How to Make a Prayer Website

A prayer website can change a community. An interactive website can reach more and encourage transparency impossible in a traditional prayer meeting. Basic web authoring techniques are adapted to produce a social networking prayer website.

Things You'll Need

• Website planning team
• Website plan
• Web server
• Web design software
• Evaluation team

Instructions

Plan

1. Planning is the first step in website design. Prayer comes before planning when designing a prayer web site. Ask God to help you - He is after all the Creator and gave you creativity. Ask Him how to use it.

2. Form a team to help in planning, during the building and with the evaluation of the completed website. Ask your team to define the purpose of the website in simple terms. Make a list of what you want the prayer website to accomplish. Profile your target audience. Evaluate the purpose, the audience and the desired outcome of the final web site.

3. Plan a prayer website that has a primary purpose of interacting online by providing a place for prayer requests and recording answers. A prayer website may also have content to educate visitors about prayer. A prayer web site could be a powerful social networking site that builds a prayer community online.

4. Create five or six categories that coincide with the prayer site's purpose, these categories will become the main menu buttons.

5. Create a wire drawing of the website based on the plan and with the audience in mind. Create a site plan that would be easy to navigate. The key is to realize that everything has a place on a home page and every element needs to go in the right place.

6. Make a navigation plan. A homepage is like the foyer of your house. A visitor will decide if he wants to go further based on what he finds in the foyer. A web surfer will only give your homepage three seconds. Either she will stay and go further or click away. You want her to stay, so the home page must be enticing and easy to navigate. Make a navigation plan based on your main menu, which is based on your purpose. Draw a map of the homepage, including menus, content, and picture placement.

The Build

1. Use your map from the planning stage to build your site. You can use your server's web design tools, Dreamweaver, Joomla, Drupal or some other website design tool. Get to know your web tools and do not be afraid to make mistakes, just remember to save your work as you go.

2. Begin building by designing the homepage with a familiar pattern that will not confuse your target audience. This is especially important on a prayer website because you want to create a calm atmosphere in your "foyer" or homepage. If the first three seconds on your web site is frustrating and confusing, visitors will not go further and participate in your prayer community.
   Place a logo or website title in the top left-hand corner. On the other side of the web page, place a search button and/or log-in. Beneath the header, place a main menu with your five or six buttons. Place another menu on the left-hand side with more information about your site that is not in the main menu. On the bottom include a footer section with your copyright information, contact us, and date created information in a small size font.

3. In the middle, place your main content with distinct titles. To keep your information enticing, use "Read more" buttons to keep your articles bite-sized.
   According to www.Lynda.com instructors, home pages are read in three seconds and in three glances. The first look is at the color and the overall layout. The second glance is to find navigation. The third look is to see what content is interesting to them. To get them to the content, the meat, you have to make sure the layout and navigation is comforting and inviting.

4. A secondary design for pages other than the home page is the only other page that must be designed, as it is duplicated throughout the rest of the site.
   Use your website team to help populate your website with quality content. Content is very important for Search Engine Optimization.

5. You can add links to Twitter, intuitive components for leaving prayer requests and praise reports, forums and other elements, but without quality content, your website will fall flat. Content is king for any website, but especially a prayer site that needs content to educate browsers about methods of prayer, Scripture, Bible studies and prayer guides.

The Evaluation

1. Evaluating your prayer website is as important as the planning or the building. Pull your team together and evaluate the website statistics for traffic. Get reports from people who use the site about ease of use. Gather a list of website repairs and bugs you need to fix.

2. Follow your evaluation, promote your site by asking members of your team, church and users to link to your site, place the address on email signatures and on business cards, stationary, bulletins, newsletters and signs.

3. Consider subscribing to an email marketing program that provides a regular prayer newsletter or prayer cards. Using a permission-based email marketing service will bring repeat visitors to your new prayer website.

4. Ask for feedback from your congregation, from other website subscribers and people who will not be using your service for an honest evaluation. Manage your site regularly to ensure repeat clicks.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn as much as you can about web design by studying other websites and getting training online. Create a logo that will help brand your prayer site. Survey prayer websites online.

• Be certain your prayer website design reflects the purpose of your organization. Do not place ads on your site. Do not sell subscriptions - pay for prayer is counterproductive.

References

• Lynda.com online training

Resources

• Website Design Tutorials
• Prayer Web Site
• National Day of Prayer Site
• ABC Technology News and Prayer Sites