What should a church website include?

Service times and your address in the first screen, a page for first-time visitors, what happens with kids, what you believe, a recent sermon, how to give and someone to contact. Good church website design starts from the person who's never been inside, since your members already know all this.

Can people give online through the site?

Not on the site itself. Shingle has no payments, so your Give button opens the giving page your church already uses, and that service takes the gift. On your own domain, custom code can run a script your giving service provides, though Shingle doesn't check that code. No giving service yet? You'll need one first.

Can I add an events calendar or a members' area?

Neither is built. List events on a page you change by asking, or link to the calendar you use now. For a special service, the announcement bar runs across every page and hides itself after a last day you pick. There's no member login or directory, and a password covers a whole site.

Will Shingle write our beliefs for us?

Only from what you give it. It's built not to invent, so beliefs, staff names and service times come from your notes or your Google listing, and a separate review removes what they don't support. Give it your own statement of faith and read the result closely, since those words are yours to stand behind.

Is Shingle a good church website builder?

It suits a church that wants a clear public site a volunteer can keep current, by asking for changes in plain words or fixing details by hand. It doesn't suit one that wants giving, event sign-ups or a member directory built in, which church platforms offer. Keep that platform, and link to it.

Is there a church price?

There's no church or nonprofit price today. The plan is $49 a month or $39 paid yearly, with 1 live site, your own domain and 200 credits a month, and it starts with a 7-day trial for $1 that can publish. You buy the domain itself from a domain seller.

Church websites for first visits

A first-time visitor wants to know when to come, where to park and what kids do.

What the home page says

Section by section, in the order a visitor reads it.

Service times and address
It's the question everyone has, so don't make anyone hunt for it. Put times and directions in the first screen, and change them the day a holiday schedule starts.
Plan your visit
A page for someone who's never been. Say where to park, which door to use, how long it runs, what people wear and whether newcomers get singled out.
Kids
For many parents this decides it. Say what happens with their children during the service, how check-in works, and that volunteers are background-checked if they are.
What we believe
Your denomination and beliefs in plain words, plus what worship feels like. A short statement works best, with the full one a link away.
Sermons
People listen before they visit. Show your latest from YouTube or Vimeo near the top, swap in next week's link at no cost, and keep older ones a link away on your channel.
Give and get involved
Say how to give and what giving supports. Shingle takes no payments, so the Give button opens the giving page your church already uses. A short form can take sign-ups for groups and serving.

How they search

churches near me
church service times near me
nondenominational church near me
Baptist church near me
Christmas Eve service near me
Easter service near me
church with kids program near me
Bible study near me

What earns their trust

Your pastor's name and photo, with a line about them
Your denomination or network, and your beliefs in plain words
A child safety policy, and background checks if you run them
Photos of your own people and building, taken with their OK
What giving supports, with a yearly summary if you publish one
Wheelchair access, and anything else a visitor may need to plan for
A named person a visitor can write to with a question

How it gets found

What moves a church up in a town's results.

Claim your Google listing
Choose the category for your tradition, like Baptist church or Non-denominational church, or plain Church. Keep your hours current, and add a photo of the front door so people know it when they arrive.
Give Christmas and Easter a page
Holiday services are when people who rarely attend go looking. Add a page a few weeks ahead with the times and what kids do, then update its dates next year.
Use the words people search
People look by tradition and by need, like a Spanish service, a youth group or a food pantry. Say those words on the page wherever they're true of your church. A site has one language today, so there's no switch between English and Spanish.
Mark up what's true
Church is the schema.org type made for you. Sites on Shingle write your name, address and phone in that form under that type, and your Google listing's category says what kind of place you are.

How to sell one

Churches buy when the volunteer who built the last site moves on and nobody can change the service times. The people they most want to reach look them up before they ever walk in, and they never hear about the visit an out-of-date page cost them.

Show the pastor or office manager the plan-your-visit page on a phone, then show how a holiday time gets changed by asking in plain words. Decisions usually go through a board, so follow up with a review link everyone can open and comment on.

“Our Facebook page does the job.”: It reaches people who already know you. A visitor searching for churches nearby needs times, parking and kids' plans without signing in to anything. Keep the page, and link to it from the site.
“We need online giving.”: Shingle doesn't take payments, so the site's Give button opens the giving page they already use. If they have none, they'll need a giving service first. Say so up front.
“A member does our website for free.”: Ask how long a service time change takes, and what happens when that person is away. Free help is a kindness, and with this the office can make the change themselves.
“The board has to approve any spending.”: Send a review link, so everyone can look and comment with no account. Then give one monthly number and say what it covers, in a form the treasurer can read in a line.