SIX QUESTIONS EVERY CHURCH WEBSITE MUST ANSWER
What Potential Church Visitors Want To Know
Consider the real-world process of the average person you invite to church. If they are under 45 years old, statistically they will fall back on a quick Google search about your church online for some very basic questions (ref1).
The information suggested below is the absolute minimum that your online presence should answer.
All of the basic info can be accomplished on a single page of your website and possibly even with your online search listings like Google, Yelp, or Facebook.
What your potential visitors and invitees want to know.
- What time are services?
- Where is the church, how do I get there?
- How do I dress?
- What do I do with my kids?
- What is “church” like?
- What does the “church” believe?
These are just a few of the many questions the average person may ask themselves if they have just been invited to church by a friend, coworker, or even family member.
How do we know? Because we would ask the exact same questions for almost any other type of invitation?
If you were invited to a party, event, or dinner out by the same person you invited to church, you may ask...
- When is the party, [or game, or dinner]?
- Where is the party, [or game, or dinner], how do I get there?
- What should I wear?
- Is it kid-friendly, what do I do with my kids?
- What is the party for/about [or dinner, or who is playing the game]?
- Who else will be at this party [or game, or dinner]?
Keep in mind that this is the starting point we discussed in the article “Your Church’s Website Has One Job”. You can find it here. However, we would like your church website to also have some more info for potential visitors. Here are some other great ways to connect with visitors while answering their questions;
- Online giving options.
- A quick 30-second to one-minute welcome video from the pastor (shot on any smartphone with good light and a simple distraction-free background).
- Explanation of each of your ministries (youth, student, divorce care, cell groups, recovery groups, etc…).
If you have this nailed down then you may be ready to add content to your church's website to empower members. You can find an article about it here.
Reference:
Ref1. Internet users between 18 and 44 years old are the most likely to use Google to search the web.
Users 45–64 years are more likely to prefer Bing—especially the 55–64 age group—while Yahoo! has more popularity among those 65+. Users aged between 25 and 34 are least likely to give Bing a try, while Google trends by age show that users aged 65+ are the least fond of Google.
Data taken from 99Firms Google Search Statistics (item number 21) found here: https://99firms.com/blog/google-search-statistics/#gref