In their article, "The Psychologist's View of UX," UX Magazine explains the how the working of the human brain effects how we should create websites. Below are five facts about how people behave and how we we should take these behaviors in account when creating church websites.

1. People Crave Information

• "People will often want more information than they can actually process. Having more information makes people feel that they have more choices. Having more choices makes people feel in control. Feeling in control makes people feel they will survive better."
• "People need feedback. The computer doesn't need to tell the human that it is loading the file. The human needs to know what is going on."

Read it: 4 Questions You Should Answer on Your Church Website's Home Page

2. People Don't Want to Work or Think More Than They Have To

• "It is better to show people a little bit of information and let them choose if they want more details."
• "Instead of just describing things, show people an example."
• "Only provide the features that people really need. Don't rely on your opinion of what you think they need; do user research to actually find out. Giving people more than they need just clutters up the experience."
• "Provide defaults. Defaults let people do less work to get the job done."

Read it: Your Church Website's Reservoir of Goodwill (and 3 Ways to Keep it Full)

3. People Have Limitations

• "People can only look at so much information or read so much text on a screen without losing interest. Only provide the information that's needed at the moment."
• "Make the information easy to scan."
• "People can't multi-task. The research is very clear on this, so don't expect them to."
• "People prefer short line lengths, but they read better with longer ones! It's a conundrum, so decide whether preference or performance is more important in your case, but know that people are going to ask for things that actually aren't best for them."

Read it: 3 Things to Remove to Improve Church Website User Experience

4. People Make Mistakes

• Preventing errors from occurring is always better than helping people correct them once they occur. The best error message is no message at all.
• If a task is error-prone, break it up into smaller chunks.
• If the user makes and error and you can correct it, then do so and show what you did.
• Whoever is designing the UX makes errors too, so make sure that there is time and energy for iteration, user feedback, and testing.

Read it: 10 Mistakes Not to Make on Your Church Website

5. People are Social

UX Magazine explains that, "People will always try to use technology to be social. This has been true for thousands of years." You can cater to this desire by creating content that is sharable between groups of people. Videos, blogs, interesting stories, and podcasts are all ways to spark the social fire in your website visitors.

More wisdom from UX Magazine:

• If you do a favor for me then I will feel indebted to give you a favor back (reciprocity). Research shows that if you want people to fill out a form, give them something they want and then ask for them to fill out the form, not vice versa.
• When you watch someone do something, the same parts in your brain light up as though you were doing it yourself (called mirror neurons). We are programmed with our biology to imitate. If you want people to do something then show someone else doing it.
• You can only have strong ties to 150 people. Strong ties are defined as ties that with people you are in close physical proximity to. But weak ties can be in the thousands and are very influential (à la Facebook).

Read it: 4 Reasons Your Church Website Should Tell Your Story
5 Reasons Why Your Church Website Should Have a Blog

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

Their brand

How the logo promotes the brand

How does your church logo promote your brand?

Learn More About Church Website Branding

Don't assume newcomers know what they're doing.

"Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them."

Put your own spin on the commonly done--it might go viral.

"Thanksgiving services were routine in what was to become the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607, with the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia holding a thanksgiving in 1610 ... harvest festivals [previously] existed in English and Wampanoag tradition alike."

Being social and sharing are good.

"Wampanoag leader Massasoit had donated food stores to the fledgling colony during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient ... The celebration lasted three days and featured a feast that included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys and fish procured by the colonists, and five deer brought by the Native Americans."

Focus on the purpose.

"Thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity." - William Bradford

1. Welcome them to your doorstep.

Trick-or-treat style

On your website

2. Don't scare them away.

Trick-or-treat style

On your website

3. Give out quality goodies.

Trick-or-treat style

On your website

4. Evaluate steps 1-3, improve, repeat.

Trick-or-treat style

Which candy was a hit, which wasn't?		Buy more of the hit, none of the dud.
How can I get more traffic?		Coffee for the parents?
Were younger kids too afraid of the decor?		Ditch it in favor of more visitors.

On your website

Which content was a hit, which wasn't?		Create more of the hit, get rid of the dud.
What are visitors searching for?		Does navigation make sense for the user?
How can I lower my bounce rate?		Simplify home page with less ads and banners.

Your feedback

1. SeeVolution

• Tool use for up to 200 users on one domain
• 7 days of data

2. FiveSecondTest

• Public tests
• No priority as to how they're assigned to testers
• Create tests to get more tests

3.  Userfly

• 10 screen capture recordings per month
• Recordings stored for 30 days
• You have to recruit testers, however

4. Polldaddy

• 200 survey responses per month
• 10 questions per survey
• basic reports
• surveys contain Polldaddy links

They're Free ... so use them!

