My one year old site

[Emily Buss]

Hello,
My website started out as my graduation project for school and assisting my church to “online outreach” but
as it seems, it’s a job for life.
Please explore my pages and please tell me what you think. (the good and the bad)

http://firstbaptistchurchofslatington.org/

[wysiwyg4]

Re: My one year old site

Three basic things for Google:

1. A descriptive title with at least one keyword.
You can make one from the content on your page.

2. Description [tag] as a description and not a bunch of keywords.
You can make one from the content on your page.

3. Fresh and unique content, appropriate to all pages.
The content should have useful and relevant keywords and key phrases,
again that should be reflected in 1. and 2.

For other Search engines
A good set of keywords would do the trick.

Aside from the above,
Your website can be dynamic in a sense that you can have a blog
for the purpose of not only articles that you should be writing to
educate folks but to have them comment on certain issues.

And obviously, you would have a link to each other.

[Emily Buss]

Re: My one year old site

I understand that I have to make tags for my pages and more descriptive titles and I will do so soon. The blog idea is good but I will have to bring the idea up to the Diaconate boardof my church and see if they approve having one.
Does anyone else have any comments?

[GulfCoaster]

Re: My one year old site

The very dark background color against the light blue page background is really "heavy" on the eyes. Isn't there some other color combination that is easier on the eyes, more of a compromise in the middle?

Simplicity is best, but I suggest you experiment with the LogoMaker in Blue Voda to spiff up your header. If not, maybe you can simply scan in the actual church logo and re-color the site to match the image and image background?

[Vasili]

Re: My one year old site

I agree that the colors seem a bit too dark, or lacking the lighter feel one would expect from an inspirational or reverant site.

The suggestion to try using the LogoMaker is a good one, as this may give your site the more polished look you are after.

[Emily Buss]

Re: My one year old site

The image that is in the top left of the pages is the logo of my church . Since it is only black I went with the color of the interior walls and a darker version for the background. Later I’m going to incorporate some of the designs from the sanctuary into the background of the text.
I tried many different color combos and the current one looks the best. Ill keep trying different colors though.

[Vasili]

Re: My one year old site

The image that is in the top left of the pages is the logo of my church . Since it is only black I went with the color of the interior walls and a darker version for the background. Later I’m going to incorporate some of the designs from the sanctuary into the background of the text.
I tried many different color combos and the current one looks the best. Ill keep trying different colors though.

Even if you stuck with the same color theme, you can soften them out and get a little more "open" on the layout using photos doing something more like this > http://www.vodatips.com/church-demo.html or even better, showing more 'connection' >>> http://www.vodatips.com/church-demo-header2.html

Just an idea ... (and I even made the buttons purposely larger and more legible knowing that many potential visitors were likely to be older)

[Vasili]

Re: My one year old site

I rather like the second demo the General did also. Has more "personality" and uses the softer colors he mentioned to create a gentler page. I also think his "suggestion" to include video of services or activities is a good one: people want to see more and more video, especially the shut-in's.

With video and audio, it rounds out the available Ministry to those who might otherwise feel left out. Besides, media files are big contributors to favoritism by the SE's now, and if there is a Family Ministry, surely the Youth expect some kind of interaction (a Forum maybe, some entertaining videos/tapes, games, etc.).

Thanks for noticing ...