A common approach when looking at the functionality for a church website is to seek the one with the most features. You want a website that can do everything, even if you’re only going to use a subset of the total features.

At MonkDev we understand this, that’s one of the reasons we’re constantly adding new functionality into our content management system, Ekklesia 360. We understand building useful features can give you the right technology to achieve your mission online.

Still, having more features doesn't guarantee success.tweet this You have to use each one purposely in order to see results. Some features, although appealing, might not actually be a good fit to reach your ministry goals.

Why Simplified Functionality Might Make Your Church Website More Successful

What could your church do if you increased “I’m New Here” pageviews by 162% or sermon pageviews by 79%?

We recently worked with a church to simplify the functionality of their homepage. This decision was reached after going through a MonkDev Content Strategy Session. From the session it was clear they wanted to connect with new visitors and have more engagement with their sermons.

Their original site provided a lot of content and relied heavily on a rotating banner to display the latest news but this wasn't targeting their primary goals as a church.

For them to successfully reach their goals, we had to eliminate a feature most churches feel they cannot live without. We eliminated the rotating banner on their homepage.

This might seem crazy to churches, after all the rotator is one of the main ways they communicate important information to their community. For this church, the increased functionality of a rotating banner was holding them back.

Can Simplify Functionality Increase Your Church Website’s Performance?

It depends, one thing you shouldn't do is make a decision based on gut feelings or without insight. It requires getting clear on the purpose of your website. It also requires a deep understanding of your content strategy.

If your church isn't clear on the purpose of your website, how will you know what features you need or don’t need?

A Clear Content Strategy Defines What Functionality Your Site Needs

A content strategy brings clarity and establishes what feature a website must have. It also helps you understand which features will best be able to reach your goals. So instead of wasting time on unproductive features, you can focus on implementing ones that will benefit your church.

We have an eBook that shares about content strategy, if you want to get started on your own.

If you’d rather have someone with experience walk you through this process, then you’ll want to talk with Beau, MonkDev’s Strategist. He’s helped some of the largest and fastest growing churches in the nation tackle their content strategy.

Request Information About MonkDev's Content Strategy Services