Learn More About Improving Your User Experience

Want to improve your church website's user experience (UX) and don't know where to begin? Start with by asking yourself these four questions.

1. "Is There Too Much Stuff?"

"It's all about removing the unnecessary."
- Jonathan Ive, Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple

We've already talked about how removing superfluous features and content can make it easier for your visitors to find what they're looking for. Help your users out by making the most-asked-for information front-and-center. You don't want your website to end up looking like the stop sign in the video below.

2. "Do Users Have To Think?"

This step, taken from Steve Krug's UX opus, Don't Make Me Think, calls you to help make the decisions users have to make as easy as possible. It only takes seconds of indecision before users become frustrated, so don't press you luck by trying to be cute with "creative" menu titles, for example.

Think like your user would think when creating your website navigation. Where would Average Joe look for your doctrinal statement? What would Jane Doe name your Contact page?

3. "Are My Users Happy?"

“Don’t lose sight of user delight.”
- Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga

• Posting video announcements instead of your weekly bulletin
• Adding web-only content from your pastor or church leaders
• Creating blog posts that ask engaging questions and encourage comments
• Showing your weekly service online

4. "Do I Make a Good First Impression?"

"We’re psychologically hardwired to trust beautiful people, and the same goes for websites."
- Dr. Brent Coker, University of Melbourne

In a new University of Melbourne study, Dr. Brent Coker found that users' trust in a website depends heavily on its visual appeal. This appeal starts with your home page (or other landing pages, if you have them). An attractive church website home page is clean, colorful, organized intuitively, and expresses what your church stands for.

• Check out Visual Swirl's list of 60 Best Church Website Designs for inspiration
  (iMinistries' own Harvest Oakville is on the list)

---

Learn more about UX

"Big websites aren’t better websites. Get rid of the ROT." - Brain Traffic Blog

What is ROT?

• Redundant
• Outdated
• Trivial

---

Learn more about UX

What is a website's Reservoir of Goodwill?

"I've always found it useful to imagine that every time we enter a website, we start out with a reservoir of goodwill. Each problem we encounter on the site lowers the level of that reservoir."
- Steve Krug, Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

	I want to visit your church for a service. So I come to your website looking for service times.
	I don't immediately see your service times on your home page. I'm slightly disappointed.
	Now I have to look through your menu for service times. There is no section with that name, so I have to figure out which section it would be in. I click About.
	On your About page, I don't see anything about service times. And the pages within this section only read Staff, History, and Beliefs. Which section is it in? I'm starting to get frustrated.
	I click the Locations link in your menu. This page displays your address and phone number, but I still don't see your service times. My patience is wearing thin.
	While some may have started with performing a search, I leave it as my last resort. "No results" come up when I submit "Service Times" in your search field. I'm almost ready to give up.
	I return to your Locations page, pick up the phone, and dial your number. You've just defeated the purpose of me visiting your website, so when I call to ask your office your service times, I'm going to be grumpy.

How to Keep a Full Reservoir of Goodwill

1. "Keep the main things the main things."

• Who are you?
• Where are you?
• What time are your services?
• What do you believe?
• How can I interact with you?

2. Write clear content

3. Make constant updates and improvements

LEARN MORE ABOUT USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

As end of summer nears, the inevitability of the launch of a new ministry becomes more of a reality. As your staff prepares for a new sermon series, giving campaign, or future big events, it's important that you ready your church website, and its content, for the renewed attention it is sure to r eceive.

Here are five church website content tasks you should complete before embarking on a new ministry year.

1. Check current content for accuracy

A visitor to your website has a question about your ministry, so they send an e-mail to the address listed on your Contact Us page--info@yourchurch.org. Unfortunately, you recently changed your contact e-mail to questions@yourchurch.org. They instantly receive a bounce-back error message. Frustrated, they dial the phone number listed on your site, only to hear a "no longer in service" message, not knowing you changed your phone number a few weeks prior. They irately hang-up and give up. You've lost that person forever.

Now you can see why it's so important that you audit your website's content with a fine-tooth comb. An out-dated website can say a lot about how organized and focused you are as a ministry. Here's a list of things to check to get you started.

• Staff: Did your youth pastor leave? Remove him from your site.
• Banners and graphics: Finish that series on Luke? Women's Conference over? Take down those old banners and ads.
• Contact info: Make sure any person who wants to contact you can do so.
• News and events: Is your newest event page from Easter? Time to make a change.
• Home page: Freshen up your most-visited page by purging the old content and bringing in new.

