Having an effective church website is crucial for connecting with your congregation and reaching more people in your community and beyond. But with so many church website builders out there, how do you choose the right one? This blog will walk you through the key factors to consider when selecting the best church website builder for your needs.
Why Your Church Needs a Good Website
Your church’s website is one of the most important communication and outreach tools you have. An attractive, easy-to-navigate website allows you to clearly share your church’s vision, beliefs, events, and ministries with both existing members and visitors checking out your church.
Additionally, a church website:
- Provides a first impression and overview of your church for potential new members
- Allows your congregation to connect with your church 24/7 for information
- Reaches people in your community who may be seeking a new church home
- Shares what makes your church unique and welcoming
With over 90% of Americans using the internet to find information (Pew Research Center, 2012), your church website is often the first touchpoint for connecting with your community. Having a website designed specifically for churches allows you to take advantage of all the latest technology to support your church’s growth and communication goals.
Key Features to Look for in a Church Website Builder
The best church website builder makes it easy for you to create an effective site tailored to your church’s needs, even without professional web design skills. Here are some must-have features:
Easy-to-Use Interface
A drag-and-drop site builder with pre-designed templates allows church staff and volunteers to easily build and make updates to your site without coding knowledge. Look for an intuitive dashboard and step-by-step guidance.
“ChurchSpring website is easy to use and practical to update information. There is no initial website setup fee like other website design companies. You can change your current website design to other available ChurchSpring designs without charge. Most of all, displaying weekly Sunday sermons is quick and simple without uploading the sermon videos. Customer support is great.” – Tom L., Pillars of Faith Tabernacle
Mobile Responsive
Over 50% of global website traffic is performed on a phone according to Statista’s 2022 report. With users turning to their phones more and more, a mobile-friendly site is critical, allowing members to conveniently access your church site from their phone or tablet anytime, anywhere. The site should automatically reformat for mobile screens, so you don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.
Search Engine Optimization
Your site should be optimized for SEO with best practices built-in to improve visibility and help people find your church on search engines like Google. This includes fast load times, secure hosting, and meta tags.
Built-in Church Features
Choose a website builder designed specifically for churches, with features like online giving and tithing, sermon hosting, events calendar, photo galleries, member directory, contact forms, and more. Otherwise, you’ll be spending your time (and money) managing add-ons to hack your website to fit your needs.
Ready-To-Go Designs
Pre-made templates kickstart the design process and should always be included in your subscription—no need to pay extra fees for a good-looking website! You’ll want the ability to add your church’s logo, update colors and fonts sitewide, and choose easy-to-read fonts. Look for a wide range of professional designs.
Caring Support
A church website builder with caring customer support by phone, email, and chat provides helpful guidance when you’re feeling stuck. This allows less tech-savvy staff and volunteers to easily build and manage the site.
ChurchSpring offers VIP customer support so you’ll never feel stuck or alone managing your church communications. You’ll get access to top-tier support with help articles, tutorials, classes, and access to a real human (no bots here!) via phone, email, chat, or video call.
“You make the website easy to use. I had no experience with websites and I was able to figure it out. And when I had a problem and couldn’t figure it out I would email you and get an answer right away. Your customer service is outstanding!! Your customer service shows how much you care about your customers and that is not easy to find anymore. Thank you for being outstanding in what you do!!” – Angie S.
Ongoing Development
Your website developer should frequently improve the platform and add new capabilities to support evolving church needs like small groups, digital engagement, and more.
Maximize Impact with Advanced Features in a Church Website Builder
In addition to the core features above, many modern church website builders offer powerful built-in tools and integrations to expand what your site can do, so you can focus less on managing your church communications and more on your ministry. Look for a platform that, at a minimum, offers 3rd party integrations, but ideally includes all the features you need for your church communications automatically integrated into the platform, like ChurchSpring’s all-in-one church growth platform.
Online Donations & Payments
Accept tithes, donations, and payments for events, tithing, or mission trips directly through your site with a secure payment processor.
Live Streaming
Broadcast Sunday services, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and more with reliable video streaming that you can easily publish on your website and social media channels.
When COVID-19 hit and we realized our old website platform couldn’t live stream I knew I had to scramble. Our old website platform was not user-friendly. So glad I stumbled across ChurchSpring. Within hours our new site was up and running and within a couple of days, we had it looking good. We’ve been in Livestream mode for months and are thankful for the ChurchSpring platform. – Andy L., Nags Head Church
Church Management Software Integration
Connecting your site to your church’s database enables seamless data syncing between systems, reducing duplicate data entry. Better yet, choose a church website builder that offers a Church Management Software (ChMS) built right into your website! ChurchSpring’s ChMS offers all the tools you need to communicate with your members including notes, a directory, messaging, and more.
Email Marketing
Easily send bulk emails to your members and visitors directly from your website so that your church members never miss out on an update. Send emails about small groups, volunteer opportunities, serving needs, and more!
Plan Considerations
Church website pricing can range from free to over $200/month depending on the features, support, and design flexibility you need. Here are some typical models:
- Free – Basic websites with limited design options, support, and features.
- Monthly subscription – Often gets you the core church website features with ongoing support and development. You can scale based on church size and features with a low-risk, monthly commitment.
- Annual plans – Discounted versions of monthly plans when paid yearly. This is often the best option to lock in savings on a church website builder plan that works best for your church.
For most churches, receiving a demo and testing out the church website builder is the best option to view if it’s the right fit for your ministry. Take advantage of free trials to test options risk-free.
Get Started with a Church Website with ChurchSpring
Ready to build an effective church website? ChurchSpring offers an intuitive drag-and-drop builder with beautiful templates, a full slate of integrated church tools, and dedicated support to help you create a website you’re proud of.
Built by church leaders for churches, ChurchSpring powers church websites across the U.S. and Canada. Attend a free demo hosted by cofounder Rohn to see how you can launch your church website in 90 seconds flat. Sign up for a free 7-day trial to explore the platform without cost or commitment. See firsthand how ChurchSpring can help you grow your church and better communicate in our digital world.
