It may have been a few weeks, but I'm back with the fourth installment in our free website critique series as we take a look at Victory Harvest Church (VHC from hereon out) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Again, I'll be taking the same approach as the previous entries in the series, and I would encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Appearance

• What's done well?
  • Banner Image - I like how the church name and the wheat field image tie together.  It leaves an impression on the visitor.
  • Cleanliness - The presentation of VHC's website is almost a minimalist approach.  Not that it's bland, because it really is a very aesthetically pleasing site, and it really works well.  You're just not inundated with information, but everything you need is readily accessible.  It's just a nice balance of form and function.
• What needs work?
  • Banner Image - Yes, this feature falls in both the plus and minus.  For one, the text is a part of the image (making it unreadable by screen readers and search engines).  Secondly, the image is HUGE, taking up almost the entire screen on a monitor in 800x600 resolution (which, I know, is not the current design standard, but I do want to emphasize just how big it is).
  • Just A Little Plug For Yahoo! - I see this a lot, but I find it simply inexcusable for an organization to use e-mail addresses that don't match their domain name.  I know those are harsh words, but it just appears unprofessional.  It would be like getting a letter from your insurance company with the claims agents personal return address label one it (ya know, the ones with the puppy pictures).  Even if your web host doesn't provide any e-mail accounts with their service, there are free services like Gmail for Your Domain that allow you to set up e-mail addresses under your existing domain name with relative ease.
• Suggestions
  • First, see if there is a way to reduce the size of your banner image without losing the impact of it.
  • Second, use standard HTML text to overlay the banner image so that it is available to screen readers and search engines. 
  • Third, set up e-mails that work under your domain name.

Organization

• What's done well?
• Plain & Simple - It's not fancy.  It's not complicated.  It just works.  It's the KISS principle embodied.
• What needs work?
• Coming Soon? - Can't say that I'm a fan of the Coming Soon! pages.  If a page is not completed, then it should not be linked to on your site.  Feel free to comment it out in your code if you want to keep the link handy, but keep it out of public view.
• I Didn't Even Know I Was Leaving - As you probably remember, I'm not a fan of links that look like internal links that take you to another website.  This time around it's the link for "Victory Academy" that got me.  These links should not be a part of your main links, but maybe broken out into a "Partner Organizations" category that would indicate you are leaving the current site.
• Suggestions
  • Remove the links to unfinished pages until they're ready to "go live".
  • Like I mentioned above, try to make it clear when a link on your site leads to another site, even if it is affiliated with your church.

• What's done well?
• Here's What's Going On - How I love seeing service and event information on the main page of a church website.  It might be the primary information that one is looking for when they visit a church website, and it helps to have it readily available.  Nice work!
• Making Use of Tools - The use of the Google Calendar and it's clean integration into the site is very nice.
• What needs work?
• All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go - While the use of the Google Calendar is nice, how come it appears empty?  I had to skip ahead to late May just to find something.  It's probably a good idea to also add your reoccurring events (service times, bible studies, adult education classes, etc.) to the calendar as well.  Otherwise it gives the impresion that not much is going on at the church.
• Where Am I? - I did finally find the location of the church buried in the introduction paragraph and on the Contact Us page, but I question why isn't the entire church address on the site's main page.  It's addition could definitely help when it comes to search engine performance, especially if someone searches for "church in baton rouge".
• Suggestions
  • Add your reoccurring events to your Google Calendar to make it clear that there's stuff going on at your church.
  • Add your address to at least your main page.  It could easily be added to all pages in the footer section.

While Victory Harvest Church's website doesn't pack a lot of the "WOW!" factor, it is a well-designed, appealing and functional site.  There are a few features which I'd clean up, but overall it's a respectable presence on the web that does a nice job of presenting the church.  It appears that there's more to come, and I hope that those features can be integrated without losing the current balance of the site.

Well, it's time for the third entry in our free website critique series, this time we're looking at the site of Metropolitan Baptist Church (a.k.a. The Met) in Houston, Texas.

Again, I'll be taking the same approach as the previous entries, and I would encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Appearance

• What's done well?
  • Design - The Met has an extremely attractive design and layout that is easy to follow, and that gives it a very professional appearance.  It's definitely a lot slicker looking than I could hope to make on my own.
  • Coherence - The site also sticks to it's theme throughout the site, with little to no deviation.  All the images fit the styling of the site, but stand up on their own.  They manage to pull off the trick of being noticed, but not standing out.
• What needs work?
  • Ummm...
• Suggestions
  • Honestly, the site is amazing looking (and actually one of the reasons I chose to critique it).  They've taken the extra steps to make sure everything works together, and all uses of tools like Flash are well integrated and definitely add to the site.

Organization

• What's done well?
  • Divide & Conquer - Like Christ The King, the breakdown of main menu topics with sub-topics is clear and easy to follow.
  • Topic Volatility - Over a span of several visits, it's easy to see that The Met's main page gets updated frequently.  On their page, they have links to events that are around the corner, and future events that need to be addressed now (i.e. camp and VBS).  I'm sure keeping the information current both assists members and keeps them coming back to see what else is going on.
• What needs work?
  • Menu Consistency - I know, I already gave props to the menu in general, but the "Ministries" portion doesn't sit right with me.  While the rest of the menu items are links, this one isn't, and causes a big, black drop-down menu that doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the stylings of the site.
  • We Really Want You To Listen - While having links in the footer of each page to the church's contacts and calendar of events is probably both pertinent and useful, I think the other three links for sermon audio on each page is a little much.  These should probably stick to your Media Library page.
  • Did I Stay Or Did I Go? - Two things I noticed about the "Quick Links" sidebar that I noticed on most pages:  (1) Not all the links stay within the site, even though it looks like they should (mainly the Rehobeth links) and (2) the links in this section often take me to pages that do not contain the page I came from in their "Quick Links".  For better overall site flow, I'd use the policy of "if I can get there through a link, I should be able to get back through a link".
• Suggestions
  • Work on a few of the organizational inconsistencies you seem to have in the site.  In the end, they'll make for a better navigational flow to your site as a whole.

