Salted Websites

by mickey on July 6, 2008

You may have noticed the new ad on the top right side of the site for Salted Websites.  They’re a Christian web design firm looking to expand their business.

I told them that before I could run their ad, I had to see some of the work they’ve done.  One example they provided me with was for Grace Fellowship Church in Williamsburg, VA.  After looking over the site, I feel good recommending Salted Websites to you.

If you look through the GFC website and think about how it might be reviewed on here, you’ll realize that they do a pretty solid job.  The navigation is built in plain text, they use good page titles, and it has a nice, clean look.  I can’t really review the content of the site, since that is handled by the church and not by SW.

My only real complaint with the site is having the address/phone buried in an image.  It hurts your SEO (just a tiny bit, though) and makes it so I can’t copy/paste the info.  What if I want to drop the address into Google Maps and get directions?  I have to re-type it.  All things considered, though, that’s a very small issue compared to most church sites.

You can visit SW’s examples page to see a few more sites that they’ve built.  If you’re looking to get your church website redesigned, you should check them out.  Their prices are very reasonable and they seem to do a very good job.

If you have any questions, please view their FAQ or just fill out their contact form.

Update: Grace Fellowship Church is no longer using their design, so it’s a bad example.  To see a current example of their work, please visit overflowinglifechristiancenter.com.

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Tagged as: hosting, salted websites, web design

  • Church Webmaster

    I was interested in Salted Designs so had a look at there site and prices. I’m not saying they are really bad or anything but they have a high opinion of themselves compared to others. I looked at their comparison table and it said things like with other services you won’t be able to edit your text easily or you’ll need software and expertise. It isn’t really true as there are many many established providers out there doing a great job with content management systems that allow easy editing and that can supply custom templates check out http://www.churchplantmedia.com/ (if you’ve got a big budget) or for a comprehensive service for less money then http://www.church123.com is worth checking out (20 page site with Salted Websites is $950 whereas church123 would be $370 for unlimited pages).

    I looked at the code on some of Salted Websites and they are using Tables. I’m not claiming to be an expert here but as a church webmaster aren’t we meant not to use tables for accessibility reasons?

    Anyway just hoping that the payment you recieved for the advert wasn’t giving you rose colored glasses.

    PS. I’ve not tried a website with SW so maybe their service is excellent it just seemed you were pushing it a bit and I couldn’t see where they deserved it over so many of the others our there.

  • http://www.churchwebsitehelp.com Mickey

    I agree that they might be overstating it to say that you can’t edit your text with other platforms, but I also think they do a bit more custom template work, rather than just a “template-with-a-new-header” like a lot of places do.

    I’m mixed when it comes to tables. While I certainly agree in principle that it should be pure CSS, I see many large CSS-driven sites (CNN, ESPN) have various issues with overlapping and alignment a LOT. This is probably due to the oft-changing content. When you’re talking about content that you don’t have directly control over, tables make it a lot easier to control.

    I’m not trying to say they’re the only option out there, but I felt their offerings were more than solid enough to recommend them as someone to look at.

  • Anonymous

    I had a look at the sample site for Salted, http://www.gfow.org. It was kinda limited. Was I the only one to get a scroll bar inside the content of the homepage (IE7 browser)?
    Thanks for the tip about http://www.church123.com I’m going to try their trial (let you know how that goes). If anyone else has used church123 how did it go? Also thanks for all the great content on your site. It’s a blessing.

  • Anonymous

    Forgot I said I’d come back and say how the trial was. There were a good range of templates (some were a bit bland but there were a number of excellent options for my church) and the editor couldn’t have been easier to use. Every time I asked a question of the helpdesk they responded quickly and with useful information. Overall we’ve been very impressed and would certainly recommend church123 to others. Our budget constrains prevented us from trying out the $500+ per annum providers but I’m not sure why I’d want to as I’ve got all I needed for less.

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