A church website is one of the most important communication tools your church has to reach the community. Why is that? Because more and more people first go to a church’s website to find out more about the church before they ever walk through the door of your building.

Despite its overall importance, a church’s website can often be considered an after thought or lower in priority over other missions of the church. But, if you want to reach as many people in your community for Christ as possible, your church needs to have a fresh and current website. Even beyond communicating the right information, it needs to properly reflect what a Sunday morning experience and your church is about.

So how do you do that? How do you make sure you have the right, most current pieces of information up on your site? Here are a few things you can do.

For starters, you need to make sure your information is up-to-date. This may seem odd to include, but not all church websites have the most accurate, up-to-date information about the church on it. Is your address correct? Are your service times correct? Is the phone number and contact info correct? Do you have current events listed and easy to find? All of these simple pieces of information need to be accurate so a visitor can find them and then, if they choose to come to your church, come at the right time at the right location.

In addition to having all the current information updated, make sure people can visually experience what a Sunday looks like. For instance, have video of what a Sunday morning looks like or one of the latest sermons from the lead or teaching pastor. That way, people can see what a Sunday morning is like at your church. If you live stream your service, have that Web address accessible as well, so that those interested can view an entire service if they’d like.

As you make sure your site has the most accurate information and gives people a sample glimpse of what a Sunday service looks like, it is also important to give them an opportunity to plan their visit. In fact, most churches call it exactly that—a “Plan Your Visit” page. This page features a walk-through of what a first-time visitor may experience when they come to your church. Start with them going through the front door, then highlight where the children ministry is located at your church and basic information on those areas. Also, touch on student ministry and other important and visible ministries at your church. What would also be nice is to include pictures and a short bio of staffers at these key positions so when this person or family comes to visit they will recognize a few faces. And if you are going to have pictures of your staff on this page, please keep it up-to-date. It can be a little difficult looking for someone with an outdated picture.

A church’s website is very important. Because it is usually the first place that a person will look when they are researching your church for the first time. It is critical for you look through your church’s website to make sure the information is accurate and properly reflects what people will experience at your church. Keeping your page current will help make a family’s first impression of your church much better.

Read more on this topic:

https://orangeblogs.org/orangeleaders/2017/02/03/6-must-have-elements-for-every-church-website/