Before you build your church website, there are a number of things to consider and implement once the process begins.
Set goals for the website. Make sure you have a sense of what you want to accomplish.
Choose a website platform based on who is on your team and what they are comfortable with to keep up to date. A church website platform should help you achieve your immediate goals, then scale up to meet your growing needs.
**Determine tasks to be done. **Treat the website like an employee that needs to carry out specific tasks.
Develop user personas to determine what people need to do on the site. The personas give you objectives to accomplish.
**Provide information clearly and easily. **Be sure to build the site in a way the user will find helpful. People want communication from the church that reaches where they are.
Answer the questions users will have. Make sure the website clearly shows service times and contact information.
It is also important to keep the content updated and relevant.
**Tell people who the church is. **A good church site relates to future guests and introduces them to your church.
Write real content that users will find interesting. Quality content is the key to an effective website.
Keep content updated with pertinent information about what is naturally happening. Post recaps of ministries; for instance, share what the kids are learning each week.
Overall, the website should be a real, authentic expression of what God is doing.
**Use the power of social media. **Social media should speak to the personas you identified.
Speak about the life of your church. Social media platforms are powerful ways to communicate with those inside and outside your church and can always lead back to your website.
Altogether, your website can be an incredible tool to reach people where they are. There are many opportunities to explore and get to know your users and communicate better with them.
What are some ways we can start conversations that can continue offline?