Okay, for those of you who saw this post and reacted, "Are we STILL trying to figure this out?" I hear you. But I request that you tuck your smugness away for just a moment and remember that there is never a bad time to evaluate your website. And at the same time, yes, we are still talking about this, and sometimes I am still taken aback by the state of many churches' website presence.
But before we begin, let's begin with the prayer from the introduction of the 2012 no-award-winning, now-out-of-print eBook, The Definitive-ish Guide for Using Social Media in the Church (Shookfoil Books). For those who remember when this came out, it was 14 friggin' years ago.
Lord's Prayer 2.0
Let us pray –
Our Tweeter,
which art on the Interwebs
retweeted be thy post.
Thy followers come, thy links be done,
on Instagram as they are on Pinterest.
Give us this day our daily tweet and
forgive us our spam as
we forgive those who forward spam to us.
Lead us not into oversharing,
but deliver us from phishers.
For thine is the homepage
and the sticky site
and the blog post.
For 140 characters.
– Amen.
Okay, now that we have taken care of the cringey part of the show, let's talk about church websites.
Over the years, as I work with congregations on a variety of topics, one consistent question is, "How do we attract young families?" That question is often followed by some version of, "How do we use technology to attract young families?" The question of attracting and connecting with young families requires its own post, but let me say that I am adamant that starting with tactical questions doom churches to ongoing grief, frustration, and desperation. That said, because websites are the primary way folks will find, learn about, and verify information about a congregation, one area of technology that should be addressed right away is the website.
But Bruce, all the kool kidz are on the TikToks. Hate to harsh most of your mellows, but save a very few who have organically tapped into a particular demographic, pursuing the TikToks of the world is a fool's errand. I know we would like to believe that building a robust social media presence is where churches should focus their energy, but the reality is that most congregations lack the capacity, commitment, or expertise to create, populate, and maintain one.
What every church has the capacity to have, however, is an effective website. I sometimes get asked to do a quick assessment of a church's website, which mostly involves slapping on my church-shopping glasses followed by a conversation with church leadership. As I assess a website's effectiveness, I view it through the following 10 lenses. I ask these questions and posit these opinions based on 20+ years of conversations about digital ministry and church growth, my family's personal church-shopping experience, and far too many episodes of frustration with church websites.
These questions are offered in a loose order of importance and are nowhere near exhaustive. Each of these questions is worthy of a dedicated post, but instead I am going with trenchant and conversation-instigating. Here we go...
1) Who is it for: inquiring visitors or current participants?
I start here because the answer to this will determine most of what comes next. And yes, I believe that there is a right answer: 99.9% of church websites should be centered on inquiring visitors.
I understand the urge to believe that current participants and members are diligent and disciplined about visiting the church website, but in my observations, this is not the case. They may visit it on occasion to check on event logistics, but for very little else. Poll your folks to find out, and after they let you know how little they visit the site, proceed to centering your website on inquiring visitors.
Now, some of you may be part of the .01% of churches that have the capacity, expertise, and a compelling reason to encourage members to use the website. That is great, but you can still center the overall website experience on new people by including a discreet "MEMBERS" button that leads to password-protected content. Before investing a ton of energy in a members-only portal, be realistic about how likely members are to use it.
Most church website traffic will come from people looking for a church to visit, trying to find its location, or verifying what others have said about the church. By clearly understanding who will be viewing it, energy and resources can be directed more effectively. It is with the understanding that most websites should center on inquiring visitors that I offer and respond to the rest of these questions.
