The 7 Deadly Sins of Website Design (And How to Avoid Them)
Forgive me, Father, for I have designed... a website that still has "Coming Soon" from 2019.
Running a nonprofit or church website is hard enough without accidentally committing design cardinal sins. But between juggling service schedules, volunteer sign-ups, and donation appeals, it's easy to let a few bad habits slip in.
As someone who builds websites for organizations like yours, I've seen it all. So grab your coffee (or your confession card) and let's take a humorous look at the 7 Deadly Sins of Website Design—and how to absolve yourself.
1. Gluttony of the "Coming Soon" Page
Ah, the dreaded "Coming Soon" page. You're working on a new program, a capital campaign, or a stunning new events page. You're excited. You're proud. So you publish it... with a giant "Coming Soon!" stamp across the middle.
The problem? It sits there. For months. Maybe years. Visitors click on it expecting new information and find... tumbleweeds. It makes your organization look inactive or, worse, disorganized.
The absolution: An experienced designer doesn't hit "publish" until it's ready. Instead, create the page, finish it, then make it live. Or, if you absolutely must tease it, put a clear date ("Launching March 1st") and stick to it. A mysterious "Coming Soon" with no timeline is just digital clutter.
2. The Wall of Text (Wrath of the Reader)
You have a beautiful mission statement. Your pastor wrote a powerful three-page history of the church. Your program director has a heartfelt letter about the food bank. So you paste all of it onto the homepage.
The problem: When visitors see a giant block of text, their eyes glaze over. They don't read it—they run. On mobile, it looks like a never-ending scroll of doom.
The absolution: Break it up. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and headers. Think of your website like a conversation—you wouldn't talk at someone for 20 minutes without letting them breathe. Give them the highlights and let them click "Read More" if they want the full story.
3. Slothful Contact Info
Your "Contact Us" page has a beautiful photo of your building... but no address. Or it has an email address that isn't clickable. Or—and I've seen this one—it lists a phone number that goes to a disconnected line.
The problem: People want to reach you now. If they have to copy and paste your email into their mail app, or type your phone number manually on their phone, you're making them work too hard. And in the nonprofit world, that lost donor or volunteer isn't coming back.
The absolution: Make every phone number a clickable link (tel:1234567890). Make every email clickable (mailto:hello@yourchurch.org). Put your physical address in the footer of every page. Remove the friction.
4. Prideful Auto-Playing Music
Ah, the early 2000s called—they want their background music back. You've got a beautiful worship team, so naturally you set their latest song to play automatically when someone lands on your homepage.
The problem: I cannot overstate this—people hate this. It's not 2004. Visitors are browsing at work, in a coffee shop, or next to their sleeping toddler. When your music blares unexpectedly, they panic-smash the volume down and exit your site before you can say "Hallelujah."
The absolution: If you want to share music or a sermon video, embed it as a click-to-play video or audio player. Let your visitors choose when to press play. Trust me—your production team will forgive you.
5. Envy of Your Rival's Calendar (But Forgot to Update Yours)
You posted your Easter egg hunt schedule in March. It's now September. That event is still listed front and center on your homepage, right next to "Fall Festival Coming Soon!" (which also happened last year).
The problem: Outdated events are the #1 way visitors lose trust. If you can't keep your calendar straight, they wonder—are your service times even correct? Is the food bank still open?
The absolution: If you're on Squarespace, take the easy win—past events archive themselves automatically. No manual cleanup. If you're on another platform, set a recurring monthly reminder to archive old events. Better yet, only promote events with specific dates, and remove them the week after they happen.
6. The Greedy Font Size (And Color Contrast)
You found the perfect elegant script font. It's beautiful. It's artistic. It's also completely unreadable on a phone screen. Or maybe you decided on light grey text on a white background because it "looks clean."
The problem: If your visitors have to squint, zoom in, or turn their brightness to max, they're leaving. And if you're serving an older congregation or community members with visual impairments, you're unintentionally excluding them.
The absolution: Stick to simple, clean fonts. Make your body text at least 16px. Use high-contrast color combinations (dark text on a light background). Not sure if your colors pass the test? Try the Accessible Color Palette Generator from Venngage—it checks your color combos against WCAG standards and even suggests safer alternatives. Run your site through a free accessibility checker once a year—it takes five minutes and shows your community you actually care about everyone. AccessibilityChecker.org is a great place to start; it scans your whole site, flags what's wrong, and gives you clear instructions for fixing it.
7. Lust for Flashy Animations
You've seen those fancy websites with graphics flying in from every direction. Text that spins. Images that zoom. Buttons that bounce.
The problem: A little movement is nice. A lot of movement is nausea-inducing. Visitors don't want a theme park ride—they want information. All that extra code also slows your site down, making mobile users wait forever for the homepage to load.
The absolution: Less is more. Use subtle transitions if you must, but prioritize speed and clarity. Your visitor came to find service times or donate—not to watch a CSS light show. Keep it clean, keep it fast, and let your mission be the star of the show.
Final Confession
We've all committed at least one of these sins. I've definitely been guilty of the "Coming Soon" trap more times than I'd like to admit. But the good news? They're all fixable.
Pick one thing from this list and tackle it this week. Remove that old "Coming Soon" page. Make your phone numbers clickable. Delete that auto-play video.
Your visitors—and your future donors, volunteers, and congregation members—will thank you.
Go in peace. And update your copyright year while you're at it.
