A parish website is an online identity of a parish. Its primary purpose is to spread God’s Word and update people about the goings-on in the parish. It is a gateway to allow both parishioners and non-parishioners to get to know your parish more and to encourage them to participate in your activities.
I’ve been googling Philippine parish websites these past few days to display them in the CatholicSites.ph directory and, to my dismay, I found out that many of them are poorly-designed and poorly-maintained. Most of them look like they were created in the late ’90s. You’re lucky if you could find an up-to-date parish website. Click here to see what I mean.
In this era of free and opensource CMS (Content Management Sytems), cheap web hosting services (your website can be hosted for as low as PHP 800 a year!) and easy-to-use web applications – it is simply unacceptable for parishes to cite the usual “lack of budget” as an excuse.
The importance of web design should never be underestimated. A good-looking and easy-to-navigate site will influence the visitor’s perception of the site’s value and, in effect, provide a good impression on the parish in general. An ugly and outdated site may deter visitors from staying long or coming back and, in effect, give them a bad impression on the parish itself.
It is ultimately the parish priest’s duty to see to it that his parish website is regularly updated and up to today’s standards. If you are a parish priest (or one who is given the task to maintain the parish website), the following suggestions might help you:
1. Hire qualified website designers and developers
2. Hire competent writers and editors
3. Use WordPress or Joomla or some other free and opensource CMS
4. Must-have sections: News, Calendar of Activities, Schedule of Services, History, Vision/Mission, Search, Contact Page
5. Remember that visitors appreciate quality and credibility
For your inspiration, the following is a list of beautifully-designed Philippine parish websites.
SAN ROQUE PARISH (Mandaluyong)
ST. PETER THE APOSTLE PARISH
OUR LADY OF MT. CARMEL PARISH (Sta. Maria, Bulacan)
ST. PETER PARISH (Quezon City)
OUR LADY OF THE ANNUNCIATION PARISH (Quezon City)
STA. MARIA DELLA STRADA PARISH (Quezon City)
cool sites padre! Thanks so much for sharing!
Dear Father Stephen,
Peace & all good!
Thanks for choosing our parish (San Rqoue Parish, Mandaluyong City) as a no. 1 beautifully designed- Philippines parish website. We hope that someday you can visit our parish personally.
Merry Christmas Father! God bless…
Juna
i like your site Padre. Nice!