B. Websites
The basic unit of publicity on the Internet is a website. While there are domains (web addresses) that are free, for just a few dollars you can own your own domain name (e.g. www.CongregationBethX.org or www.templex.com or something similar). Think of a website as one way of having your synagogue office open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week (yes, even on Shabbat!). If a congregation is looking to attract young adults, to anyone born after 1980, an organization or business that does not have a website, in their eyes, just does not exist. Long before a young adult will ever come to visit a synagogue, they will first check the congregation out on its website. It is important that the website be done right.
A website should include the following information: the name of your congregation and an accurate description of what you’re about; the mission statement and values of the congregation; your physical address and directions on how to find your synagogue; information including times and locations for services, programs, and classes; an up to date calendar of events and contact information for the synagogue staff. It’s also nice to include a bio of your clergy, sample sermons from the rabbi or audio files of the cantor; the different committees and affiliates and some of the activities that they sponsor; and information about the neighborhood such as kosher restaurants or supermarkets, etc.
Your website must have accurate and timely information and be updated regularly. Developing a website either means having a volunteer who really understands the web design it or else having the website designed professionally. Professional web design may not be the cheapest option, but if the congregation is cutting back on print advertising, a professional designer may be a good investment. One important consideration is how the website will be maintained. Who will be responsible for keeping information on the site up to date, and what training might they need? Synagogue staff and volunteers should establish a communication strategy that includes making sure that upcoming programs are posted to the website, old material is taken down and that the website is accurate. This also includes an annual review of the entire website and at-least-monthly check for accuracy. Also consider rotating the pictures on display.
If a congregation does not have a website or the congregation is unhappy with what they have currently, the first thing to do is spend some time on the web looking at what other successful synagogues and churches are doing. Ask people who use the web regularly to let you know their own favorite sites. Go to those sites and look at the style and what they put on their home page. Examine how they divide up the different areas of the congregation, putting them on different pages. Pay attention to how easy is it to find a particular piece of information, like a map showing the synagogue's location, a list of who to call for information, a calendar of current activities or the times that services will be held. Look at what pictures are used, what graphics are used. Look further and pay attention to what colors are in the background and what color is used for the fonts. If the site was professionally designed, often the designer will have the company name at the very bottom of the page in very small letters. If you like what you see you can contact the designer (at the designer's website) and inquire as to how they can be of service to you. If you have a professional design your website, make sure that it is designed so that it can be easily updated by synagogue staff or volunteers without needing the designer or incurring additional expense. When constructing a website, it should be designed to be easy to update so that the volunteer or staff member who keeps the calendar, or the one who does the publicity, can easily post new material and take down the old information. (Usually this means having a content management system [CMS] which enables those who don’t know how to code to update the text on a website).
One common mistake congregations make on their website is putting a picture of the synagogue building on the home page. Your community may be very proud of your synagogue building but the building is not the most important part of your congregation. Synagogues (and churches) are all about people and it is better to have pictures of people on your homepage; especially people who are having fun, smiling people, cute children and lots of activity. You can add a guided tour of your building to the site for those who are interested, but it does not belong on the home page.
If you have a website already, open it in your browser and see what it looks like when it opens. Like the synagogue tour above, take a tour of your own website. Does the homepage make you look like a place you would want to visit? A website is like the large window of a department store. It is the face that the world sees when they look at your synagogue. It needs to be kept fresh, up to date and have all of the most important information. A website that is out of date will never get a second look. It is better to have no website than to have one that is out of date with old, useless information. (If you really can’t keep a website up to date, consider having a “brochure website”, with the name and address and contact information for your synagogue- at least until you can establish a more dynamic website).
Most synagogues overlook this but metrics (statistics) are a vital part of a website. There are a number of companies that offer free metrics (such as google analytics) for a website. Usually you get a counter to count how many hits the website gets. But they also include metrics that tell you how visitors found your website, what pages they visited, how long they spent on each page and how long they were on the entire website. It can tell you where these visitors live, what their internet service provider is, which browser they are using and a host of other details that can be very helpful in planning and updating the website. Businesses use metrics all the time and they can be of great help to synagogues and churches as well. Make sure that if someone is looking for a synagogue or rabbi in your area and Googles these terms, your site will show up in the search listings. If it doesn’t appear, or is ranked lower than other less relevant results, consult someone who knows about search engine optimization (SEO) to help you fix this.
It is also wise to consult someone about website security. Pictures of children and members should not give too much information to the outside world. The website should have a strong password so other nefarious characters cannot deface it or hijack it. If you allow transactions over the website, they must meet security standards including having an SSL certificate. Email addresses should be protected from those who scan the web looking for addresses to send spam and other dangerous items. Since a website can be scanned by spammers for a particular text (like an email address), sometimes it is better to post sensitive information not as text but as a graphic or picture and avoid problems with spam. Be careful how your website is linked to other sites. You don't want problems with other sites which may be out of date or with faulty security to affect your web address. The web can be a wonderful place but it can also be a bit of a wild frontier. Make sure that your web page is protected from problems. There may be legal implications of what appears on your website; you may need to specify terms of use, a privacy policy, a formal release to use pictures of individuals on the site. It is a good idea to consult with whoever does the legal work for your congregation before you make a new website public.
Some congregations have a password protected area on the website; for members only, for parents of the religious school only or where committees can share information privately; a place where more personal information can be shared. In some of these areas, social networking has been built into the website itself. By separating the public and private sections, members can have more information available than they could on a public site. They can not only share synagogue information but they can inquire about local service providers, share information on babysitters and give away unwanted furniture or theater tickets. A private area on a web site for members only can be a wonderful community tool.
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