Cheryl recently contacted me and asked me to take a look at her site.

Alamo UMC – www.gbgm-umc.org/Alamo

I’m not a big fan of the gbgm-umc sites.  While I certainly appreciate what they do (free web space for churches — it’s a great ministry), most churches should no longer be on there.  Many have a hard time staying under the 10MB limit, and you also have to deal with the horrible site URL.  Imagine telling someone your URL in person:

It’s g-b-g-m-dash-u-m-c-dot-org-slash-alamo.  No, no, g-b-G-m. Right. No, that’s a dash, not a slash. No, that one is a slash. Ugh. Got it?

Cost used to be a major factor, but those days are over. You can get hosting from HostGator for $4.95 a month, and domain costs $10 year.  All told, that’s less than $6/month.  Your church can’t afford that?  Really?

Anyhow, as part of the review I brought up a few previous posts:

• Better page titles
• Your church isn’t made of bricks.

On to the review. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Church Website Review: Alamo UMC is a post from: MickMel

Bob contacted me and asked me to take a look at a few church sites that he’s built.

Centenary UMC — www.centenarylex.com
Roberts Chapel UMC — www.robertschapelumc.org

Centenary is a fairly large church, while Roberts Chapel is quite a bit smaller.  I’ve combined them into a single review, which is posted below.

Toward the beginning, I mention a few items that you can learn more about: Canonicalization and better page titles.  Check out those links and then watch the full review below.

Church Website Review: Centenary UMC and Roberts Chapel UMC is a post from: MickMel

I didn’t plan on doing this many reviews this week, but I found another site that I thought would be good to look at (and another one coming soon as well)

Magnolia Creek Baptist Church — www.magnoliacreek.org

I found this one via Twitter yesterday when their worship leader, Jud Kossum, tweeted about it.

Before we get to the video, a few quick reference links that you’ll notice I mention during the review:

• Good page titles
• Facebook Profiles vs. Pages vs. Groups

With that said, on to the review.  As always, leave your thoughts and questions in the comments section below.

Church Website Review: Magnolia Creek Baptist Church is a post from: MickMel

I saw a tweet from PLAYCreative today that simply said:

We just launched a website for a our client Journey Church from Peoria AZ! Check it out www.lifeisajourney.org

So naturally, I took a look.  I look at quite a few new church sites each day, but this one was quite impressive.  It was apparent that it was well thought out, and I felt it was worth sharing with all of you.

Journey Church – www.lifeisajourney.org

Like many sites, I thought their page titles were pretty weak.  Beyond that, though, it was a great site!  Watch the review below, and feel free to leave additional comments.

Church Website Review: Journey Church is a post from: MickMel

Today’s review is one I found on my own.  They didn’t ask for me to review it, but the company that designed it tweeted about the new site, so I checked it out.  It’s a good site on first glance, but seemed to have quite a list of minor problems.  It seemed like a good one to use to highlight some of the issues that many church sites face, in the hopes that it’ll help you to fix yours.

Parkside Bible Church – www.parksidebible.org

Here’s a bit more info about a few things I mention in the video:

• Good page titles
• Proper canonicalization
• Why I don’t put my links in your footer, and you shouldn’t allow others to either.

As always, please leave comments if you have additional comments or questions about this review.

Church Website Review: Parkside Bible Church is a post from: MickMel

Today’s review comes via a Twitter request from Phil: Parkside Christian Fellowship – www.parksidechristianfellowship.co.uk

It’s got some issues with Flash, but overall it’s a pretty solid site.  Check out the video and share any other thoughts you might have in the comments section below.

Church Website Review: Parkside Christian Fellowship is a post from: MickMel

Another quick review for you to check out: Calvary First – Stockton, CA – http://www.calvaryfirst.net/

As always, please contact me if you’d like for me to review your site.  I do them completely free of charge, in the interest of helping everyone to build more effective sites.

Please leave comments below if you have other suggestions for the site, or questions about anything that I say in the video.

Church Website Review: Calvary First – Stockton, CA is a post from: MickMel

Here’s the last review I’ve got for now: San Jose CRC – http://www.sjcrc.org/

If you’d like for me to take a look at your site, just contact me and I’ll be happy to help.

Check out the review below, and leave a comment if you have any other suggestions for them.

Church Website Review: San Jose Christian Reformed Church is a post from: MickMel

Here’s our next review: Mt. Zion UMC, Grandy – http://www.mtziongrandy.org/

I again referenced my “page titles” post, which you can find here. Now the review:

Any other ideas for them?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Church Website Review: Mt. Zion UMC, Grandy is a post from: MickMel

One more quick review for tonight: Stratton UMC – http://www.gbgm-umc.org/stratton/

It’s just a one-page site, but there are a few things they can correct as they begin to move forward.

Church Website Review: Stratton UMC is a post from: MickMel