2. Hold a content manager summit

If you divide up your content creation responsibilities by ministry, holding a big meeting to discuss the upcoming year can be good way to re-emphasize your content strategy. In these summits, you can also go over style guidelines, content do's and don'ts, field questions, and discuss the previous year's successes or failures.

Having consistent dialogue with your content managers helps them feel empowered and involved in the creation process, and makes you look less like a dictator and more like a partner. When they feel empowered, they're more likely to put more effort into great content and thinking up creative, new ways to better connect with your website visitors.

3. Create a content schedule

When you've met with all your ministries, you can begin to organize your tasks in calendar form, plug them into your project management tools, or whatever other way you plan ahead. You shouldn't be writing your Men's Conference event description the weekend before it happens, or scrambling to build a last-minute registration form. Make sure you and your content managers plan far enough ahead for website content to maximize its effectiveness.

4. Set up event or campaign landing pages

• URL shortcuts: Set these up for your landing pages, like yourchurch.org/mensconference, to make them easier to get to.
• Branding: Come up with a name, theme, logo, and color scheme and use on all promotional materials.
• Home page: Post banners and ads on your home page that point to your landing pages.

5. Do some user testing

How would you ever know if your website is effective if you don't ask the people using it? Although many people think user testing is expensive, difficult, and time consuming, this isn't exactly true. You can hold easy user testing sessions every few months for little or no money. Here's how.

1. Recruit a few friends or family members, with differing experience with your website. Three to five people is enough.
2. Assign a few tasks for them to complete, like registering for an event, finding a particular info page, or contacting a ministry leader.
3. Watch them complete these tasks, giving them no assistance.
4. Record what you see, either by video or copious notes. What are they saying? What emotions are they going through?
5. Analyze their actions. How can you avoid the bad and highlight the good?
6. Change the problems that came up consistently.

It's that easy. For more information on hosting your own user testing, I recommend reading Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MAKING A GREAT CHURCH WEBSITE

Video Transcript

"One of the things we've seen since we switched to iMinistries is that it's given us a really good opportunity to promote our ministries and keep our people connected. But at the same time, on the back side of it, it gives us really good usability so that we can have a lot of our volunteers, with minimal knowledge, essentially take what we're doing as a ministry and get that to our people in a way that lets them know what's going on and how they can get involved. So that's been a huge part of how we've been using the website that we have.

Another aspect that's been important to us is the value that we're getting for the cost that we're paying. We're able to do so much more with the website that we've gotten from iMinistries than we have with other web firms and that's been huge to us as a smaller church."

I read a lot of blogs and books on how to create great websites, but few have been so immediately impactful to me as Steve Krug's usability tome, Don't Make Me Think. It is often regarded as THE book on making websites easy for users to find what they want. Below is a nugget of truth from this book.

When users come to your home page, they often come wanting four specific questions answered. It's your job as web administrator to make sure these questions are answered immediately, and without creating other questions in the user's mind, or risk losing the visitor to frustration. Here are the four questions and how best to answer them.

What is this?

Chances are, your church website visitors are finding you through a search engine. (A study in 2008 showed that over 60% of people find organizations and businesses through the Internet. And that was 2008!) So they probably landed on your website by searching for churches or ministries that are like you. But you only have a few seconds to convince them you are what they are looking for!

Your home page should tell new visitors who you are and what you're about, and there are several places you can utilize for this purpose. Here are two:

• 

  Your logo
  The image you associate with your ministry was chosen for a reason--to show others what you stand for. If it's an open Bible or a fruitful tree, people will get an idea as to what you're about.

• Your tagline
  Krug says it best: "Taglines are a very efficient way to get your message across, because they're the one place on the page where users most expect to find a concise statement of the site's purpose."

What do they have here?

Now that users know what the site is, they want to know what kind of stuff your website has. This also applies to what your ministry does. Posting upcoming events, recent news, and prominently displaying links to your About and We Believe pages are the most effective ways of showing visitors what you do. Your website navigation should be clear as to what your website has and where users can go to find what they want.

What can I do here?

Websites can be great tools used for ministry. Blog posts, sermon podcasts, videos of God's work through your ministry and in people's lives, stories, photos of your ministry at work--these are all effective ways of spreading the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who haven't heard. Advertise these features on your home page banners and ads to show your visitors what they can see and do on your website.

Why should I be here--and not somewhere else?

Does your church emphasize missions or church planting? Small groups or service? Prayer or Bible teaching? All of these things? Find a way to express why your website visitor should become a flesh-and-blood visitor. Try not to think about it as competing against other churches, but rather competing against not visiting a church at all.

iMinistries CMS makes great usability a breeze

Utilizing a free or custom skin from iMinistries makes it easy for your home page to answer all four questions asked by new visitors.

