Did you know that 17 million Americans will visit church websites like yours, even though they won’t attend in-person worship services? And before they get to your church website, they have to tap or click through the digital front door—your domain name—the web address where your church is located on the Internet.
In today’s world, your church’s digital presence allows you to reach people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The church website is your home base where people can be engaging with you without ads or other distractions that are typical of social media feeds.
Does your church’s website have what it takes to keep visitors engaged?
There are five essential ingredients to serve up the best online engagement and connect more people to your church:
- A great domain name
Location is everything, but your church’s web address is even more important than its physical address—and it will reach more people than your on-site location ever will. A strong web address should match your church’s name and avoid unnecessary clutter like hyphens or numbers so it’s memorable and stands out in search results. Examples of churches with great domain names include Shorelinecity.church and Newlife.church.
- Effective website builder
Your church website builder should be reliable, easy-to-use, and fast when it comes to loading. Also be sure it has features that allow for integration with online giving, video, and audio capabilities so collecting donations and live-streaming sermons is a seamless process. Some effective church website builders include the Digital Church Platform (Launchsites.church) and TheChurchCo, that also offer .church domains.
- Compelling web design
Remember, your online presence is your only opportunity to make a first impression. People are visual first, verbal second—they want to be inspired and then informed. According to Google, you have less than 50 milliseconds to make an impression, so be selective about how you draw people in with a simple, dramatic, or minimalist design. Some examples of well-executed church websites on the top 100 list of best church websites are Highpoint.church, Oaks.church, and Ccv.church.
- High performance
53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load. For this reason, your church website has to be fast and high-performing to keep users engaged—and ensure you rank well on Google.
- Excellent, relevant content
There’s nothing worse than visiting a website for the first time and feeling confused. In a study consisting of over 1,000 church websites, 61.7% of users reported that they did not have easily accessible new visitor information. It’s important that content is upfront and simple to navigate for new and repeat visitors.
Ready to strengthen your website and better engage with visitors? .church domains are sold by virtually every domain name retailer—and there’s even a limited-time, low-price offer from name.church.
Read More
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5 Ways to Increase Online Engagement
3 Features of a Great Web Address for Your Church
