Last week I interviewed Jeff from Igniter Media. This week I’m sharing an interview I conducted with Tommy Bailey from Collision Media. Collision Media helps churches with web design, print design, videos, photos and other church media.
Communicate Jesus: Can you give a brief overview of what Collision Media is, and how it started?
Tommy: Collision Media is a full service media company. We do everything from web and print design to photography and videography. Collision Media started when my wife, Emily, and I got married and we wanted to streamline our two independent businesses. Emily has been an upscale photographer in our area for about 5 years and I have been doing web, print and video for about 5 years and so we combined, or “collided”, the two into Collision Media. And let me tell you, it was a “Beautiful Collision” (thanks, David Crowder).
CJ: Is there a specific project Collision Media has worked on that you are particularly proud of? Why?.
Tommy: Probably our most exciting advertising we have done so far is the Battle Against Ugly Church Websites. Basically, Collision Media and Tony Morgan have gone in together to award a custom designed website to the ugliest, but most deserving church that applies. We will select based on the church’s work within their community and abroad as well as the ugliness of their website. We are really looking forward to helping a great church out who might not have been able to afford a new site.
CJ: What are some common problems you have seen with church websites and design?
Tommy: One of the main things we notice with church websites is lack of consistency. First, they don’t update it often enough. It’s not current or relevant information. Second, because there are so many people adding and updating the site, they have a hard time maintaining a consistent look.
CJ: Often the people who make the decisions about how money is spent in a church, arenʼt the ones who value websites and graphic design. What have you learnt about how to convince these people of the value of good websites and good design?
Tommy: Based on our research over 85% of people visiting a church for the first time have looked at that churches website before ever setting foot in their building! Talk about a missed opportunity in most cases! If our job as the Church is to get the most important message out, shouldn’t we do everything in our power to put out best foot forward to the seeking, even on the web?
CJ: What are the challenges to design and development that are specific to churches and Christian ministry?
Tommy: I think a lot of times the church is about 5-10 years behind most of pop culture. Why shouldn’t the church lead the world in design and creativity?! We have some of the most talented people on earth in our pews every Sunday.
CJ: What content/features are essential on a church website?
Tommy: We have noticed that the most used features on our sites are our online forms that typically get used for registrations. It’s such a convenient and efficient way to keep track of volunteers and sign ups. Another thing is blogs. When you are updating your blogs regularly it drives more daily traffic to your site and therefore gives you more of a platform to reach out to people.
CJ: How often do you think a church should re-visit their websites and undergo a re-design?
Tommy: I believe it is important to stay up with the trends, but it’s also just as important to have great functionality. Content should be ever changing to keep your traffic up. If people have a reason to go to your site, they will. So keep your basic information up to date. As far as design goes, change create momentum and momentum in the church is a great thing! So, depending on the church I would say, look into a redesign every 1-2 years.
CJ: What makes Collision Media different to the other web design/graphic design companies out there?
Collision Media’s heartbeat is for the local church. The local church has such a huge opportunity to be Christ in every community in the world. And we get that. We want to provide excellent but affordable design that helps get the greatest message out to the world! We don’t want to be priced so high that churches outreach budgets get cut to stay up on great and current design.