• Easily place your logo and tagline into the design of your site.
• Build custom banners and ads with our Rotator feature.
• Posting news, events, videos, blog posts, on your home page is a snap with our Widget feature.
• Edit your menu yourself to make it easy for users to find what they want.

1. What are you trying to achieve?

• Write a brief description of who you are on your home page, using keywords to get your point across.
• Create a page that outlines your mission, your beliefs, and your goals (or a separate page for each).
• Use graphics or ads to direct people to these pages.
• Write news stories or blogs showing what your ministry has done and what its doing.
  

2. How do you use donations?

3. How can I give?

• Automatic, recurring giving (which encourages more giving over time)
• Non-monetary donations
• Giving in wills
• Giving by check or money order, through the mail
• Giving over the phone

4. Where do I give?

A CMS, like iMinistries, can help your online giving

• Integrated giving forms: accept online donations from credit and debit cards with your brand front-and-center
• Ads and banners: post graphics to make your calls to action more compelling
• PayPal: now you can accept donations from this provider

LEARN MORE ABOUT ONLINE GIVING

Your church website is more than just pretty graphics and flowery text. It should be a catalyst for action. When visitors land on your home page, they should be prompted to do something. We call these prompts "calls to action."

Calls to action can come in many forms, most commonly graphic banners, ads, and buttons, and hyperlinked text. Often, calls to action will direct users to other pages on your website where they will complete a web-based task. Sometimes it will lead to action off the computer. Here are the four calls to action every website should include.

1. Learn

The key to every website is to teach visitors who you are and what you do. For churches and ministries, explaining how others can get involved is equally crucial.

One of the most visited pages on any church website is its About section, where your mission, beliefs, and individual ministries are detailed. Direct visitors here immediately by displaying a graphic on your home page banner or making it prominent in your menu navigation. This is the one area of your website people might actually read (instead of skim), so make sure every word is carefully chosen.

2. Visit

A church website's ultimate goal should be to encourage users to physically visit your ministry. You can do this by making your service times and address easy to find and writing with a welcoming tone on your Location page. Make it even easier on potential guests by including a Google map, directions, and a picture of your church.

3. Contact

Plaster your phone number, address, and e-mail address in as many places as you can on your website--your footer, Contact Us page, Location page, We Believe section, and any other page that might provoke questions. Creating a contact form also encourages interaction. How available you are shows how much you care (or don't care) about your visitors.

4. Give

Another big reason people visit church websites is to donate. Many times, giving is a spontaneous, emotionally-driven action, so your website should not hinder someone from satisfying that urgent desire. Make it easy for visitors to find your giving page and create an enjoyable giving experience with easy-to-complete forms.

iMinistries Websites Make it Easy to Include Calls to Action

With features like customizable rotating banners, ads and highlights on every page, build your own menu navigation, and ready-made free skins, calls to action come built in to your church website.

Learn more about calls to action

"Is Your Home Page Attractive?" Series - iMinistries Blog
About Us: Beginning the Conversation - iMinistries Blog
The Five Elements of a Strong Call to Action - Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Here are the most common mistakes made by church websites. Make sure you don't make them.

1. Your blog, news, and events are not up-to-date.

2. Leave out a Our Beliefs or Our Mission page.

3. Write a "Welcome to our website" paragraph on your home page.

4. Design is outdated or poorly executed.

• graphics
• thumbnails
• color scheme
• logo usage

5. Forget location and directions to your ministry.

Over at Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com, Kivi Leroux Miller frustratingly describes how "bad" web consultants can limit what their clients can accomplish by making their websites hard to update.

At iMinistries, we pride ourselves on not making those mistakes. Our church CMS is easy to update, our help system is comprehensive, and our church websites are flexible and well-designed.

Here are the three biggest mistakes web consultants make and how iMinistries stacks up.

Mistake 1: Not using a standard content management system.

"Nonprofit staff should be able to login to a content management system (CMS) to make simple changes to the text and graphics on their own sites." - Nonprofit Marketing Guide

iMinistries' church CMS is built into each one of its websites. Your church or ministry staff can log in at any time and add, remove, or edit content as you see fit. You can even determine who can manage specific sections of content on your website. With an iMinistries website, you have 100% control over what your site says and how it looks.

"Adding a new page of content, or editing an existing one, should be as simple as writing an email — which demands that consultants use content management systems." - NMG

 Not only is iMinistries' church CMS built in, it is easy to use. Adding a page is as easy as creating a new document in Microsoft Word. If you can do that, you can create your own website.

