A recent study was done by Grey Matter Research. They took a long look at church Websites and researched people who visit them.
Here’s 3 interesting findings:
- Non-Church People are going to church Websites – 22% of ALL Americans visited a church site in the last half year. Of those who browse regularly online, the number goes up to 28%. About 10% of these represent non-church people.
- There are 3 types of people going to church Websites – Regular Attenders (44% visit their church websites in the last 6 months); Regular Attenders to another church (27% visit someone else’s church website); and Non-church attenders (10% visited a church website in the last 6 months).
- About a third of Regular Attenders don’t ever visit their church’s website (or they don’t have one). Perhaps because they have no reason to.
And what do they look at when they visit a Church website?
- Times of Service (43%)
- Activities Offered (29%)
- Directional Map (28%)
- Streaming Video (26%)
- Doctrinal Beliefs (22%)
- Requesting Prayer (18%)
This is what we’ve been preaching (no pun intended) for a long time. People ACTUALLY want to go to your website. They want to engage and be part of your online congregation. So what should you do?
Here’s 3 Things to Do Now:
- Ensure you have an easy to remember URL address, that has a simple-to-use, engaging website on it.
- Be sure that your information is ALWAYS accurate and current. Make people rely on it like they did/do on your bulletin (worship guide).
- Make sure you have “something” you want to be known for; that is woven through all your content. And make sure you can change your content easily and without assistance.
- Utilize good SEO principles. See this blog for more on that.
We have a very church-friendly process that allows you to do all this and more. Contact us today — we can have a beautiful, functional, engaging, branded website up and running in a few weeks!
