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July 2003
Web Strategies That Click
By Susan Crawford
Assessment Mile Marker
This issue is the fourth installment on the Web site assessment project for Hillcrest United Methodist Church (www.hillcrestumc.org). The assessment process with the Hillcrest eTeam has revealed insights, wish lists, frustrations and individual passions for the different ministries. We've looked at how religious Web teams are different, explored some common navigation problems unique to churches and examined third-party content providers. In this issue, we are sharing the peer analysis results and actual assessment findings, and discovering new strategies to be developed.
Tackling the Hillcrest Site - Touchdown!
The Hillcrest site represents seven basic areas spanning fifty-seven pages: mission (24 pages); ministry (16 pages); staff (7 pages); calendar, joining, history and prayer requests. Overall, Hillcrest is a highly active church that has much to share online with its members and community. The Hillcrest home page presents an adequate static environment. In a static environment, the user, typically, does a lot of drilling. "Drilling" is a term which describes the visitor experience which forces long click-paths to locate (drill down to) desired information. Many fine outreach efforts can be lost due to extensive drilling. In contrast, a good strategy strives to "push" content by providing a strong information hierarchy, succinct writing and a minimum of clicks to reach key information. The best examples of push content are sites that customize your visit based on your preferences.
The Hillcrest UMC Web site assessment findings have been presented in two forms: a written report and an interactive CD. The written report is intended more for management as it explains assessment methodology (the criteria used); reveals twelve fresh and unique content ideas; and details the twenty recommendations covering content strategy, writing styles, content management, standardization, etc. [One content idea which was particularly appealing to the Hillcrest eTeam suggests offering a small library of short prayers for life situations (strength, comfort, forgiveness, etc.) for both children and adults. This idea greatly expands the Prayer Request by stepping forward to offer spiritual ministry to those coming to the site in need.]
The interactive CD, in contrast, is intended for the Hillcrest eTeam and automatically launches (opens) the key deliverable, The Business Colony's exclusive Assessment Dashboard. The end of a Web site assessment marks the starting point for an eTeam as they undertake the project of implementing desired recommendations. The eTeam is now going to need all assessment information at its fingertips. Each Hillcrest page has been assessed against five criteria (navigation, appeal, content, functionality, vision) and each criterion graded with an A-B-C ranking which tells the eTeam where to start work (first, correct all the C's). With these rankings comes a full recommendation which details where the strategy (page) is weak and how to improve it. This is a lot of important information, and it would be a hardship for an eTeam if a written report were the only tool available.
Manually searching back and forth in a myriad of written pages (i.e. comparing Adult Ministry findings with Youth Ministry findings) would frustration-plague every effort. The Assessment Dashboard addresses this crucial problem by displaying rankings and recommendations "on demand" when a page name is typed. The Hillcrest eTeam quickly saw the Assessment Dashboard as an easy way to retrieve page results and whiz through information. What could be painful drudgery is made simple by the Assessment Dashboard, and it is easier to burn another CD than copy a whole report.
Peering At Peers
An important exercise to help develop a viable future course for Hillcrest, especially in light of their relaunch, is to determine how their Hillcrest site ranks among its peers today. We did this by identifying ten peers (other online churches of all denominations) for Hillcrest (email peers@businesscolony.com for our list) and becoming detectives by asking ourselves how these sites reach out to their community:
• How does the site achieve its sense of online community?
• How does the site address different users?
• What are popular layouts, color schemes and graphics?
• The tougher question, saved for last, how can Hillcrest be unique?
The Hillcrest eTeam tackled this exercise individually then, in a lively discussion, shared their experience (their first real team building effort). I stayed in the discussions as they sorted through likes and dislikes so I could steer them away from common pitfalls and explain subtle strategies they might want to consider adopting. This exercise will ensure steady progress with little back-peddling, and will drive many sound relaunch decisions. Peer analysis could also identify a valuable mentor site for Hillcrest - another site which demonstrates all the ideas and strategies Hillcrest wants to embrace and provides goals for the Hillcrest eTeam.
Going Back To The Mountain
With new ideas from the peer analysis and fresh insight from assessment findings, the Hillcrest eTeam is starting to think about their relaunch. As the eTeam sat around the table discussing which elements to preserve or add during the relaunch, they quickly realized that they will need to strike a better balance between the size of the site and the size of the eTeam. When we looked at the dynamics within the Hillcrest eTeam, we found unstructured communication, fluctuating levels of commitment and ongoing frustrations in maintaining the site. How can Hillcrest add to a site that is already unmanageable? Focus. In going forward, it will help the Hillcrest eTeam to clearly identify team participation (set expectations) and then, seriously examine why Hillcrest is online - to identify those ministries Hillcrest is passionate about offering and which efforts can slowly return as the team rebuilds. The eTeam, however, cannot shift ministries and activities in isolation. They will need guidance from the pastoral staff and full support from the congregation.
The eTeam is starting to see that the Web site is as much about building internal relationships (with the staff and congregation) as it is about external relationships (with visitors/users). Creating an online presence that fortifies offline missions and passions will build lifetime value for visitors and, in turn, grow the congregational enthusiasm and financial support to sustain it. Consequently, they will need a basic plan which can help them answer how they can re-enthuse the congregation about the Web site; become part of the budgetary process (what do we want to propose) and perpetuate the new enthusiasm and support. In brief, Hillcrest is learning that a successful and meaningful online ministry needs the same energies as any offline ministry.
Next Issue
Going forward, the Hillcrest eTeam will start to build their internal strategies. In the next issue, we will share these outcomes as well as ways to recruit site contributors, ways to encourage greater congregation participation and ways to encourage greater online participation. Homework for Hillcrest will be to develop a relaunch plan and a first-time budget proposal. We hope you stay with us through this process and feel free to send any feedback or questions to article@businesscolony.com
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