Grace Community Church

Ministry Team Leaders

Website Content Tutorial

April 12, 2003

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As Grace re-vamps its website, may I suggest the following three “technologies” which I
consistently find unquestionably helpful:

• Prayer
• Patience
• Persistence

Also, Rosemary and I are here to serve. We can work with you and your content
material to make it “web-ish”.

Grace’s Website Implementation Overview

Grace Community Church uses a website service called E-zekiel. Because of this, we
don’t have total and access to the entire page space as shown in the table below.

Template and Persistent Navigation With Our Stuff

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Know Your Target Audience

The most successful websites are those designed with their target audience clearly in
mind. Whether one is defining, designing, deploying or updating a website one thing is
in common with regard to success – know your target audience. This greatly enhances
content appropriateness.

Good church websites are hard to create because they must reach two primarily distinct
target audience segments:
1. The current church membership (existing members)
2. Prospective individuals/families which the church hopes to reach (visitors)

If desired, the second, evangelistic, segment can be further segmented into:

a. Individuals that have not found Christ (non-Christian visitors)
b. Church goers looking for a new church (transient/relocating Christians)

The chart below shows the differences between these two audiences.

Potential Visitors Existing Members

Priority: Primary
• Considering Grace
• Website is a “safe place” vis-à-vis anonymity
to find out more
• Can freely investigate, explore and discover
Self-paced new relationship cultivation
• Is Grace Community Church weird, or do
normal people go as well?
• Do I have to wear a tie?
• Are there facilities for my kids?
• What do Christians believe? Why do people
go to church?
• What denomination are you?
• What times are your services? Which service
should I go to?
• I’m in need of prayer, can you help me?
• I heard you have an awesome Worship Team
– have they cut a CD that I can buy?
Relational
Objective: Audience Capture
• Web dialogue: surfing
• Maximize contact time
• Draw viewers deeper in by rewarding
curiosities with interesting or entertaining
information.
Issue:
Church websites don’t serve the needs of their target audience – the prospective visitor
Church websites do quite well at serving their existing member needs
Solution:
Build a relationship with the inquiring visitor
Priority: Secondary
• Already familiar with Grace
• Existing church info resources being used
(bulletin, Touchpoint, Gace Vine, lobby chat,
small groups, etc…)
• Website expands info access and reference
Existing relationship enhancement
• Who is preaching next Sunday?
• When is Bridge getting together again?
• What times are the prayer teams meeting?
• I need a copy of last weeks sermon slides and
tape, how can I get them?
• I want to make a prayer request, how do I do
it?
• I can’t find our phone directory online
anywhere. Where is it?
• Our Worship Team is awesome – can I get a
list of the songs they sang last Sunday and
stream the audio?
Referential
Objective: Information Deployment
• Web dialogue: searching
• Minimize idle “surfing”
• Keep viewers happy by providing “what” they
want, “how” they want it, “where” they want it.

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Scanners and Searchers

At the same time, web viewers fall into two primary viewing modes scanning or
searching. It’s a lot like how we go shopping at a department store. We either scan
(browse) or search.
• Scanners (Browsers): consider the act of seeking to be fulfilling within its own
right. The person may not have specific items in mind to find, but rather considers
the shopping process to be formative, educational or even entertaining. The looking
is an end unto itself. Exploring may be fun, but wasting time isn’t.
• Searchers: consider finding specific item(s) to be the objective. Success/pleasure
comes from finding what is being sought in as little time as possible.

In either case, time is an overarching constraining factor. It contributes to the primary

spirit of the process. Thus, for searchers, having an excellent search engine resources
on site is important. In Steve Krug’s book, “Don’t Make Me Think”, he describes how
we relate to the scanner as follows:

Don’t Make Me Think; Ch 2; pg. 21

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 Don’t Make Me Think; Ch 2; pg. 23

Designers Think Viewers Will… Viewers Actually…

Read everything Glance
Appreciate everything Scan
Weigh everything when deciding Click on first item of interest
Think it’s “Great literature” Think it’s a “Billboard at 60 m.p.h.”
Issue: Designers envision a rational, attentive viewer… like themselves. ☺
Solution: Don’t design to one’s own perception of orderly viewing.

Jakob Nielsen, the Godfather of website usability design puts it quite well back in his
October 1997 Alertbox column “How Users Read on the Web”… “They Don’t”.
Nielsen’s research found that website viewers scanned pages by picking out eye
catching words, phrases and individual sentences. Only 16% of viewers tested would
read word-for-word.

Web Page Content: Less Is More

With the web, less is more. People are either browsers or searchers and in either case,
words for the most part get in the way. Web usability folk will recommend editing
general communications material content down by a half and in many cases even half
that again (a 50 – 75% reduction in word count). The foundation draws back to E.B.
White’s 17th rule in The Elements of Style: Omit needless words.

