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Mark: Hi, I'm Mark Steinbrueck with OurChurch.Com
And, in this video, I'm going to talk to you about how to decide what your needs are
for a website.
Ask your web team: What is the purpose of the website? For those of you who don't
know what a web team is, a web team is a group of individuals that are responsible for the
content and the decision making of the website. So it's important to ask the question: Why
do we have the website? What's the purpose? Are you trying to get people to visit your
church or your school? Are you trying to get people to buy something from your business?
Are you trying to get people to request more information or to set up an appointment. But
it's very important to make sure that you ask the question and figure out what is the
purpose for the website.
Secondly, think about what the immediate needs and wants are, as well as the long term needs
and wants are for your website. Make a list of what you want the website to do for you.
Audio, video, e-newsletters, blogging, event registration, shopping cart, etc. Ask those
questions of what you want it to do immediately and what you want it to do down the line.
And what you need it to do versus what are simply wants. Create four columns and in one
column, create immediate needs. In the second column, create immediate wants. In the third
column, create long term needs. And in the fourth column, create long term wants. And
this will give you the visual and understanding of exactly what things you want the website
to do for you.
Don't create too much work for yourself. So many times, I talk to people and they really
don't like the idea of getting into a new website because they just don't want to
add something else to their list of things to do. And I completely understand. Find ways
for the website to work for you. So, in other words, find a way for the website to take
work off of your plate if you're going to be putting some work into it.
So, for example, if you have bulletins or newsletters or mailers that you currently
send out, find a way for the website to do that for you. Send out e-newsletters instead
of sending out bulletins and mailers. It'll save you on time for what you're currently
doing. It will also save you on the cost of postage and printing.
Registration forms. A lot of organizations still use the good, old paper forms. But if
you use the on-line forms, those forms can be created very easily. You don't have to
print them out and hand them out to people within your organization. And it also is a
good way, when people fill out those forms on-line, it'll automatically categorize
and put it in a format that's easy to go through and digest the information.
Member, student or staff directories. A lot of organizations are using on-line directories
instead of printing out paper directories. It's going to save you on printing costs.
It'll save you on the cost of putting them together for print. And you can keep it on-line
and easily maintain it as people leave and join your organization.
Decide who's going to be responsible for maintaining the website. So, the needs for
the website are not just what the website will do and how it will function, but who
will maintain the website and how often will it be done. And how much time will be put
into it. Set the expectations up front. The reason that people get frustrated with things
in life is simply because their expectations are not met. So make sure that everyone that's
involved in the website understands and agrees for what the website's expectations will
be for maintaining and updating the website.
So, in review, the things that you take into consideration when deciding the needs of your
website is to find a purpose of the website. Figure out what your immediate needs and wants
and long term needs and wants are. Don't create too much work. Find ways to take work
off your plate when you're adding things to it for maintaining the website. And then
decide who will be responsible for the website and what the expectations will be as well.
I hope that you found this video to be informative and help you in your process in developing
a website for your organization.
If there's anything that we can do for you here at OurChurch.Com, please e-mail us at:
support@ourchurch.com. We'd love to speak with you.