Mistake 2: Not explaining how to use the content management system.

"I do ... believe that web consultants are obligated to [provide] some basic training." - NMG

 Each iMinistries website is equipped with "Beginner Mode," an interactive, step-by-step tour of your new website, its many features, and how to update its content.

iMinistries also provides each new client with online written documentation as well as a growing library of video tutorials. These instructional videos provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to build and maintain your website. If you are not able to find the answer to your questions, you can also ask for assistance through our support website.

"I think good consultants should ... [help] the nonprofit learn the difference between what they should and can do themselves and what should be outsourced." - NMG

 At iMinistries, we consider ourselves Web experts, and we understand some of our clients don't have that same confidence. That is why we offer extra services to help you make your church website the best it can be.

• Managed Services
  Not enough staff? Let us help you maintain your church website.
• Content Consultation
  We'll help write and edit compelling content and review your navigation
• Graphics Consultation
  Includes creation of ads and banners to improve your website's look-and-feel
• Search Engine Optimization
  Increase traffic to your website by letting usboost your search rankings

Mistake 3: Not creating adequate space in the design for timely updates.

"I’ve seen many nonprofit website home pages that look perfectly lovely, and yet are communications disasters ... Because there is very little space in which the nonprofit can make timely changes." - NMG

 One of our favorite integrated features is Rotator, a large rotating header that displays banner images which you can link to news, events, blogs, and any other page on your website. As with anything on iMinistries' ministry websites, Rotator is easily updatable and allows for complete customization.

"Give your nonprofit clients at least several paragraphs worth of text they can update, especially in the key locations on the home page. Give them space where they can upload photos or embed videos — and where those can be changed easily over time without having to rely on you or another consultant." - NMG

1. Create a Blog and Post Regularly

• Your posts give users a reason to visit repeatedly and makes you more accessible.
  It lets you communicate to your site visitors by creating a two-way dialogue.
  
  
• Blogs feed search engines constant updates, which aids your search engine rankings

2. Improve Your Metadata

• Search descriptions summarize the content on each of your website pages. Just like a synopsis on the back of a book, your search description sells your pages to searchers.
  
  
• Keywords the are words or phrases used most by the people looking for your site on search engines. Choose these keywords carefully to make sure your website comes up at the top of searches.
  
  
• Browser titles explain who your website represents and what each page contains. Browser titles carry a lot of weight with search engines, so strategically placing keywords in them is a great way to boost your search rankings.

3. Add Pages

4. Incorporate Your Social Media

5. Get Other Sites to Link To You

LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPROVING YOUR WEBSITE GRADE

“Retweets are the new currency on the Web” – Michael Arrington, Techcrunch.com

Retweeting can be a great source of content

Retweeting others gives your followers incentive to retweet you

How to properly retweet

1. Always give credit to the source by including their twitter username
   (e.g. @author)
2. Shorten URLs in your tweets
   (URL shortening website bit.ly is excellent; We like using Hootsuite.)
3. If there are remaining characters at the end of a retweet, consider adding your own point of view.
4. Think twice before retweeting sensitive material or something that might be untrue.
5. Only retweet stuff that you think will be relevant to your followers.

MORE RESOURCES ON RETWEETING

One of my favorite TV shows is Kitchen Nightmares, where world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay visits failing restaurants and helps them turn their businesses around.

He always uses the same steps to eliminate their weaknesses, highlight their strengths, and streamline their processes. The same steps can be followed to improve your website ... without all the screaming or colorful language.

Step 1: Simplify Your Menu

• About
• Contact
• Location
• What We Believe/Our Mission
• News and Events

Step 2: Identify With Your Customers

• If they come to your site wanting to know how they can get involved in your ministry, tell them.
• If they want a way to give to your ministry, let them.
• If they want to interact with your ministry, provide a way for them to do so through a blog or other media.

Step 3: Highlight Your Strengths

Step 4: Keep it Clean

A clean restaurant is a successful restaurant. And we're not just talking about shiny ovens and mopped floors. Efficiency is required for any business to be successful, but this is more true for food service. Waiters must be able to juggle multiple tables. Chefs have to make delicious meals to order, and quickly. And managers must support both so that everything runs smoothly.

The same can be said for your website. What good is information if your visitors can't find it?

A tightened, simplified menu will help organize your content. But what about pages that don't fall directly under your menu headings? Links can act as a "restaurant manager" for your content. Embed links to other pages in your main pages, and add ads or banners that entice your visitors to explore your website, easily and without frustration.

