While it’s not quite time to pack up your beach chair and put away your sunscreen, it is time to start preparing your website for the High Holidays. Without question, your website will experience the greatest amount of traffic during this key period. Both prospective and current supporters are frequently stopping by to learn about services, renew their membership, or get a sense of how they can observe the High Holy Days at your shul.
Here’s what you need to do to prepare:
1. Tune Up Your Website
Ensuring that your site is in tip-top shape is a must. Pay special attention to the visual appearance of your website and, in particular, zoom in on images. Blurry images have got to go. If those adorable and smiley preschoolers featured on your homepage are getting ready to become B’nai Mitzvot, finding some more recent pics is a must. Images are powerful and draw folks in. Strategically placing thoughtful and updated photographs of your community are vital in conveying the energy of your congregation. Also, search for broken links, spelling errors and other typos. Check out our Tune Up guide - it’s a great resource to help get your website ready for show time!
2. 'Decorate' Your Homepage
Year after year, you make plans to adorn the bima with flowers so your sanctuary has a festive feel. Including such celebratory touches on your website is no different.
After all, your website is the virtual door to your community. By prominently displaying attractive High Holiday content on your homepage, you can give visitors a quick and direct jumping off point to learning more.
Remember not to include all High Holy day info on your homepage! Simply add an eye-catching image, a few lines of text and then link to a more comprehensive High Holiday section within your website (like Beth Jacob Synagogue), which brings us to tip #3.
3. Create a designated High Holiday Section
Your goal should be for your website to serve as a hub for all-things-High-Holiday. Include info on service times, tickets, volunteering, babysitting, and more. Make it easier for your members to participate by creating online forms.
Looking to see how it's done? Visit Congregation Beth Emeth to see how they give their members everything they need to celebrate the High Holy Days.
4. Add Your High Holiday Guide
Share quality resources with your members by adding the Jvillage High Holiday guide to your website. From recipes to crafts to kid-friendly activities, our resources are carefully curated to provide your community with even more ways to deepen their observance of the Days of Awe. Always free for all Jvillage clients.
5. Include Information for Non-Members
It's not only members who are heading to your website during the period leading up to the High Holidays. Are non-members welcome to attend services? Can they purchase tickets? Make the answers to these questions simple for readers to discover.
If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, be sure to include details on how non-members can participate. Don't miss a great opportunity to link to how non-members can join your community.
6. Create a High Holiday Video
One exciting trend that we've been seeing are the creation of videos celebrating the High Holidays. These uplifting videos can be easily shared on social media and are a great way to get your members ready. Check out how Beth El Temple effortlessly incorporates a dynamic video into their High Holiday section.
Final Thoughts
By preparing your website for the High Holidays, you are supporting the needs of your members and showcasing your community to prospective members. An all around win!
Dreaming of a new website for 5778, learn how Jvillage can help.
As the client relationship manager at Jvillage, Jen Lieberman is committed to helping synagogues grow and thrive in our increasingly online world. 
