As a church, it's important to have a website that not only serves the needs of members who are already familiar with the church but also focuses on the needs of first-time guests. As a matter of fact, the majority of traffic to your church’s website is from people who do not regularly attend your church. A website that is tailored to the needs of first-time guests can help to make them feel seen and heard, welcomed and informed. This can ultimately lead to an increase in first-time guests.

Your church website is your new front door

One of the key reasons a church should focus primarily on the first-time guest experience on its website is that it can serve as a virtual "front door" for your church. Many people today rely on the internet to research and find information about local churches, and a website that is user-friendly, informative, and invites people into a story they can see themselves in can help to make a positive first impression, build trust, and turn more online visitors into first-time guests. 

One way you can do this is to keep the important information front and center. Don’t make people hunt around for the information they need in order to make a decision about visiting your church. This is especially important for churches that are located in areas with a high concentration of churches. Keep your service times and location information at the top and bottom of every single page of your website.

At the end of the day, your church isn’t for everyone. So don’t try to be all things to all people. You’ll certainly fail in some areas. However, someone should gain a clear understanding of how attending your church can better their lives. So, your goal in building an effective church website is to remove any potential roadblocks someone might encounter along the way.

Not sure how to create helpful resources for your congregation and collect email addresses? Check out our friends at Front Door!

Create a helpful church website

A church website that is focused on the needs of first-time guests should also help to provide important information about the church's services, ministries, and relevant events. It can help to answer questions that first-time guests may have about what to expect when they visit the church and can help to make the transition from a virtual experience to an in-person one as smooth as possible.

One way for your church’s website to be seen as helpful is to make the content less about you and more about your online visitor. How do you do this? Here’s an example. Instead of putting up an announcement about the upcoming women’s conference complete with dates, times, and the speaker lineup, try this…

"As a mother of 4 kids who homeschool 3 of them, the last thing I wanted to do last year around this time was to go to our women’s conference… I’m already so busy, I would think to myself… Wow. I do not regret making the sacrifice and effort to attend every session and service. I left feeling like I could take on the world! It’s amazing what some intentional time in God’s presence will do for your outlook on life!.”

Now, wouldn’t hearing a story like that make you want to attend the women’s conference more than just hearing about the speaker, the meals, the dates, and the times?  People connect with stories, not details.

Don't use insider lingo

Another way your church website can be helpful is to avoid insider lingo at all costs! Unless your church is a marketing powerhouse, the use of acronyms for ministries like I.H.O.P or MOPS makes zero sense to the person looking in from the outside. Your church website should be written at the level of a 5th grader.

Your church website should be written at the level of a 5th grader.

If you have to explain it, rephrase it so you don’t. Also, the use of overly “churchy” words might be best suited for a Sunday morning sermon as opposed to a church website. If your audience is that of a churched background, then be my guest. However, as I mentioned above, the majority of people visiting your church’s website are not connected with any church let alone yours. So let’s keep the “secret code” out of our website copy and speak clearly and concisely.

Build relationships and trust

One last reason we think a church should focus on the first-time guest experience on its website is that it can help to build relationships with potential first-time guests before you ever meet them in person. By providing engaging and informative content on your website, your church can begin to establish a connection with first-time guests, be seen as someone with answers, and provide them with the necessary information they need to make the decision to visit in person. This can help to foster a sense of community and belonging, which can ultimately lead to an increase in the chance of them attending your church in person.

Not loving your current website builder?

Not all website builders are created equally... In a recent survey, we discovered that the majority of churches use WordPress as their website CMS... WordPress can be GREAT if you know how to use it. It's capable of almost anything, but can be very confusing for the average church to start using.

And most church-specific website builders lock you into a very specific layout or template.

That's why we love Churchly. Churchly lets you start with a fully designed website template, but they don't leave you there. You have 100% control over layout, colors, fonts, and content positioning, you name it you can do it with Churchly. 

Churchly doesn't stop at just giving you a fully responsive church website, but they also offer multi-step landing pages you can use for marketing all sorts of church activities that require a specific action. They even provide the ability to create automated email sequences and the ability to send blast emails to your entire congregation, or segments of your congregation.

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Let’s wrap this up. Having an incredible website that focuses on the first-time guest experience is essential for any church. You have less than half of a second to make a first impression, and if your website doesn’t answer the questions an online visitor has in just three seconds, then they’re moving on. 

By providing a beautiful, user-friendly, informative, and engaging website, churches can make a great first impression on website visitors, and the longer someone stays on your site they’ll find important information about your services, programs, and events, and begin to build a connection and trust with your church. All of this can ultimately lead to increased church attendance and engagement.