• What's done well?
  • There's Something Going On - No visitor can miss that there's a lot going on, and it definitely seems to be a focus of the church to promote these happenings.  It shows a liveliness and vibrancy for the church that I hope it fulfills in real life.
  • Event Details - Not only are there dates, times and locations for events, but there are also individual pages with descriptions and details on them.  That's a feature I really appreciate.
• What needs work?
  • Image Bloat - While the site is very visually appealing, it does suffer from some apparent image bloat.  Most of the header images in the site's sub-sections (like The Weekend page) loaded up very slowly for me, and I'm using a cable modem connection.  The image file sizes don't seem too awful, so I'm not sure if it's the images themselves or your web host, but something likely needs to be addressed.  I can only imagine the experience on a dial-up connection, which you still have to account for.
  • PDF Links - Yes, this is nitpicky, and I've mentioned it previously: If one of your links requires a special plug-in, like a PDF document, then it should be noted in or by the link.  To me "download the...insert" is not descriptive enough, as the link could be to an image, text document, or any other kind of file.
  • What About My Scroll Wheel? - Another picky thing, but the scrollbar on the News & Events section on the main page doesn't work with my mouse's scroll wheel.  While not a deal-killer, it's an inconvenience to someone like me who uses it frequently.  In addition, if you tab through the links in that section, the content moves while the scrollbar does not.
• Suggestions
  • Most importantly, take a look at the load times for the images on your site and how to improve them without sacrificing image quality.  This will improve the experience for all visitors.

Metropolitan Baptist Church has a fantastic website that is extremely appealing and functional.  It's a goal we should all strive for.  But it still has a few flaws floating around, which is a nice reminder to us all that our jobs are never done.  There's always work to be done when it comes to our church websites.

For the second entry in our free website critique series, we're taking a look at Christ the King church in Kingwood, Texas.

Again, I'll be taking the same approach as last time, and I would encourage you to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Appearance

• What's done well?
  • Design - The background and the shadows incorporated into the design really make it pop.  Plus, it really fits the style of the logo, so there a coherency there.
  • Colors - The mix of colors do a great job of making the site appear very lively, but they all work together as well.  Good choices.
  • Eye-Catching Graphics - Many of the images on the site, like the ones on the Help & Healing page are nice and eye-catching.  However, I would check the spacing on the images to make sure text is given ample space.
• What needs work?
  • Pick A Font - Just on the main page, I count at least three different fonts, and that's not including graphics and images.  You really should select just one to help maintain a better consistency in your site.
  • Link Inconsistencies - Some links are underlined, while some aren't.  Some underlined links change colors and lose their underlines when hovered over, and some don't change at all.  While I'm not saying all links should look exactly the same, they should behave in a consistent way so they are easy to identify.
  • Trees? - I guess I don't understand the use of the tree images in the top area of the site.  It really left me scratching my head.  I'd think that images of the congregation or from around the church might be more effective.
  • Flashing - While using Flash and other similar technologies can do great things for a site, I've also been know to advocate that they be used properly.  In this case, I don't think the use of Flash really does anything to enhance the site.  On the main page, with two different sections changing at different rates, I'd say it's more of a distraction.
• Suggestions
  • I'd lose the Flash and reexamine ways to display that content.
  • Find some new images that convey more about the church to use in the top section of the page.
  • Make sure your design template is consistent, and stick to it.

Organization

• What's done well?
  • Menu Structure - I like the breakdown of main topics with sub-topics.  It's clear and easy to follow.
  • Well Organized Pages - Each page is nicely broken down into sub-sections that allow a visitor to quickly scan for the information they need.
  • Upcoming Events - Even though they're in the Flash area, having this information right up front is very logical and useful.
• What needs work?
  • Duplicated Content - How many different places do you need to have the map to your church?
• Suggestions
  • Honestly, there isn't much.  I'd just take a look at the duplicated content and figure out the best place for it.

• What's done well?
  • Service Times Up Front - Something I always like to see!
  • Sermon Podcasts Available - Having not only the most recent sermon podcast available, but the last ten, is a nice feature for visitors to "try out" a pastor's preaching style or for members to miss a sermon and catch up (especially in the case of a sermon series).
  • A Plethora Of Information - Honestly, there is just a lot a lot of information to wade through in a critique, but for a new visitor that can be a good thing.  It means that if someone's looking for some information, they're likely to find it.  Especially when it's presented in such an organized manner.
• What needs work?
  • Meaningful URLs - Unfortunately, the URLs aren't indicative of what content is at that page, which is bad for search engines.  In addition, if I send a link to a certain page to a friend, they may avoid it in this day and age of phishing because they don't know where the link is taking them.
• Suggestions
  • I know that it's likely a big hassle, but it would do a world of good to clean up the site's URLs.  Not only will the links be more indicative of the content, but they'll also look more professional.

Additionally, I'll add a bonus point for the use of ColdFusion, being a ColdFusion Developer myself.

In the end, Christ the King church has got a very strong base established.  They've done a lot right, but haven't addressed all of the details.  While it may take some time to address these, it will be worth your effort.  They may not seem like much, but they will help your site with the search engines, and they will help give your site more credibility and a more professional appearance.