Atlanta, Asheville Web Site Design - Jaymunda Blog

by Lynne M. BaabJonathan, 28, believes Web sites functions like a “front page” for organizations. He notes that his generation surfs the Internet continuously, both during the work day and during leisure hours, and that they would almost never visit a church or other organization without first checking out its Web site. Whether or not Jonathan can speak for an entire generation, organizational Web sites are certainly proliferating. More congregations are establishing Web sites and more congregational leaders are realizing how helpful, even strategic, Web sites can be. 

Reaching All Audiences Congregational Web sites have three audiences, two of them primary and one of them less prominent. One audience is congregation members. Often they come to the Web site for information. What time is that missionary speaking tonight, and where? They also visit the Web site to download the sermon in audio, video, or written form. Keeping the Web site updated with factual information and recent sermons is key for this audience. 

A second audience is potential visitors. Is the time of the worship service posted on the homepage? Is there a link to directions to the church? Is basic information about the congregation presented—both verbally and visually—so that a visitor would have some sense of this congregation’s priorities? Are there links to information specifically for newcomers, or general information about the church that newcomers would value? A third audience congregational Web sites might consider addressing is people from other congregations who are looking for resources. Perhaps someone visits a congregation on vacation, enjoys the sermon, and comes back to the congregation’s Web site each week to read or listen to the pastor’s sermon. Or perhaps a children’s ministry leader is looking for new ideas, so scans other churches’ Web sites to see how they are serving children. A worldwide network of connections is facilitated by the existence of congregational Web sites, a fascinating new manifestation of the body of Christ and of Jewish solidarity. 

The Rise of the Visual Communication scholars have noted a significant shift in communication patterns in recent decades. The written word is giving way to images. Web sites are an assemblage of words and images, and most experts on Web sites affirm that viewers tend to notice the visual aspects first. 

Most of the Web site producers I interviewed affirmed that the pastors and leaders of their congregations are largely word-oriented. I suspect this is true of rabbis and leaders of synagogues as well. My interviewees told me that their pastors and other congregational leaders generate announcements of events and descriptions of the church that are usually designed for newsletters, brochures, and printed bulletins. Web designers edit these texts, usually shortening them significantly, and pair them with photos and other images to create a pleasing whole. Note the disconnect here. Congregational leaders are charged with leading the congregation and communicating its vision, yet the aspect of the Web site that carries the greatest impact—the visual components, such as photos and graphics, as well as the overall visual structure—is usually determined by one person, the Web designer. This person is usually a member of the congregation who volunteers to create the site, a paid employee, or a paid independent contractor. In very few cases is it a leader of the congregation. 

Many congregational Web sites are quite effective and interesting, but are they communicating the values of the congregation in ways that mesh with the vision for the congregation established intentionally by its leaders? Unless leaders of congregations take their Web sites seriously, these sites will continue to be the work of one person, or a very small number of people, who may or may not be closely connected to the leaders and their vision. Help from “Critical Friends” 

When the Internet started to become a significant force in society about a decade ago, religious leaders were divided in their opinions about this new technology. Some were extremely negative, viewing the Internet as a dehumanizing force, a threat to community and communication. Others saw it as a place of opportunity for religious organizations, a place where proclamation and explanation could take place and a place where community and connections could be nurtured. One of the premier researchers on online religious community, Heidi Campbell, argues for a middle ground. She uses the term “critical friends” ¹ to describe what she would like to see: religious leaders who affirm the opportunities provided by the Internet while also being cautious and careful about the possible negative repercussions. 

In my study of congregational Web sites, I found that this critical friend role was often absent in congregations. Many Web site producers work quite independently because of lack of interest by congregational leaders. Critical friends among the congregation’s leaders would bring an additional set of eyes and an understanding of the congregation’s priorities, enabling Web sites to represent congregations as accurately as possible. In addition, critical friends are urgently needed in congregations to minimize the growing tendency toward a consumerist model of faith and congregational life. Because Web sites use visual communication in ways similar to those of the advertising industry, congregational leaders need to think carefully about how their Web sites tap into consumerist practices. 

The Web site producers I interviewed were uniformly positive about the opportunity afforded by the medium. Most of them saw no potential conflicts in wholesale adoption of secular marketing strategies to promote their congregation and to describe its uniqueness. Critical friends, with an awareness of the risks inherent in the consumer model and perhaps with theological training, need to be in dialogue with Web site producers as choices are made regarding Web site content. Web sites provide amazing opportunities for congregations to reach out and to provide information and resources for members. Careful and effective use of congregational Web sites will involve attention to the visual as well as the verbal and will reflect the congregation’s values in photos, graphics, art, and links. Web site producers will not work in isolation but with the help of critical friends among the congregation’s leaders, who will help them make decisions about this strategic communication tool. 

