If you have finally decided you need a church website, or your current site is in serious need of a major overhaul, you have probably thought about doing the whole thing yourself. Maybe you feel like you're a pretty good writer so you know you can come up with good content, or you might be able to come up with some pretty good graphics, too.
But seriously, before you take on this really big and really time-consuming project, you may want to think about your outsourcing options.
Before you totally nix the idea, take a moment to think about some of the advantages of outsourcing:
- It will save you time and energy allowing you to focus on other important tasks.
- You might not have all the latest technology to make your website look as professional as possible.
- The project won't go on forever and will get completed by an agreed-upon deadline.
Even with all the advantages that outsourcing provides, it's not like you have to outsource every part of your church website. If you can do certain things well, then by all means, do those parts. That being said, here are some parts of your church website that can be successfully outsourced.
Graphic Design
This part of a website is very important, so if you are not a graphic artist, you might want to consider outsourcing the graphic design.
The graphic design part of building a church website is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, your website should be aesthetically pleasing while also being representative of your church brand. Besides just making your website look nice, however, graphic design is also important because it helps to effectively communicate your message.
When your website is designed well, it should do the following:
- Capture the interest of your website visitors.
- Tell visitors what they are supposed to do once they are on your website.
- Make the user want to share or recommend your website.
Even if you have successfully taught yourself graphic design, it is still something you may want to outsource. The good news is, it's not hard to find a freelance graphic designer online.
Video Editing and Producing
It seems that everyone these days is making videos and posting them to social media. And while most people can make a decent video, not just any video will do for your church website.
Videos that end up on your website should be edited, produced, and look as professional as possible. But first, why do you even need a video (or two) on your church website?
- Posting video of your messages is a great way to share them.
- It provides an engaging way to show what is happening at your church.
- It's a fun way to recap some of your church events.
- More and more online users prefer video content over reading.
Besides that, who doesn't love sharing a great video when they see one? So while you can certainly shoot a video, if you don't know much about adding or removing sections of video clips or applying color correction, this might be another part of your church website you should consider outsourcing.
Similarly, high quality photography that represents your church is important on your site too. This may be another area to consider outsourcing.
Audio Editing and Producing
If you plan on adding audio to your church website, like for instance doing a weekly podcast of your message, you will also need to have audio editing and producing skills. And as with video editing and producing, this is something that can be outsourced, and should be outsourced, if you want it to sound professional.
It should also be outsourced if you don't have the right kind of software that will be effective for doing important audio things like removing unwanted noise and extracting audio data from video formats.
Coding
If you're going to build your own church website (or customize your existing site), you're going to need to know some coding, including a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. If you do think you have enough knowledge and experience when it comes to computer coding and different types of computer languages, then you might be able to handle this part of your church website.
But if you’re like most people, that can be like a whole foreign language!
If you're on the fence about whether or not to outsource your coding, here are some pros and cons that might help with your decision.
Some of the pros of outsourcing your coding include:
- You can find skilled individuals who do website coding for a living (in other words you'll find people who really know their stuff).
- Coding can be tedious and time-consuming, which means by outsourcing this part, you can save time and money.
- If you don't have an in-house coder to code your website, you can pay a third party to code your design.
Some of the cons of outsourcing your coding include:
- Some companies outsource their work to third parties that are located in non-English speaking countries, which can make communication difficult.
- You'll have less control over how securely sensitive information gets handled.
- You may not have access to the latest and greatest coding technology and software.
The Whole Thing
Of course, you also have the option of outsourcing your entire project. There are many website developers that work specifically with churches, which makes this a great option for building your church website. Some of the top companies in the industry include Sharefaith, Ekklesia 360, Faith Network, and Bridge Element, just to name a few.
