What bugs you the most about your church's website? Take a moment. Think through it. What drives you crazy?

• Does the site load molasses fast?
• Is there a generous portion of ill-chosen clip art?
• Links that go nowhere?
• Is the staff page painfully out-of-date?
• Is this your church's website?

Every time we consult with a church leadership team, we ask their congregation how the site could be better. We've accumulated thousands of responses, but today I wanted to show you some of the most common complaints people from across the country have with their church's website.

See if some of these resonate with you. (Sidenote: You'll notice there are no names attached to the comments. This is purposeful. We found people wouldn't be honest without anonymity. Not sure what it means, but I'm sure whatever it signifies, it's profound.)

Onto the website woes!

Common Church Website Complaints

Redesign the website to allow better and easier navigation. Ours is hard to navigate details on and the search is bad.

Better communication with members through the website.

I have found that many things (activity schedules, mostly) are often not up to date.

Email and social sites are great for last minute communication and reminders, but there needs to be an accurate, up-to-date, and easy-to-navigate all informing hub.

Make the church website easier to navigate. Put more information on the website about Sunday school classes, service opportunities, etc.

Request input from church members as to what needs to be included on the website.

Constantly updated event/community info on the website with links back to the website in their social network posts.

I have visited the websites of many other churches and found them much easier to navigate and to find helpful information.

I do not feel that there is an appropriate format in which members/visitors can make suggestions or ask questions about the church.

The website does not have a clear place to look and find the schedule of all worship services.

The website needs to have a contact page with emails and phone numbers of the staff, most especially the phone number of the church office. I was online the other day looking for the number and couldn't find it. I ended up having to do a white page search!

I'd like to be able to click on something (e.g. volunteering) and have it pull up everything that has to do with volunteering. (Perhaps the most painfully evident request.)

Make the available options for worship ... more easily accessible on the website.

The website is very unorganized. Some links appear on certain pages, but those same links on other pages go to different pages. It can be difficult to get back to where you were because you have to be on the correct pages.

Make the church website a little easier to navigate. (This comment was, by far, the most frequently-mentioned church website gripe.)

Keep the website updated. (Another oft-mentioned request, in various forms.)

Make the website more productive for a daily use.

And my personal favorite: Use a reasonable amount of funds to improve the church website.

Conclusion

Do you resemble some of these remarks? If you're a church leader and you've heard feedback like this, what are you doing to fix it? (Hint: "Nothing" isn't a very good answer. Sorry to burst the bubble.)

Question: What themes did you notice? Share below in the comments. Best answer will get some Monk swag. Don't say we never gave you anything! (And if you or "your friend" needs help with a church website, mosey on over and get a free consultation with one of our pros.)