Steve Krug in his book Don’t Make Me Think supports stating that while it may sound
excessive, one should be ruthless in their cutting of needless words. He sites the
benefits to be:
• Reduced page noise level
• Increases useful content prominence
• Shortens pages allowing users to see more at a glance without scrolling
• Gets rid of the sociable, content free “small talk” which adds no value
• Removes self-congratulatory promotional content

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Here’s an example of Steve editing a site survey’s text:

Before: 103 Words

“The following questionnaire is designed to provide us with information that will help us
improve the site and make it more relevant to your needs. Please select your answers
from the drop-down menus and radio buttons below. The questionnaire should only
take you 2-3 minutes to complete.

At the bottom of this form you can choose to leave your name, address, and telephone
number. If you leave your name and number, you may be contacted in the future to
participate in a survey to help us improve this site.

If you have comments or concerns that require a response please contact Customer
Service.”

The following questionnaire is The first sentence is just introductory happy

designed to provide us with talk. I know what a survey is for; all I need is
information that will help us improve the words "help us" to show me that they
the site and make it more relevant to understand that I'm doing them a favor by filling
your needs. it out.

Please select your answers from the Most users don't need to be told how to fill the
drop-down menus and radio buttons ones who do won't know what "radio button"
below. are anyway.

The questionnaire should only take At this point, I'm still trying to decide whether to
you 2-3 minutes to complete. bother with this questionnaire, so knowing that
it's short is useful information.

At the bottom of this form you can This instruction is of no use to me at this the
choose to leave your name, address, end of the questionnaire where I can only
and telephone number. If you leave effect is to make the instructions look
your name and number, you may be
contacted in the future to participate
in a survey to help us improve this
site.

If you have comments or concerns
that require a response please
contact Customer Service.
The fact that I shouldn't use this form if I want
an answer is useful and important information.
Unfortunately, though, they don't bother telling
me how I contact Customer Service-or better
still, giving me a link so I can right here.

After: 41 Words
Please help us improve the site by answering these questions. It should only take you
2-3 minutes to complete this survey.

NOTE: If you have comments or concerns that require a response don't use this form.
Instead, please contact Customer Service.

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Jakob Nielsen provides us with another example of how different content writing style
can make a significant impact on a web page’s usability.
Content Style
Promotional writing
(control condition)
using the "marketese" found on
many commercial websites
Concise text
with about half the word count
as the control condition
Scannable layout
using the same text as the
control condition in a layout that 1996, some of the most popular places were:
facilitated scanning
Objective language
using neutral rather than
subjective, boastful, or
exaggerated language
(otherwise the same as the
control condition)
Combined version
using all three improvements in
writing style together: concise,
scannable, and objective
Improvement
Sample Paragraph (relative to control
condition)
Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions
that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In
1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson
State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National
0%
Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park &
(by definition)
Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of
the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State
Historical Park (28,446).
In 1996, six of the best-attended attractions in Nebraska
were Fort Robinson State Park, Scotts Bluff National
Monument, Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum,
58%
Carhenge, Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, and
Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park.
Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions
that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In
• Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors)
• Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166)
47%
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
(100,000)
• Carhenge (86,598)
• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002)
• Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).
Nebraska has several attractions. In 1996, some of the
most-visited places were Fort Robinson State Park
(355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument
(132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
27%
(100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie
Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical
Park (28,446).
In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were:
• Fort Robinson State Park
• Scotts Bluff National Monument
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum 124%
• Carhenge
• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
• Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park
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Above The Fold

Its interesting that with regard to web site content generation, those that have grown
through newspaper editorial experience have a good sense of many of the web site
composition fundamentals, but not all….

They understand:
• the critical importance of knowing your target audience
• planting the hook and then drawing in the viewer
• Managing content in a restricted presentation space. Web site content works
across screen scrolls. Newspaper content works across page folds.

“Above The Fold” is a great lesson learned from

newspaper publishing which we can apply to web page
layout and content development. We’ve all noticed that
any major newspaper is folded in half. How many times
have you ever seen the major breaking story on the
bottom half? The key, byline photo? The points fairly
obvious – important stuff stays above the fold because
that’s what’s showing when a paper is laying down
awaiting to be picked up and read – its what catches your
eye and its where you start.

Tabloid layout has also taught us to place something of interest, a bait, to draw the
viewer to go below the fold. To flip the page and read the rest. For example:
• Table of contents on front page
• Todays weather on front page
• Sidebar margin article traversing fold causing reader to “flip-to-follow”

With web pages the fold line is where your screen stops. If you scroll down, you’ve just
moved below the fold. Viewer scrolling is work, effort, it diminishes their desire to
continue looking. Its not so much that folks are lazy, well, maybe they are, but what is
really playing in their head is the perception of time lost. Also, search engines have
engrained viewers to think that what’s down is… less. Unless it’s clearly a
reference/archival page one should strive to keep it within two or three screen scrolls if
possible.

