Keeping Visitors in Mind: Crafting a User-Friendly Church Website
For many people exploring new churches, your website will be their first impression of your community. An outdated or confusing website can actually deter visitors from ever setting foot in your doors. But with a few strategic tweaks, you can transform your online presence into a welcoming hub that appeals to first-time guests. Keep reading for tips to make your church website more visitor-friendly without having to spend lots of time.
Simplify Navigation for New Users
It only takes seconds for a website user to assess if the site is trustworthy before deciding to stay or leave. With such a brief window, you need navigation that visitors immediately understand. Ensure your main menu options, subpages, and calls-to-action are clear and intuitive. Additionally, include an FAQ page to help visitors easily find answers to common questions.
Highlight Your Service Times and Location
You should prominently display your service times and location—ideally on your home page and contact page. Visitors want to quickly know when they can attend and exactly how to get there. Providing this upfront demonstrates you understand and cater to guests’ needs.
Create an Engaging “New Here” Section
A dedicated “New Here” page lets you speak directly to the concerns of first-timers. Communicate what guests can expect, parking information, and child care details. Providing these logistical details helps hesitant guests feel at ease.
Have fun with your “New Here” page! Engage your visitors with these ideas:
- Include a short video featuring leaders.
- Display pictures of the church and building.
- Provide links to sermons and events on your website.
Optimize for Mobile Visitors
Considering that over 50% of website traffic is via mobile devices (Statista’s 2022 report), a non-mobile-friendly site severely limits reach. Ensure your site is responsive so it automatically adapts for optimal viewing on phones and tablets. Mobile optimization not only makes navigation seamless for on-the-go users but also boosts your search rankings. Choose a church website builder, such as ChurchSpring, that automatically optimizes your site for mobile devices, saving you effort and time.
Share Photos that Reflect Your Community
Images help paint a picture of the friendly, vibrant community visitors can expect to find. Display photos of greeter teams, small groups, church events, worship services, volunteer work, and facilities. According to MDG Advertising, content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without.
Promote Upcoming Events
The events calendar or section displays all the opportunities for guests to get involved in the body of Christ and create community. Highlight special services, outreach events, classes, concerts, and more.
Ensure events link to pages with full details. Promoting happenings shows you’re an active congregation eager to welcome newcomers! ChurchSpring’s all-in-one church website builder removes expired events from your church calendar automatically, saving you the hassle of cleaning up.
“ChurchSpring is user-friendly. I enjoy the calendar–easy to post and very easy to locate. The support team has been efficient and ready to assist.” – Cheryl H., First Baptist Church
Share Recent Sermons and Content
Your website is a prime place to engage visitors with your church’s core teachings and beliefs. Feature your most recent sermon videos and podcasts to give visitors a taste of your preaching style and values. Additionally, share blog posts, newsletters, announcements, devotional content, and event recaps. Let your website introduce visitors to the heart of your ministry.
Prioritize a Modern Design
A church’s website is often the first impression visitors have of the church community. An outdated, cluttered, or difficult-to-navigate website can immediately turn off potential new members exploring the church online. A clean, modern design makes a good first impression and shows the church is up-to-date.
A modern, mobile-friendly website also indicates that the church values accessibility and ease of use for all visitors. Churches aiming to welcome new demographics and younger generations will benefit from updating the appearance of their websites. Overall, a modern website design signals to first-time guests that the church cares about their experience.
Reach out to your website provider to determine your design options. You may need to pay a fee or design updates may be included in your website subscription. For example, ChurchSpring’s church website builder offers unlimited design updates for free. Members receive full access to an entire library of premium church website designs for you to change your website’s entire design in one click.
“I have really enjoyed my time with ChurchSpring thus far. Jen, in customer support, has been amazing to work with! I cannot tell you how nice it is to have a design that we enjoy and can be updated, changed, and modified depending on the season and what we have going on at Grace! It is wonderfully user-friendly!” – Ryan Z., Grace Evangelical Free Church
Create a User-Friendly Contact Page
Many potential guests visiting your site may not be ready to attend but have questions or have a prayer request. Make it effortless for them to contact you via contact form, phone, or email. Don’t forget to add your social media handles, location, and service times!
Welcome Visitors with a ChurchSpring-Powered Website
Crafting a church website tailored to first-timer guests might be the difference between someone just browsing versus becoming an active member. With a warm, intuitive, informative online presence, you’ll equip guests with all they need to feel at home in your house of worship. Sign up for a free demo webinar to learn how ChurchSpring’s website builder tools can help you create a welcoming digital space or sign up for a free 7-day trial.
