An effective church website

An important first step is deciding what makes a church website effective. While each church is different, we believe there are five questions on which every church website can be evaluated.

• Does our website meaningfully answer “The Big Three”? The first three questions most potential members ask are: “When is the next service?”, “Where is your church?” and “Will I fit in?”. Your website has to answer those three questions, clearly and in a way that has meaning. That means your address is not enough when you can embed an interactive map.
• Does our website clearly articulate the Gospel? This will be different for every church, however; in a way that is appropriate for the church community and their audience, the website must be about the Good News of the cross and the empty tomb.
• Does our website have a defined audience? Without knowing who the church is trying to communicate to on the web, it is nearly impossible for the website to have a consistent voice and message. That audience will be defined by each church and will certainly change over time, but it should be defined.
• Is our website owned by our staff, volunteers and church members? In the same way the church bulletin has to be seen, understood and accepted by these three groups, each group has to feel like they have ownership over the website.
• Is our website sustainable? Once an effective website is launched it has to be able to maintained with the church’s mix of staff an volunteers. We have seen many websites built with high hopes, but then languish for lack of upkeep. Maintenance considerations should be part of the design process this includes spending time thinking through personnel time and training.