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Your church’s website is the new front door.
In an unofficial survey, Dr. Thom Rainer discovered that between 75–90% of the people in your area would visit your website before they visit your physical location. Not only are the people in your community looking at your site, but they are also reviewing many other church websites in your area.
What does all of this mean?
Simple.
Most of the people in your community will visit your church’s website before they consider stepping a foot on your physical location.
At this point, many church leaders will pause to consider whether or not their website is leading people to or away from your physical location.
If this is you, then you might need to redesign your website. To help you strategically think through this decision, here are four questions you need to ask.
#1. Is your website a closed door?
The primary goal of your church’s website is to lead people to your physical location.
Your website is an extension of your church, which means it needs to lead your website visitors to visit one of your church’s entry points.
To help visitors connect with your church, make sure you are answering their questions, such as:
* Where is your church located?
* How do I get to your church?
* What time are your services?
* Where should I park?
* Do you provide childcare?
* What should I expect?
These questions tend to be the most asked by potential visitors. At a minimum, your church’s website should provide these answers. If then, then it is time to update your website or redesign it.
#2. Is your website mobile-friendly?
Does your site work well on a phone, tablet, laptop, and desktop?
The first step you need to take is to use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to review your website, which is FREE.
If you’re not sure about this answer, then ask several people to view your site on different devices and respond to these questions:
* Can you easily navigate our website on your phone or tablet?
* Can you easily read our site’s text?
* Do the images display correctly from device-to-device?
If your church’s website is NOT mobile-friendly, then you MUST redesign your site. If you don’t, then you are slamming the door of many potential visitors.
#3. Is your website helpful… for everyone?
Your website is primarily for your church members and potential visitors.
Thankfully, you don’t have to guess what these different groups are looking for. According to research conducted by Grey Matters, there are standard pieces of information they are looking for, such as:
* Your church’s activities
* Your church’s beliefs
* Sermons
* Staff information
* Contact information
If you are not providing this information of if this information is difficult to find, then you will need to consider redesigning your website.
#4. Does your website reflect your church?
When was the last time you updated your church’s website?
Has your church’s logo, pastors or staff, or location changed? Are there other significant changes your church has gone through since your site was last updated? If so, then you may need to consider redesigning your website to ensure it accurately reflects the current state of your church.
What question would you add to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
