Parish Home Page Makeover

Does your parish website need a more evangelizing home page? 

I began working with Our Lady of Angels Parish in the Fall and the newly appointed Parish Administrator, Father Robert Ramser, wanted a more evangelizing website. As I reviewed the site, I found that the basic design and color palette were appealing and the content on the interior pages was well organized and clearly presented.  I suggested that instead of going the route of an entirely new website which when done well can take several months we begin with an evangelizing “home page makeover” and some updates of a few interior pages as an immediate remedy and consider a totally new design later. 

What is an Effective Evangelizing Parish Website

The parish website is the public face of the parish community.  An effective evangelizing parish website meets the needs of the visitors in the most direct, attractive and welcoming way possible.  As we all know active parishioners seldom if ever visit the parish website.  They get their information from Sunday announcements, the parish bulletin, the organizations they belong to and from fellow parishioners. Occasionally an active member may want to check on a schedule or download a bulletin that they missed, update their online giving details, etc. When they come to the website, they click on what they need and then leave.

The people who most need the parish website are those who do not have access to the normal communication resources of the parish: visitors, non-members and people who are looking to register, become Catholic, return to the Church and the sacraments, members who want to get married, baptize a child or access one of the other sacraments.

The blessing of the parish website is that we can be there 24/7 for those who are not in Church on Sunday or have a burning question or need at 2:00AM and have no one to ask.

What do most parish website visitors want to find?

• Mass and Confession times
• Parish Bulletin
• Contact Information
• How to Register
• How to Become a Catholic
• How to Access the Sacraments
• How to Return
• Office Hours
• Seasonal News: Advent, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Easter, etc.
• Special Event Information

Most importantly, non-member parish website visitors want to know if this is a parish where they can be at home. Am I welcome here? Will I be accepted here? Do they have what I need?

The Time to Engage Website Visitors is Short

Some website experts suggest that we have 15 seconds or less to engage a visitor on our website.  If they do not see what they are looking for quickly they will click away.  An attractive homepage with a brief welcome message is important along with access to the information they want.  The information may be somewhere on the site, but most people are not going to hunt for it. Give them a lead on the homepage and they will follow it.

Tell me if you think the home page makeover for Our Lady of Angels increased the likelihood that a visitor would know that this a parish that welcomes them and is here to serve them.

Before and After

Here is the website for Our Lady of Angels before the “makeover.” It is simple. attractive, well-designed and in my opinion it looks better than many parish websites. But is it evangelizing? Is it as welcoming as it could be? Click image below to enlarge.

You be the judge and tell us if you think the new page is more evangelizing. All comments are welcome!. Here is the website with the made over home page: https://olangels.org