Webwatch is a column published in the Covenant Companion Magazine every month. It is written by Heidi Griepp, manager of Covenant Internet Services and an avid web wanderer. This month's topic is "How to put out the welcome mat for visitors on the Web."

According to a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project 83 percent of congregations surveyed said they used their website to encourage visitors to attend. It’s a good idea. Some 71 percent of Americans say they use the Web—and one in five of those Web users is looking for spiritual or religious content. On any typical day, more than two million people are seeking spiritual or religious connections online.

If your congregation wants to connect with those two million people, maybe now is the time to spruce up your church’s website and make it a little more visitor friendly.

At the minimum, a church website needs the church address, email, phone number, service times, and directions (which can be posted for free by linking to Google maps).

Now let’s see if your website is visitor friendly. Here are a few things to consider:

How much church/Christian jargon or insider language is used on the site? Using insider language can give the impression that your church is a club only for people in the know. Church members may know what words like glorify, fellowship, ministry, or deacon mean, but outsiders may not. When using “churchy” terms, why not include a link that explains them. Or consider creating a “for visitors” page and then a page for church members.

Is your church’s website edited well? Let’s say I am a new person in your town looking for a church, and I read that your church’s mission is “That all men might know Christ.” Absolutely we want men to know Christ. We also want women to know Christ. Using exclusive language can be an obstacle to newcomers. Most of us know “men” is used as a generic term for “people” or “human beings” in some Bible translations, but that’s a subtlety best discussed in person. A website won’t explain that. If what you mean is, “We want everyone to come to know Jesus,” why not say that? Why give someone a reason to be turned off from visiting your church if you don’t have to? Similarly a website that is unclear or in need of major editing—spelling errors, incorrect information, obtuse language—can turn people away as well. It’s best to have one person write the copy for the website, and have others read and edit it before the text gets posted.

Is the design simple and inviting? When in doubt, go with a plain background and simple, close-up pictures of real people in your church. Scrolling text and too many clip art graphics can be a real distraction. And stay clear of canned, electronic keyboard music—that’s sure to send visitors running. If you want to add some spice, post a YouTube video or podcast from a service or other event.

Does the website communicate the basics? The two things most visitors want to know first are the church’s location/services times and information about the pastor. If visitors can’t find a phone number or address in ten seconds, or have to dig around for information about the church staff, they can become easily frustrated. So take it easy on your visitors and tell them these two key things right away. After that you can wow them with pictures from last Wednesday night’s potluck.
Does the website catch my attention? Does your church have a sculpture of the Bible the size of a car on the front lawn? Great—post a picture of it and it’ll grab a visitor’s attention. Or try having the church staff tell funny things about themselves to put visitors at ease.

Now that your website is visitor friendly, why not take a few minutes to visit some other church sites and look for more ideas. Over the past month, I’ve looked at hundreds of Covenant church websites online. Here are my favorites: all get bonus points for creatively using podcasts, RSS feeds, and other catchy features. I’ve titled this list the “Webwatch 2007 Sticky Awards.” Why? Because all these sites are sticky; that is, they have something that caused me to hang around on their website, rather than giving them a quick look and clicking on.

www.artisanchurch.com
Artisan Church, Rochester, New York: This is my favorite church website. Why? They had the most attention-getting sermon series of all of the hundreds of church websites. I would send a non-Christian friend to this church just based on this website alone. Their July sermon series, complete with provocative images and podcast, was “Naked pastors, the freedom of baring our souls.” I also found the site easy to interact with.

www.sanctuarycovenant.org
The Sanctuary Covenant Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota: This is a well-designed site. The “I’m new” page does a great job of explaining the church in simple, approachable language. And when the site uses words like worship, it links them to other content so you can learn more.

www.newsong.net
Newsong Church, Irvine, California (and other sites): Talk about being focused on visitors: not only does this church’s site have a “First Steps area” for visitors, they also have a First Steps pastor whose sole job is to connect with new people. Newsong is a large church, and not every congregation can devote a staff person to newcomers, but other churches could try a similar approach with volunteers.

www.marincovenant.org
Marin Covenant Church, San Rafael, California: This site has the best staff page I’ve ever seen. It’s an amusing and approachable introduction to the staff.

www.gracecovenantlakewood.org
Grace Covenant Church, Lakewood, Colorado: This site, from a smaller church, has great design and shows an active church. An approachable site for visitors, with no turn offs. 

All Webwatch reviews are for informational and resource purposes only. The Evangelical Covenant Church does not endorse any website, organization, or content. From time to time some of these links will go dead or they will be sold. When we learn about this we will take the link off. If you see a dead link please let us know. All images and content Copyright The Covenant Companion.

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