This premise is simple, but often overlooked. To me it seems obvious that a parishioner (a member of a local Catholic parish) would be one of the best people to create a parish website, for a few reasons:

1. Understanding

Who knows better what’s going on in the parish, then a parishioner? As opposed to what many might think, a Catholic parish is a very complex organization. There is so much going on and without a basic knowledge of the inner workings of the parish it can become a daunting task to logically organize all the information. Apart from the hustle and bustle, most times only a Catholic will understand the traditions and practices of the Church, such as the Sacraments for example. It would require more time for you to explain these things to a non-Catholic, which probably means more money and more confusion.

2. Objectivity

As a parishioner, it is easy to step back and see things from an objective point of view. This is important because it is more than likely that the parishioners are going to be your main demographic. It is your current and future parishioners who will be getting the most use out of your website, so why not trust in them? Without seeing things from their perspective and knowing what’s important to them, your parish website can become an instant failure.

3. Keep it in the Family

As Catholic Christians we are brothers and sisters in Christ with God as our Father. So, why would you go looking for a web design studio to build your church’s website? If you are interested in building a website for your parish I suggest that you put out an announcement in the weekly bulletin asking if any of the parishioners have professional experience in web design and development. What’s the worse that could happen? You might be surprised to find out that you have more than a few talented people willing to help you.

Looking for a Catholic Designer?

If you are in search of a talented, professional, Catholic to design your church’s website, I am always willing to help out. Feel free to give me a call or an email to discuss your project. Please visit the contact page or leave a comment below to get in touch with me and we can chat and I’ll give you a free estimate for your church’s website.

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If you haven’t already purchased a domain name or hosting, or if you have no idea what these things are, I can offer to help with this process as I offer these services at a small monthly fee. This takes the hassle and the worry out of your hands, as I’ll be taking care of everything behind the scenes to make sure your website is up and running as quick as possible.

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At this point you may choose to seek feedback from your friends and family, business associates. It helps to get feedback from multiple sources as we read in Proverbs 12:15:

“The way of the fool seems right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise.”

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I always host the website on a development directory on my server, giving you access to view the website so that you can see the progress I’m making on your project.

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I ask that you as the client provide all the content in a digital format. This includes all text content, pictures, videos, and logos. From here we move into the development phase of the project.

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You will be asked to read and then sign a brief contract that has been drafted for both your protection and mine. The contract will outline the responsibilities of both parties as well as a project timeline complete with deadlines.

After you’ve approved the proposal and signed the contract, you will also receive an invoice and be asked to pay a 50% non-refundable deposit. This is assure that your website stays on track.

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I’m just going to go out there and say it. Fellow web designers and developers, I don’t want to hurt your feelings or demean your efforts, but the truth must be told. There is probably a 95% chance that your church website needs a redesign, a refresh, or an upgrade. Whatever you want to call it, it just doesn’t cut it! I’d say maybe one out of twenty church websites these days are of sub-par design standards. It’s probably been built using some sort of template or WYSIWYG editor by someone who has little or no professional training. Unfortunately, the result is a bad website that falls short of successfully representing your organization.

Since these bad websites are giving we christians, catholics, and web designers a bad name, I think it’s important that we strive to resolve the issue at hand. I’ve compiled a brief list of things not to do when designing and developing a church website.

1. Avoid Using Flash When It’s Not Necessary

Flash can be powerful when placed in the right hands, but it can also become a disaster very quickly. These days many things that were only possible using Flash in past years can now be achieved with javascript. There are several javascript frameworks that make animated transitions a cinch. Although HTML5 is not compatible with all of the current browsers, it allows for the use of properly encoded audio and video without Flash. So soon the days of Adobe’s monopoly on internet video will be over. Flash is great if you can make it dynamic and if you are sure to harness the true power of Flash. But it’s also important to remember that mobile browsers like Safari on iPhone and iPad do not and will not support Flash any time soon.

2. Only Use Well-Designed, Professionally-Made Templates

There are many people out there offering templates or pre-built, customizable websites at affordable prices. There are also many people offering cheap used cars on the side of the road. Would you buy a pre-owned vehicle without first getting it checked by a mechanic? Well I hope not. I also hope that you wouldn’t buy a crappy template. Please investigate before you make your purchase. If you buy a bad template, you will end up with a bad website. I recommend using templates designed and built by professionals. Check out ThemeForest for some awesome WordPress themes.

3. Use a Content Management System

There are many talented people out there who can build websites from scratch, but why? In the end you will have spent so much time debugging your code that it won’t have been worth it. Unless you are part of an organization that has spent years developing your own CMS, then you should definitely look into a good CMS such as WordPress or Drupal. This will save you from reinventing the wheel and allow you to focus more of your time on putting together a good design. There are many themes or templates available using the aforementioned content management systems, so if you’re not ready to build your own theme you can certainly find a theme you like and customize it to fit your needs.

4. You Get What You Pay For

This rule applies to almost anything in life, but in this case I’m referring to the price of a pre-built theme or a fully-customizable website. Don’t be afraid to spend some money on your website. Whether it’s a simple internet presence or a full-blown online experience, your website is an investment. For more information on this topic, please read my post “The Benefits of a Catholic Parish Website.”

5. Don’t Do It Yourself, Hire a Professional

If you are not a professional, please don’t waste your time pretending to be. The outcome will almost certainly be failure. Don’t make excuses about money. Don’t be cheap. Hire a pro and you will be satisfied with your final product. Just because there are free services out there that allow you to build your own website, doesn’t mean it will be a good website.

Thanks for taking your time to read through my post. If you are a designer please take to heart this precautions. If you are part of a church I ask that you share this list with your web designer. And I encourage all of you to share the list with your friends and associates so that we can usher in a change. I hope and pray that the quality of church websites can continue to increase as we move into the 21st century. God bless.

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Back again for some more great Catholic websites! This week I’ve stumbled across some sites that do us Catholics proud. This time around, following the advice of Angela Santana, I’ll providing links to the talented people responsible for these works of art, the designers. So take a look at my list, visit each of these websites, and support our fellow brothers and sisters. And if you know of a well-designed Catholic website or of a Catholic web designer who you think should make the cut next time around, leave a comment so that this list may continue to grow.

ThePornEffect.com

Creator Matt Fradd wanted to make sure his site would get and keep the attention of the youth, so he got with Holdsworth Design. This Canadian-based firm put together a “grungy” website to match the subject matter… porn. The flickering neon lights in the logo really set this one off.

God on the Go

This simple flash-based website uses animated transitions to really bring its message to life. An innovative product deserves an awesome website and Spirit Juice design studio really came through on this one.

Spirit Juice Design Studio

Spirit Juice Studios is a multi-disciplinary design studio comprised of individuals working mainly in the fields of web, print, motion design, and audio production. These guys do some pretty awesome work and thank God they’re Catholic!

San Carlos Mission

California-based TMD Creative put together a pretty “snazzy” website for my personal favorite of the California missions, the San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission. Thanks to this well-designed website, my wife and I paid a visit there on our honeymoon last fall.

Vision Video

Looking forward to movie night, but can’t find any quality family films? Vision Video specializes in “catholic family video.” The website is very inviting and seems easy-to-use. I just might have to do some movie shopping.

Thanks for checking out Rick’s Picks: Round Two. God Bless us all in our fight for the ongoing growth of the Catholic online presence. Thanks to these talented Catholic web professionals who continue to serve the Lord, with a mouse and a keyboard.

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