Home / Services / Website redesign
Church website redesign that keeps what already works
Church Pillar rebuilds church websites that have become slow, hard to read on a phone or impossible to update. Your web address, your sermons and your place on Google come with you. What changes is how the site works for a newcomer and for the volunteers who run it.
- Same web address
- Every old link redirected
- No upfront cost on Church Pillar Care
- Rebuilt for phones first
www.yourchurch.org
BeforeAfter
Does your church website need a redesign?
Not always. If the site works on a phone and your team can edit it, regular care and a few new pages may be enough. A redesign makes sense when the problems are structural: a theme nobody updates, a site nobody can log in to, or pages that newcomers cannot use on a phone.
Tick each statement that is true of your website today. The panel tells you what we would probably suggest.
Will a redesign lose our place on Google?
It should not, if every old address is redirected. Google recommends a permanent (301 or 308) redirect from each old page to its new one, kept for at least a year. It also warns that rankings can move for a few weeks while it reads the new pages.
A redirect map stops pages from simply disappearing, such as an old sermon page someone shared or a "Find us" page that Google Maps linked to. Before we build anything, we list every page on your current site and decide where each one will go.
Since July 2024, Google has indexed sites using their mobile version, so a site that is hard to use on a phone is judged on that version. The new design is built for phones first.
Sources: Google Search Central, Site moves with URL changes; Mobile-first indexing, June 2024.
Example redirect map
- /index.php?page=12/sundays/waiting
- /sunday_services.html/sundays/waiting
- /newsletter/latest.pdf/news/waiting
- /sermons/2019/easter-day/sermons/easter-2019/waiting
- /how-to-find-us/visit/waiting
Every row is a page from the old site. After launch, we watch Google Search Console for addresses we missed for [X weeks].
What we keep and what we rebuild
A redesign starts from what your church already has. Most of it is worth keeping.
What stays
The things people already use to find you.
- Your web addressThe same domain, still in your church's name.
- Your church emailWe copy the email settings across before the switch, so email keeps working.
- Pages and sermons worth keepingMoved across, with old addresses redirected.
- Your voiceYour name for things, your tradition, your way of welcoming people.
What we rebuild
The parts that stop newcomers and volunteers.
- The layout, for phones firstService times, address and a "New here?" page where a visitor looks first.
- The menuArranged around what people ask, with fewer items.
- The editingOn WordPress sites, the standard block editor and logins for your team.
- Speed and accessLightweight pages, built to WCAG 2.2 AA, the W3C accessibility standard.
Moving from WordPress, Wix or Squarespace
We redesign church websites built on any platform. How much moves across by itself depends on where the site is now.
Moves across in full
An older WordPress site
Pages, posts, sermons and media can be moved across together, so the work goes into the design and the words.
Partly by hand
Squarespace
Squarespace exports some page types and one blog, without the design. Other pages, events and galleries are copied across by hand.
By hand
Wix
Wix sites run only on Wix's servers and cannot be exported. We copy the content you want to keep page by page, and you approve it.
Sources: Squarespace Help, Exporting your site; Wix Help, Exporting or embedding your site elsewhere.
"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."
Nehemiah 4:6 (NIV)
Nehemiah 3 lists who repaired each gate and each stretch of the wall. A redesign starts the same way: a list of every page, what happens to it and who in your church will look after it.
How a church website redesign works
On Church Pillar Care, nothing is charged until the new site goes live.
- A look at your current siteWe list every page and its address, and check what Google shows for your church before the first call.
- A written plan and priceWhat stays, what merges, what goes, and where each old address will point.
- Words and photosWe tidy the pages you keep and write the ones that are missing. Your team approves each one.
- Built where only you can see itThe new site is built on a private copy, while your current site stays live.
- The switchOn a day agreed with you, the redirects and email settings go in and the new site goes live.
- After launchWe watch for broken links in Google Search Console, then move on to monthly care.
Typical timeline: [X to Y weeks] from the written plan to launch, depending on the size of the current site.
How much does a church website redesign cost?
A redesign is priced like a new website. On Church Pillar Care, there is no upfront cost: £25 a month from the day the new site goes live, with a 12-month minimum term. An independent site on your own hosting starts from £1,000, with the final price agreed in a written quote.
Most churches choose this
Church Pillar Care
£25 a month
No upfront cost. Paid monthly in advance from launch. 12-month minimum term. Hosting, updates and backups included.
For churches with their own hosting
Independent site
from £1,000
One-off. Final price by written quote before work starts. Full administrator access.
Questions about redesigning a church website
What churches ask before they change a site people already use.
Will our web address stay the same?
Yes. Your church keeps its domain name, and the new site goes live at the same address. If the domain is registered to a former volunteer or an old supplier, we help you move it into the church's name before the switch, so nothing depends on one person.
Will our church email stop working during a redesign?
It should not. Email runs on settings in your domain called MX records, which are separate from the website. Before the switch we copy those settings across unchanged, so moving the website does not move or interrupt your email.
Can you redesign a Wix or Squarespace site?
Yes. Wix sites cannot be exported, so we copy the content you want to keep by hand. Squarespace exports some pages and one blog, without the design, and we copy the rest. The written plan says which platform the new site will use and why.
Do we have to rewrite all our content?
No. We keep the pages that still do their job, tidy the ones that need it and write the few that are missing, often a "New here?" page and a clear Sunday page. Your team approves every page before the new site goes live.
How long does a church website redesign take?
It depends on how many pages the current site has and how many we keep. A typical redesign takes [X to Y weeks] from the written plan to launch. Your current site stays live the whole time, so visitors see no gap.
Can you fix our current site instead of redesigning it?
Often, yes. If the site works on a phone and your team can edit it, website management may be all you need: updates, backups and small changes each month. We will tell you which we recommend after looking at the site.
Send us your current website address
We will look at it before the call and tell you plainly whether it needs a redesign, some repairs or only regular care.