www.achurchnearyou.com/help

21. The Diocese of Canterbury A Church Near You A Church Near You contains information about parish churches and the services and events that take place there. It's FREE for visitors and parishes. It's a great help to visitors to have accurate information about the churches they might want to visit. Many parishes that have added information to A Church Near You have noticed an increase in visitor numbers.

22. The Diocese of Canterbury To consider  Who is going to update and edit the site?  How will you ensure a smooth handover if that person moves on?  How well does your website convey the culture of your church?  Looks aren’t everything – clear, useful information rules  Simple = good  Would creating a Facebook page be the easiest solution?

23. The Diocese of Canterbury For more support: Marilyn Shrimpton mshrimpton@diocant.orgmshrimpton@diocant.org / 01227 459401 Anna Drew adrew@diocant.orgadrew@diocant.org / 07753454586