Step 5: Listen to Criticism and Seek Advice

Gordon Ramsay is probably most well-known for the way in which he interacts with the participants of Kitchen Nightmares and his other show, Hell's Kitchen. He doesn't back down from confrontation. He yells, uses obscenities liberally, and tells it like it is. He can get away with this, of course, because he knows what he's talking about. He's done it before, and it works. For those who take his harsh criticism and implement his advice, their businesses are improved dramatically.

Most of us don't like to hear when we fall short. But website administrators should invite criticism from their website visitors. Your site is for them, after all. Set up a feedback form on your website and listen to what your users have to say. What if they have different views as to what's most important than you do?

You should also welcome advice from experts who have built effective websites. Make it a goal to read books and blogs (like this one) that help you make your website better. Then take their advice and put it into practice.

More resources for improving your ministry website

In this series, we examine how to connect with visitors to your ministry website, as defined in John Maxwell's book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect.

FOUR COMPONENTS OF CONNECTION

What People See - Connecting Visually

• Add images that explain or conceptualize your content
• Embed video on your pages
• Use bullet points, headers, and lists to create word pictures

What People Understand - Connecting Intellectually

What People Feel - Connecting Emotionally

• Stories: Write news articles or produce videos to show God at work in your ministry.
• Photos: Feature the people of your ministry on your staff and ministry pages. Everyone loves a smiling face.
• Blog: Interact with your users through blog entries and comments. Connect your blog to your Facebook page for more interaction.
  

What People Hear - Connecting Verbally

• Use active voice and present tense to convey excitement.
• Avoid "I think" or "I feel" language; instead use confident, absolute statements.
• Write in short, direct sentences and small paragraphs to keep your user's attention.

PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER

• Is it powerful teaching? Emphasize your podcast.
• Edifying worship services? Show photos on your homepage and make your service times prominent.
• A growing small group ministry? Write a series of stories about changed lives.

OTHER RESOURCES FOR CONNECTING BEYOND WORDS

In his book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, leadership guru John Maxwell talks about the difference between communicating with people and actually connecting with them at a deeper level. While reading this book, I found that many of the strategies he uses for connecting with others in social interactions and speaking engagements can be used for ministry and church websites.

In this series, I'll provide a few points from chapters I find relatable to creating a ministry website that connects to its visitors. Before we get there, first we must know what role the Web plays in connecting with others, what connecting is exactly, and why its so important.

What role does the web play in connecting?

How John Maxwell uses the Web to connect

While Maxwell was writing Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, he posted the manuscript on his blog, JohnMaxwellonLeadership.com, and encouraged feedback from his readers. The response was a remarkable example of connecting with others.

The manuscript received more than 100,000 views, and Maxwell made nearly 100 changes based on people's comments and included many quotes and stories in the final book. He even asked those who commented to send him their photos, which he displayed on the book's cover.

By including their pictures on the cover and their stories in the book, Maxwell showed these people he values their input and probably won over others who heard about it. Think about how many more people will by his book, visit his blog, and become better leaders and connectors.

Maxwell continues to blog and use social media to add value to others and improve his ability to connect with others. If he can do it by utilizing the Web, you can, too.

What is connecting?

"Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them." (pg. 3)

Have you ever tuned out during a speech or sermon? It was because the speaker didn't connect with you. Either his energy level was too low to engage you, the topic was not applicable to your life, or the drone of his voice caused your eyelids to droop. He was speaking, but you were not listening. He was communicating, but not connecting.

This can happen in any daily interaction. You flip the radio dial, change the channel, rush through a conversation, or jump to another website, all because you were not connected. You can see how it is important to make the extra effort to connect with everyone who visits your website. If you don't, they will go somewhere else. The good news? Everyone has the ability to connect!

How do I know if I've connected with others?

When you can see some of the following things from those who visit your website, you know you've connected with them.*

• Unsolicited appreciation--they say positive things
• Unguarded openness--they demonstrate trust
• Increased communication--they express themselves more readily
• Enjoyable experiences--they feel good about what they're doing
• Emotional bondness--they display a connection on an emotional level

Why is connecting important?

"We are bombarded with thirty-five thousand messages a day ... e-mails ... Twitter, Facebook, and blogs ... Everybody talks. The question is, how can you make your words count." (pg. 1)

Because of people's short attention spans and the overwhelming amount of information available today, connecting with your website's visitors is both increasingly more important and more difficult. It's obvious that more connections with your website users could result in more visitors to your church or more involvement in your ministry. But it can also help you make a bigger impact than just increased numbers.