But… hypertext is different

What is different is how web content is based upon the hyperlink paradigm. Thus
referencing or rather referring to body copy elsewhere is utilized to the max. Why
duplicate content when hyperlinks easily provide for primary content to only be a single
click away. Don’t waste your web page real estate with content that you can instead
simply refer to elsewhere via a hyperlink. For example:

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• Highlight events and activities by title and phrase summary (what) and date/time
(when) and use this as a hyperlink to another page that goes into more detail about
that event/activity.
• Hyperlink to existing church website reference pages (ex.: How To Contact Us)
• Leverage shared ministry programs/project pages through by reference (ex.: one
Indoor Park web page could be linked to from PCTW as well as Childrens Ministry
pages).
• Link other website content rather then reiterating it within page’s body content.
• Etc…

An Example Web Page

To put some of this together, lets now take a look at an example, hypothetical ministry
web page: Chess For Christ. In taking a look at it we note the following:
• Not too long ~ 2.5 screen scrolls in length.
• Key info is in first screen: what its about, contact info
• Eye catching event of interest to target audience
• And… the “You Solve It” bait in the bottom screen providing interesting, dynamic
(regularly changing, fresh) content

With regard to hypertext content:

• Event listings utilize the “more” hyperlink to jump to a event specific page for more
detail
• Activity info is barebones. Could be improved to make activity titles hyperlinks to
activity specific pages. Date/times to calendar pages.
• Content uses links to other pages for expanded information “drilling”/“unpacking”.
• Great Links section provides links to other sites of interest

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 Full
Screen

Full
Screen

Semi - Full
Screen

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Here’s another view taking into account design elements which have been discussed.

From this, we see:

• E-zekiel allows a portion of the page to be used for designer content

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• Content is compartmentalized, explicitly sectioned off (description vs. contact vs.
events/activities, etc…). Sometimes referred to as “ice-cubing”.
• A multi column approach is used to best maximize content/space utilization and
viewing behavior.
• Graphics used carefully. Market data shows 2/3rd to 3/4th of WWW users still on
56Kb modems. What’s your target audience using?
• Little or no prose – if article, expose, testimonial content is desired, link to it.

Web pages do best when the information being provided is well organized. Good web
pages are not like our infamous kitchen drawer with batteries, rubber bands, tape, stuff,
etc… all just thrown in there. Facilitate quick and easy “search and seizure” of
information.

Design layouts that can be replicated from page to page make navigation and usage
much easier for the viewer. Consistent look and feel is the keynote enabler for efficient
and effective viewing and is one of the most significant contributions of excellent
websites (and yet overlooked by so many).

Crawl, Walk, Run

With all that said, the reality of church website development is evolutionary, rarely
revolutionary. Two key, aspects of this website development process are:
• It’s design and layout, taking into account esthetics and usability.
• The policies, procedures, and resources for the site’s content development,
submission, institution and maintenance.

Most often during the early stages of deployment leverage is the name of the game.
Initial content will come from existing elements such as brochures, bulletins, sermon
slides, newsletters, etc…As a result of this “content re-packaging”, the website’s target
audience is typically skewed more towards the existing member rather than visitor.

If your ministry already has a brochure, it can be helpful in:

• providing raw content that can be transposed in to a web page paradigm
• indicating what you don’t want and prompt the generation of new content

We in essence get ourselves on our feet with a new look and feel while re-packaging
existing content to our existing members. We may want to re-package what we already
have, tweak it a bit and spice it up, or…. chuck it and say “this web stuff is totally
different, I need to start over.” Over time we can walk and then run by expanding
incremental content contribution that is welcomingly targeted towards the inquiring
visitor audience. It simply takes time and patience.

So what does this mean?

• If you have a brochure, draw summary description information from that.

• Anticipate a bulleted approach, not prose

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• Represent description as benefits organized by the GCC four commitments if
possible (note how this was done in the Chess For Christ Ministry page)

Descriptive GCC Commitment

Love to play? Want to learn? Great! Loving God
And get to know God. Whew, what an opening and end-game.

Looking to get out, have some fun, meet some friends? Super! Loving People
Sportsmanship, competition and fellowship.

Opening's a bust? End-game a mess? No problem! Developing People

Develop yourself spiritually and temporally.

Kids, teens, adults - A great time for all! Reaching People

Through Christ, get to know friends and family better.

• Provide Secondary reference information and Supportive link information.

• Maybe have an FAQ (this is highly
encouraged). It provides a change in content “texture” while still providing
descriptive info. To avoid “jargon-eze” we could call the section “Curious?” or
simply “Have a question?”
• Break out scheduled items as a separate category. Break apart events (one shots,
special program/project), activities (consistently repetitive). Rosemary does this
quite nicely in how she handles calendaring in the bulletin and Touchpoint. We can
do this for you if you wish.
• Define a “Below The Fold” bait. This content would change over time. For
example, the Missions Ministry page might provide a highlight on a missionary
family’s activities in the bottom right corner of the page. This could rotate through
the various families every month, or as events may determine.
• Work with Rosemary on what sort of graphic would be appropriate for your page’s
“graphical headline”.
• Does your Ministry have a byline/motto or utilize a scripture reference as a
consistent sub-title? If not, that would be worthwhile to consider. Here’s an
example where consistent look and feel throughout the ministry pages is visually
appealing.

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