# Request for constructive criticism & suggestions



## reaganmarsh (Mar 7, 2012)

Hello, PB brethren -- 

I've been working on a wordpress blog to serve as a church website. Our church is small & funds are limited. I've had this online for a few months now but I'm not sure what to do to make it better. 

Here's why I ask: I'm hoping to get a "real" domain name (still figuring that out) linked/forwarded to the site, and use this on a zipcode mailing. Our church is in a community that's unique, and we're not reaching people in it. I thought that this might be part of a start toward that end. Hope that helps give some context to the request. 

I'd love your feedback on what you like, what you don't, & what could be improved. This site + one more will make 2 that I've put together. 

Thanks in advance! 

Here's the webapge: Beacon Baptist Church, Albany, GA


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## Jack K (Mar 7, 2012)

Random observations:

Photos say a lot, and yours are awfully building-centered. You need to get some people in them.

The text is fairly warm and inviting, and personal. The images not so much... except for the picture of your family. Keep that one.

Navigation is good, everything is clear. The website serves the basic purpose of providing info to people who've already encountered you in some other way and want to check you out more fully. I'm not sure it'll sell a lot of people whose first exposure to the church is the website, but that may not be necessary.

Marketing-guy speak now: As with anything that represents your church publicly, you need to start by having a clear idea of what one thing makes your church stand out amid the sea of church options in Albany. Then make sure that comes across clearly on your homepage and also on many of the other pages. Again, boil your message down to one simple idea and let everything on the website support that.


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## Edward (Mar 7, 2012)

I'd keep the picture of the building, as well. It will help folks driving down the street to know what to look for. But you do need to add pictures of people. You might also add a section on 'what to expect' at worship. What folks wear, the type of service, etc. 



reaganmarsh said:


> Our church is in a community that's unique



How so?


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## Scottish Lass (Mar 7, 2012)

I would reorganize the order of the links on the right-hand Pages menu--Downloads may not be the first thing people are looking for (versus your Welcome link, which is second from the bottom).


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## reaganmarsh (Mar 7, 2012)

Jack, 

Thanks for the detailed response. I appreciate that!

Anna, 

Excellent suggestion. I'll see if I can figure out how exactly to do that! 

Edward, 

What to expect is a great idea. Thanks! To attempt an answer to your question, our church is about a 50% commuter church; half of our people live in the community (which is about a mile out of the city limits, but still an Albany address), and the other half drive anywhere from 15-45 minutes to come to church. Our immediate community is a interesting mix of retirees, blue-collar, and economically-challenged folks, with significant racial diversity present. In some ways it's just a regular slice of south Georgia. And -- I wouldn't say that our people are racists. But segregation lives on here in the deep south. The gospel is advancing within our people's hearts, and things are changing -- but slowly.


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## Edward (Mar 7, 2012)

reaganmarsh said:


> with significant racial diversity present.



Unless things have changed a lot in recent years, I wouldn't put a whole lot of effort in trying to push for a racially diverse congregation in that area. Ideal and practical are still going to be a long way apart. That being said, there are probably opportunities to reach out to the whole community without expecting it to show up in the Sunday morning worship anytime soon. And pushing too hard is likely to create more barriers than it breaks down. All of which is pretty far off topic except insofar as you might want to mention 


reaganmarsh said:


> half of our people live in the community ... and the other half drive anywhere from 15-45 minutes to come to church.


 on the website. Perhaps "while we are rooted in the ____ community, half of our members drive up to 45 minutes to join in worship on Sunday mornings." Doesn't that sound like something someone would want to check out?


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## Wayne (Mar 7, 2012)

What is the resolution on that picture? The page seemed to hang up, waiting for the picture to load.
My guess is that the resolution is at least 300 dpi, when 72 or 100 dpi will produce a perfectly adequate image for the web and the page will load much more quickly.
Use Photoshop Elements or some other photo editor to change the resolution but keep the size needed.


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## reaganmarsh (Mar 8, 2012)

Edward, thanks for the input on the racial situation. You're right. And I will work on the verbiage as you & Jack both suggested.

Wayne, I've never adjusted resolution on a photo before but will work on it. And I'll practice with some "people" pictures! 

Anna, I was able to figure out the menu order. You're right, that's better now!

What else, folks? Is the theme good?

Thank you all!


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## J. Dean (Mar 8, 2012)

I like the slogan: The end of your search for a friendly church!

Agree with Jack, too: need to see people. There's something (whether it's good or bad) about using people for advertising that gets people's attention.


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## reaganmarsh (Mar 8, 2012)

I'll have to see if I can get some of our folks to take some pictures & email them to me for website posting. 

Thanks for the suggestions! What else?


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## reaganmarsh (Mar 16, 2012)

Okay, folks, I've worked on verbiage on the front page and "Who We Are"; I've added a "What to Expect" page; and I haven't gotten any "people" pictures yet, or resized the current ones. 

I'd love your feedback again on the updates. Thanks in advance!


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## Scottish Lass (Mar 16, 2012)

reaganmarsh said:


> Okay, folks, I've worked on verbiage on the front page and "Who We Are"; I've added a "What to Expect" page; and I haven't gotten any "people" pictures yet, or resized the current ones.
> 
> I'd love your feedback again on the updates. Thanks in advance!



I like the improvements!


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