Connecting makes you an effective leader

If you want your website to make a difference in the name of Christ, it will have to lead others into doing so. Think of all the great leaders that have made a difference in your life. They all display similar characteristics that require connecting with others.**

They include:

• Vision--describe where you are going
• Consensus--persuade others to come along with you
• Charisma--connect at a personal level
• Trust--demonstrate credibility

You can show all these characteristics through the content on your website, the conviction of your blog, and the passion in your podcasts.

Connecting helps you build relationships

"The ability to connect with others begins with understanding the value of people." (pg. 15)

Building a relationship with the people who use your website is important if you want them to keep coming back and to become more involved with your ministry. We previously explored the idea that your website is a conversation with those who visit, and the ultimate goal of this conversation is to develop a deep, intimate dialogue. The key to making this conversation one of depth is by connecting with your visitors by first realizing how important they are and by showing you value them.

Connecting increases your influence

"Because the ability to communicate and connect with others is a major determining factor in reaching your potential." (pg. 3)

If you're desire is to become a source of influence for Christ in your community and its people, you must connect. If your website fails to connect with its visitors, your message will not reach the amount of people it could. Increasing your energies into connecting increases your ministry's potential reach.

"Some church websites absolutely boggle my mind. The design, the layout, the information overload, the blatant disregard for the visitor ..."

Your Ministry Website Visitors Want Information

Does your website contain important information?

• Where is your ministry?
• When do you meet?
• Do you have a children's ministry?
• Where should I park?
• How can I volunteer?
• How can I join a small group?
• How do I register my child for summer camp?
  

Is it easy to find important information?

• How easy is it to find the answers to the above questions?
• Do you/they have to navigate through numerous menus, submenus, and pages?
• Are there any ads, banners, links, or highlights that act as shortcuts to this information?
• Are there too many ads, banners, or links so that it's more difficult to see this information?
  
• How do you/they feel when trying to find this information (confused, overwhelmed, frustrated, at-ease)?

Give your visitors what they want

• Create a detailed About Us page
• Use Google Analytics to see what your users are searching for
• Link to your important information from headers, ads, and highlights

Facebook as a Supplement to Your Website

Develop a Strategy

• Fostering and encouraging dialogue
• Make more people aware of your blog or Twitter feed
• Advertise latest news and events
• Post photos and video of recent or upcoming events
• Link to sermons on your website
  

Creating a Page

1. Select the "Brand, product, or organization" radio button and "Religious Organization" from the drop down menu.
2. Type in the name of your ministry next to "Page Name."
3. Check the box notifying Facebook that you are the official representative for you organization and review the terms.
4. Click "Create Official Page"
5. Edit your page setting by clicking "Edit Page." Here you can add or remove page applications like Photos, Discussion Boards, Links, Video, Notes, Events, and more. Use your strategy to determine which applications to add and which are not necessary. Only add the ones you will use.
6. Add a picture for your ministry by hovering over the picture and choosing "Upload Picture."
7. Click the Info tab and insert your address, hours (worship service times), phone number, website address and a little about yourself.
8. Finish customizing your page by adding photos, filling in the text box below your photo, and adding other application tabs.
9. Let your Facebook friends know about your page by clicking the Suggest to Friends button below your picture. Let others know by sending as an e-mail by clicking the Share button at the bottom of the page.

Incorporating Twitter and Your Website Updates

• How Do I Add My Twitter Feed to My Facebook Page?
• How Do I Add My iMinistries Website Blog to My Facebook Page?
• How Do I Add My YouTube Videos to My Facebook Page?

OTHER RESOURCES FOR FACEBOOK

It isn't a secret that everyone fights to appear on the first page of Google.

While you might not know a lot about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or even have a budget to put towards getting your church website "optimized"...an excellent free service that Google provides is Google Places.

• Church Name
• Church address
• Church phone number
• Church website address
• Church contact e-mail address
• Directions to your church
• Description of your church

• Both inside and outside photos of your church building, preferably with lots of smiling happy people bustling around.
• A quick 2 minute promotional video about why someone should come to your church.
  
• Adding special announcements about important or key topics that your church is passionate about.
  

What are the benefits of creating a Google Place for your church or ministry?

After creating your Place and allowing a few weeks transpire, you will be able to easily review basic statistics that Google provides. They provide you with an easy to read chart of either the last 7 or 30 days worth of activity as well as the Top Search Queries that served up your listing and an impressions vs. actions break down like the one I am including below.

1326	impressions
	How many times users saw your business listing as a local search result
108	actions
	How many times users showed interest in your business listing
	14   Clicks for more info on Maps 2   Clicks for driving directions 92   Clicks to your website

Bottom line, Google Places is a great way to increase your online presence in front of your local community.

Is your ministry using Google Places? Please comment why or why not.