Excerpted from “Our New Front Door: How Congregational Web Sites Communicate Church Vision” from the Spring 2008 issue of Congregations magazine. Lynne M. Baab’s book Reaching out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation’s Heart and Soul will be published this fall.
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¹ Heidi Campbell, “Approaches to Religious Research in Computer-mediated Communication,” in J. Mitchell & S. Marriage, eds., Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Culture and Religion (New York: T & T Clark, 2003), 216. 

Back in December (see post) I wrote about how having a USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, was of little importance and most companies shouldn’t bother. That was a sort of a firestarter posting and I’m glad I did it because it has given people a reason to speak out. Since then, I have received all kinds of feedback from a variety of different types of people.

One bit of feedback I received recently sticks out in my head- from a marketing consultant in Atlanta. He said that a USP doesn’t need to be very complicated, it just has to be unique. Take this example: You run a dry cleaners. You used to say “top in customer service” and thought that this was your USP. However, what if you said “less than 1/4 mile off of I-85, exit 97.” This may bring you more business than anything else because people want their dry cleaner to be quick and convenient. Sounds unique to me.

To add to my previous post I also want to remind people that not every business will be all that unique. It’s something that you don’t hear many business-to-business companies saying- ESPECIALLY not marketing companies. Why? Because they don’t want to alienate potential customers. Not all companies need to worry about it. There are thousands of small businesses in America that are simply there to provide jobs for their owners and a handful of employees. The only thing that makes the convenience store down the street unique from the other convenience store down the street is that there’s a different person at the register. And do most people really care? So you’re going east instead of west. That’s how your decisions are made.

The point is, unless you need to figure it out, you might not need to spend so much time or money worrying about the USP. You might just need to work on your cash-flow instead. (or team-building, organizational management, yadda yadda). Visualize this one: two Hondas pull off the assembly line. One is red, the other blue. The red Honda has oil changes every 3,000 miles, regular tune-ups, maintenance, and the driver never hits a pothole. The blue Honda only gets an oil change every 10,000 miles, the driver doesn’t bother with tune-ups and I think you see where this is going…  After 150,000 miles, which do you think is more likely to burn oil and spew nasty smoke out of the tailpipe? Neither is unique, they’re just operated differently.

Your average web marketing firm, ad agency, marketing consultant or web designer will often tell you that it’s very important to find your company’s “USP” or “Unique Selling Proposition.” This is a great business practice, so long as you are the marketing company that gets to charge people over and over again for this “uniqueness.” What this really does best is stroke their client’s ego- after all, you think you’re unique, don’t you? Anyone who ever thought about running their own business thought so at least once in their life.

The truth is, (brace yourself) most of the businesses in the world aren’t really all that unique at all. Sure, we have our individual attributes that make us different as a person, but as a business, who really cares?! Do you remember why you chose your auto insurance agent? A lot of people will say because the agent was in close proximity to their home. Others will say because they had online bill payment. Can you think of 5 insurance companies off the top of your head that take online bill payments? Here’s another example: is there a dry cleaners on your way to work? Probably- especially if you live anywhere near a town or a city. What are the chances you’ll use that dry cleaners instead of another one in town that spent six months figuring out their “Unique Selling Proposition”??

I’m not saying that working with an advertising agency to find your USP isn’t a valuable way to spend your marketing dollars, but I do want you to ask yourself, “Am I really that different?” and more importantly, “Does anyone care?”

Listen, the reason most people shop at Best Buy is because it’s (are you ready for this…?)  “EASY!” You are greeted immediately upon walking in the store. You can see, at a glance, the entire layout of the place. The store is literally crawling with people in blue polo shirts that would love nothing better than to spend the next half hour with you figuring out which mousepad is the right color for your office. And, when you do finally make a decision, they’ll even wheel your purchase right over to the cash register so that you can hand them your precious money and enforce the fact that they are a hugely successful company. If I asked you 10 minutes ago what you thought Best Buy’s USP is, odds are you would have said something very different than “Easy.”

My challenge to you today is this: Figure out what your customers really want, and I mean really.

I’ll tell you a little secret, Jaymunda is a website design company with a bit of marketing flavor added. We are by no means the best website designers in the nation, we are not the most famous marketing company in the Southeastern United States. We sell a freakin’ commodity that half the population couldn’t care less about (we’ll talk about that some other time). We do make decent websites, but more importantly, we are EASY to work with and give you reliable, friendly service.

Here at Jaymunda Web Design we employ technical and marketing professionals to develop web sites created to serve your company on many different levels.  We will work with you to draft an Internet marketing and web site design plan with your goals in mind.  Our web sites produce:

-Increased efficiency
-Streamlined and better organized administrative operations
-Improved communications with customers and staff
-Increased profits
-ROI on marketing and advertising campaigns that can be tracked with web technology“Our goal is to introduce online automation tools and features to organizations through web technology.  This introduction is guaranteed to save them precious time and money,” states Syzdek. “After all, humans weren’t born to do data entry. We want to help organizations keep up with the changing times and leave the monotony to the computer” he continues, ”Technology can assist with time management, cost effectiveness, customer communications and marketing.”