4+ Temple Websites Theme and Templates
It is hard to imagine that places of worship, like the temple, can merge with technology. To most, temples are low-tech structures that serve as a place to practice religion. A lot of people think that religion and technology cannot and should not mix. That thinking would be false. Religion is run by the people. People create and consume technology. It should be no surprise that religion or religious people can use technology too, and they should. Nobody should be barred from using technology. Afterall, it is by mankind for the benefit of mankind.
One way for temples to utilize technology is through websites. At the end of the day, temples, or the person practicing worship inside them, is still an organization. Different organizations make use of websites as a tool for recruiting new members and disseminating news and other information to its members. These are things that a temple can use websites for.
Hinduism Responsive Website Template
Who should be the target audience of your temple website?
Temple, church, and mosque websites are the same that they are all kinds of religious websites. These websites don’t usually get much traffic and therefore they must refine their focus to make the best of their home page on the Internet. There are two main audiences for religious websites and it should be the website’s main purpose to serve these two groups of people the information that they need. A temple website should expect these two groups of people which are:
- People who already attend the temple – The people who are already attending the temple is the first and frequent visitor of your website. It is usually very easy to identify what these people need. Most of the time, they want to look at schedules and events that the temple has planned for the week, month, year, or beyond. Furthermore, these people can also visit your temple website for reasons like researching prayers or finding out news in the community. A temple’s website should provide relevant information that these group of people needs without alienating the second group of people.
- People who may come want to join your temple –The second group of people who may visit your temple website are those that may be looking to join your community. The temple should consider these group of audience as the most informant visitors to the website. More often than not, these people are looking for information pertaining to your religion. You would want to welcome them with open arms and provide them with the relevant information they need. Some of this information could include the philosophy or belief of the religion, the common practice, how the temple worships, and the common activities that the organization does. These people can potentially help the temple grow and it would not be wise if they are ignored.
Peace – Church / Muslims / Temple HTML Template
Content on Your Temple Website
Religious websites, temple websites included, do not have too much traffic. Their audience is pretty limited and, as mentioned above, it is for the best interest of a temple website to focus on these audiences and cater their content to their needs. Here are some must-have contents that temple website should have. Note that there a lot more content that your church website can have aside from the ones listed below:
- Location – People usually want to attend a temple nearby. This information may not be that useful to existing member but they are extremely useful to potential converts and people who are new to the place. Take as many measures as necessary to provide this information to your audience and make it easy for them to find your temple’s full address in a few seconds. You can show your address on every page (unobtrusively) through footers and headers. You can show your full address on your website’s home and landing pages. You can even create a special page in your website that includes this information along with a map and directions then link that said page from your menu and homepage.
- Service Times – It would be a great tragedy if a potential temple-goer visits your temple and they find it empty or closed. That is what would happen if you do not include service times in your temple website. If a potential visitor cannot find a schedule of your temple’s service times, you risk them not showing up (or they might, if they are the loner types). Try to create a special page somewhere on your website to carry this information and link from your menu or homepage. If your temple has regular operating hours, you can also put them prominently beside the temple’s full address.
- About Us or About – Potential temple converts and visitors usually want to gather as much information as they can before even setting foot in your temple. This page on your website can be the place to give them an idea of what your temple is like and how it operates. Basically, this page will carry an introduction to your church (besides the homepage). Some information you can put in the introduction is your location, your purpose, a brief history of the temple and its foundation. You can even include photos on this page to show the daily life of the temple. It is also a good idea to include your denomination if you have any on this page.
- Expectations – Another important information that your temple website should have are the expectations of what the activities of the temple are. This page can include answers to questions like:
- What the worship and service are like?
- How long are they?
- What is the style of worship?
- Is there any dress code?
- Is childcare available?
Answering these questions in your website can make potential temple goers comfortable enough for theri first temple visit. If you have the resources, you can include a short welcome video for a more dynamic look
- What your temple believes – Unlike mosques, the word temple is not exclusive to a single religion. It is important to specify in your website as to what your faith is. At least for the sake of avoiding confusion.
- Leader profiles – Like all organizations, temples too have leaders. These people are usually the one taking care or administrating the organization. It is a good idea to include a page on your website dedicated to these people to give your audience an idea of who these people are and what are they like. This information can also give them comfort whenever they come to their first visit.
- Events – This should be a no-brainer. Web sites can be accessed almost anywhere at any time provided that there is an Internet connection. It would be a shame to not make use of this characteristics. An events page in your temple’s website can be very useful to your existing temple goers who have no more time to look at bulletins. Having this information in hand can also help them organize their schedule to fit in between work, rest, and worship.
- Contact Information – Make sure that it is easy for your site visitors to contact you, no matter if they are existing or potential temple members. All of this information should be readily available in your website’s pages or even in your site’s header or footer. Some contact information you can include are:
- Full address
- Phone number
- Email address or contact form
- Individual staff contacts
Hindu Temple Website Template
Hinduism Responsive Joomla Template
Hinduism Responsive WordPress Theme
Conclusion
Religion is one of those subjects that you should never ever bring in front of the dinner table. In fact, it should never go near to any dinner table. That does not mean however that we should avoid talking about it. Far from it, we should talk about religion. It has been and still is an important facet of our human existence. Being able to create a website that can direct people to a place where they can talk about religion and practice their faith is a great idea and to help you implement that idea, feel free to use these website templates that are provided on the page.