As Luthernet gets better and better at figuring out how to design the best Lutheran website-building website, it's a good reminder that you can have the best website in the world if you can identify the appropriate niche. Every time I build a new website for a client, I say I want it to be the best website in the world at something. Sure, I might have to get very specific, like telling Evan that he had the best Milwaukee Bass Player website at EvanPaydon.com. Or at least the best website for any member of his band. Or of any guy on our baseball team.
When I used a component called Community Builder to make user profiles for each ministry at our church that were tied to articles about the ministries, details about the ministries, and also searchable by spiritual gifts. I'd still argue it was the best ministry website ever created (though a bit ahead of its time).
Before Google had Sites or Docs or Google Classroom, I created the best High School English Website on planet earth. I made the best database about sitcoms or characters from novels and the best tutoring/knowledge-sharing website ever conceived.
Whether you decide to build a website yourself or hire Luthernet to do it for you, your goal should be to have the best website in the history of the world when it comes to your chosen niche, even if it's just having the best LCMS website on the west side of town. Maybe just one page of your site, like the best image gallery on the west side of town or the best history page.
Another way to go about it is to create the ONLY page in the niche. For example, I recently created a page on my blog that lists all 1994 graduates from my high school with links to their businesses (if wanted), and it received more hits in a couple of days without any promotion than any other article I've ever written. That means there's a niche upon which I could capitalize. I could have come up with the simple list of names a decade ago, but the point is not to lament the missing out of opportunities to drive traffic to your site. It's to keep trying to drive traffic until it works and you've found that niche.
Just as Luthernet is trying to be the best Christian website design firm anywhere, your church can be the best at something. We can help you identify your niche, but it will often be a surprise. As long as you're ready to run with it, you will probably find a niche along the way. With Luthernet, you can certainly have the best website in the niche.