The Church Website Organization Checklist

Finding what you need on a church website can feel like a chore.

But navigating your church’s website should be easy – not aggravating.

The good news?

All it takes is a little organization.

So think of me as the Marie Kondo for church websites and together we’re going to declutter and organize your site once and for all using what I call The Kitchen Principle and 5 easy checklist items.

I’ve even made a downloadable checklist for you in PDF form that you can access below.

Let’s dive in.

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The Kitchen Principle (For Church Websites)

A properly organized church website starts with The Kitchen Principle.

Think about a tidy kitchen:

• The food is in the pantry
• Utensils are in drawers
• Pots & pans in cupboards
• Everything has its place

(I’ve yet to stumble upon a tidy kitchen that stores its spatula on the countertop)

Now, why do we do this?

Because it would be maniacal to keep every utensil, appliance, cutting board, pot, pan, and dry food item on the countertop!

Sure, that would make items immediately accessible – but it’d be a mess! And yet, that’s the state most of our church websites are in right now.

So let’s take The Kitchen Principle and apply it to your church website.

And we have three objectives here:

1. Eliminate clutter
2. Remove unnecessary pages
3. Clear hurdles so visitors to our website can find what they need and take action

I’ve got 5 checklist items for you. I’m going to show you exactly how to achieve each of them. They won’t take long. And you don’t have to change anything else about your existing website.

Ready to roll? Let’s start with checklist item number one.

Checklist Item #1: Put Long Text Inside Info Cards

If you take anything away from this article, here’s a very important principle of web design:

Because here’s the bottom line:

Certain parts of your church website are likely very text heavy. And instead of slapping a 1,000 word block of text in the middle of a page, what we can do instead is nest that information in what we call an Info Card.

By doing this, the text remains accessible, but it doesn’t take up permanent real estate on the page.

Just think about your kitchen utensils here. You need a whisk, sure. But most of us don’t need it every day. So instead of keeping it on the counter, we tuck it away in an easy to access drawer. Same principle here.

In the video example below, you’ll see I’ve taken a church’s doctrinal beliefs and nested them in an Info Card. Now, when someone is curious about the church’s beliefs, the Info Card opens up, revealing the full, uncondensed beliefs.

In this example, I’m using an image block that triggers open the Beliefs Info Card, but this could also be accomplished with a button, a link in your navigation, a link in your footer – you could do it with all four at once! It’s your call.

And now, the church’s beliefs still remain accessible – which is important. But they’re not permanently visible. The whisk is now in an easy to access drawer instead of permanently placed on the countertop.

Watch Video: Put Long Text In Info Cards

As for the tech we’re using, Info Cards are a feature of The Launcher by Nucleus. The Launcher is a free-forever tool – meaning you’ll never need a Nucleus subscription to use it. It works on any church website. And there are no strings attached. We made this as our way of giving back to churches. And think of it as your all-in-one website organization tool.

Of course, you don’t need to use The Launcher to implement these principles. But there’s nothing stopping you either! We designed this tool specifically for churches and there’s nothing else like it – you can get it for free by clicking the banner below.

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Let’s move to our next organizational maneuver.

Checklist Item #2: Keep Forms In A Widget

Like long blocks of text, forms are another website element that can take up significant real estate on pages (especially when the form is longer than a couple of steps). So I prefer to keep them nested in a widget. Again, we’re using The Launcher by Nucleus for that.

I think now would also be an ideal time to pause for an important reminder:

The way to do this with Nucleus is to create a Nucleus Flow – our modern form builder for churches.

And much like Info Cards in our last example, I can create a link to a Flow and use it anywhere! Flows can be triggered open by:

• Buttons
• Navigation menu links
• Links in the footer
• Email blasts
• Link in bio on social
• Or all of the above!

And when that link that gets clicked, the signup Flow opens up beautifully on top of the page you’re already on – ready to go.

Watch Video: Keep Forms In A Widget

The 3 “I”‘s Of Church Website Design

Now, if you find yourself scratching your head and wondering what parts of your website should be visible vs. what parts should be accessible – here’s a good tip…

Every part of your church’s website can be broken down into 3 categories – I call this The 3 “I”‘s Of Church Website Design:

1. Inspiration
2. Information
3. Invitation

So here’s my recommendation to you:

Content that falls in the inspiration category (photos, videos, big headlines that encapsulate your church’s vision and identity, etc.) should more often than not be publicly visible at all times. And that’s because these kind of inspirational elements are relevant for everyone that visits your church’s website.

On the information and invitation side, that’s where you might want to consider using some of these organizational tools. Because, yes, that information is needed – but not always or not for everyone

So the question you want to ask yourself is this:

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Checklist Item #3: Timely Items Get A Banner, Not A Page

To this point, we’ve talked about organizing and shortening individual pages. Let’s now talk about an organizational principle that eliminates unnecessary pages altogether!

Because here’s the truth:

Not everything needs a page.

So what’s the alternative? A banner.

And here’s the sequence we’ll be using to eliminate the need for a page for a church event we have coming up – the annual picnic:

1. Create a Banner for the church picnic that gets pinned to the top of the church website homepage
2. Connect the Banner to an Info Card (from checklist item #1) that has a beautiful photo from last year’s picnic and has all the necessary event info
3. Connect the Info Card to a signup Flow so people in the church can register for the picnic and let us know what they’re bringing
4. Finally, the Banner will be set to expire at the same time the picnic begins – to ensure we’re not promoting an event that’s already over

And with this sequence of steps, I’ve facilitated an entire event from promotion, to sharing information, to handling signups – without ever creating a page.

Watch Video: Timely Items Get A Banner, Not A Page

Checklist Item #4: Avoid Redirects To Third-Party Pages

You don’t keep the blender in the living room. It’s in the kitchen for a reason.

So as much as it’s possible, we want to avoid redirecting folks to third-party pages and away from our church’s website.

One of the biggest offenders? Giving forms.

Check out the video below to see how we can fix this.

Watch Video: Avoid Redirects To Third-Party Pages

Checklist Item #5: Make The Highest Priority Items Accessible On Every Page

A well-organized kitchen isn’t just tidy – the most important stuff is always an arm’s reach away.

Sure, you might keep the expensive glassware high in the cupboard and reserved for special occasions. But the stuff you need the most? It’s always easy to grab.

Same should go for your church websites.

This is why The Launcher lives on every single page of your site – making high-priority next steps available on every page. This means less searching and more next steps for your church and website visitors.

Watch Video: Make The Highest Priority Items Accessible On Every Page

The Launcher by Nucleus

My belief is that no church website should be cluttered and disorganized. The Launcher by Nucleus is your all-in-one organization tool:

• It works on any church website
• It’s free for every church
• You don’t need a Nucleus subscription
• You don’t need to enter any credit card details
• There are no strings attached

All we need from you is an email and password!

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