Your commitment to communication in various forms.
Your awareness to reach outside your walls.
Ability to generate discussion and connection.
As body language, grammar, and eye contact are to personal communication, a well-designed website is to digital communication.
“Design isn’t just what it looks and feels like, it’s also how it works.” Steve Jobs
What are the things that should be included in our new website?
Here are Worship Times’ Top 11 things people want in your church’s website:
11. Organized Navigation: too many menu items and dropdowns can be overwhelming. Cull what’s not needed and organize!
10. Text, but not too wordy. Do you want to read pages upon pages of text when you visit a website? Neither do your visitors.
9. Audio/Video of sermons. 50% of visitors to a church website downloaded a sermon (it’s a great preview) 80% of first-time church visitors listened to a sermon online before they attended a particular church.
8. Updated information. Your site isn’t vintage. It’s old. Update it.
7. Coordinating colors. Rainbows and neon green don’t look good. Period.
6. Visitor-centric language – Using churchy language or language that’s unique or insider to your congregation or ministry is exclusive. Be inclusive and include information that’s easy to understand for all visitors and members, alike.
5. PICTURES/images. Of people actually in your church/ministry. A picture of the building is nice, put what goes on there? Sharing the life of your church tells a story. Great pictures can tell it well.
4. How to contact someone. Email a staff person. Fill out a contact form. How they call the church. 60% of visitors to a church website couldn’t find the information they were looking for or even a way to find it out!
3. When Worship Services are! It’s amazing how many church websites we’ve visited that didn’t list their worship times, anywhere.
2. YOUR LOCATION! The two indispensable items guests want on a website are address and times of service. It’s that basic!
#1 – A website. It’s 2016, and many churches still don’t have a website. It’s the new front door. 85% of people who are first time visitors to a church visited the website, first.
What messages need to be included in our church website?
Who are you as a church.
What you offer: for spiritual growth, Christian education, mission and fellowship.
How visitors can benefit from being part of your community.
What you would want to know about the church.
If it doesn’t answer the questions above, get rid of it.
