A church website is a pretty big responsibility. Thankfully, it’s not impossible to keep up with the responsibility. It just requires a clear head about a few things. Here, we’ve collected a list of NINE things that your church website should absolutely have. After several years of making church websites.

Here is what your church website should have:

A DESIGN THAT REFLECTS “PEOPLE”, NOT BUILDINGS. People are searching for others whom they can relate to in order to establish a relationship. Buildings represent “institution”, not one on one fellowship.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CALENDAR OF EVENTS. The page that gets the most visits on any church site is the events page. Surveys on many church websites have revealed as high as 60% of visitors are looking for information about what, where, and when. A website can be a cost saving advertisement medium.

A WAY FOR PEOPLE TO FIND OUT HOW TO GET INVOLVED. This is for someone who is new to your church and really wants to get plugged in. All churches need volunteers, but most do not have an easy way for someone to learn about the need, or how and who to contact to get involved.

A WAY FOR USERS TO REGISTER ONLINE. Whether it’s just registering for a newsletter, registering for events, or having an entire section of your site for registered users, you need to get people to tell you who they are. A good website program will have this option as a standard.

A WAY FOR USERS TO CONTACT YOU FROM THE WEBSITE. A simple email link will not do. You need to provide as much contact information as possible, including address, phone, email address, and an online form so site visitors can submit an email directly from the website. Directions, service times, and office schedule. It’s easy to provide a link from Map quest, but much more

A WELL KEPT “RESOURCE DOWNLOAD” AREA. Whether it’s a download area for bulletins, sermon notes, or audio and video downloads, you need something to keep people coming back. Think “Web Ministry”!

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