1. Audience

2. Links, links, links

3. Networking

4. It's easy, interactive, and viral

5. It's Free Advertising

Reasons why you may not need Twitter

• You don't know what a "blog" is, nevermind a "micro-blog"
• You don't have enough content to link to on your ministry website
• You can't devote any time to tweet, or you'd rather spend your time doing ministry work
• You aren't interested in learning how to maximize its potential

MORE RESOURCES FOR TWITTER

BACKGROUND

Problem

Recommended Solution

• Revising content
• Revising site title format (as seen on top of window)
• Adding Meta tags
• Changing menu headings

Project Goals

Time Line

IMPLEMENTATION

Revising Content

Revising Site Tile Format

Adding Meta Tags

• Harvest Bible Chapel
• HarvestBibleChapel.org
• Harvest Bible Chicago
• James MacDonald
• Walk in the Word
• Harvest Bible Fellowship
• Chicago churches

Changing Menu Headings

RESULTS

Google Search Rankings

Website Grade

FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS

Increase Google Page Rank and Inbound Links

• Local universities (.edu sites’ links carry more weight)
• Facebook (fan pages, personal profiles)
• Extension ministries: HCA, HBF, Walk in the Word, should all be linking back to this site)
• Twitter: a Harvest Twitter account would drive traffic and add links
• Other free sites: Chambers of Commerce, church directories, etc.

Analyize tons of data about your ministry website visitors

Types of Reports

Important reports in the Content section:

Important reports in the Traffic Sources section:

Overview:

Important reports in the Visitors section:

1. Appropriately targeted traffic (i.e. visitors who are interested in what your site offers)
2. High quality content effectively presented on the site.

Terms Used By Google Analytics

Visits vs. Visitors

Pageviews vs. Unique Pageviews

Viewing Traffic Reports

MORE RESOURCES FOR GOOGLE ANALYTICS

How Highlights improve the look and function of each page on your church website.

Look

• People from your ministry
• A consistent color scheme
• Christian imagery (a Christmas star, open Bibles, and empty tombs)
• A similar look-and-feel
• Or a mixture of all

Function

OTHER RESOURCES ON HIGHLIGHTS

Embedding Video with YouTube and Vimeo

YouTube or Vimeo?

• YouTube limits uploading videos 10 minutes or less (unless you pay extra). Vimeo only limits you in amount of Mb of video uploaded per week.
• Vimeo allows you to choose the videos your video links to. YouTube gives you the option to turn off the links, but only on the embedded video. The video on YouTube still displays links to random videos (some may have inappropriate content).
• Vimeo allows you to password protect your videos to limit its viewability.
• With Vimeo, you can limit which sites can embed your videos, limiting them from being posted on other sites.
• You can create "Channels" for your Vimeo videos for better organization.
• Your Vimeo videos or channels can be grouped into a slide show or badge widget for easy access to your video library.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ADDING VIDEO

Incorporate links into the text.

Be consistent.

Here are a few decisions to get you started:

• 9:00 A.M. or 9 a.m. or 9am?
• Colorado or Colo. or CO?
• October 25 or Oct. 25th
• 5th Graders or fifth grade students?
• Children's Ministry: Jesus and Me or Kid's Club?
• small groups or Small Groups?
• address your visitors as "loved ones" or "friends"?
• New Believers Class or First Steps or Theology 101?

Avoid Churchisms.

Start by purging your content of the following:

• "food, friends, and fellowship"
• "come alongside"
• "lift up" as "in prayer" or "in song"
• "God put it on my heart"
• big theological words like: "dispensationalism," "parousia," and "transubstantiation"

SOURCES FOR THIS BLOG/FURTHER READING ON WRITING FOR THE WEB

Writing Compelling Content for Your Church Website.

Know your audience.

Be friendly.

Example of friendly voice:

If you are interested in becoming a member of Calvary Baptist, we invite you to attend Meet the Pastors.

Meet the Pastors is a great first step towards becoming involved at Calvary. If you are investigating or have recently decided to make Calvary your church home, then we welcome you to join us at Meet the Pastors.

Please register for Meet the Pastors today. We would love to see you there!

Be firm and use active voice.

Example of firm, active voice using present tense:

Join us at one of our two Sunday services. We meet at 9:30 A.M. and 7:00 P.M. each week. We invite you to engage in Christ-centered worship and an application-filled study of God’s Word with us.

Visit our "What To Expect" page to find out more about our services and our beliefs. If you have a question or comment, fill out a Contact Us form.

SOURCES FOR THIS BLOG/FURTHER READING ON WRITING FOR THE WEB

Make Your Ministry Website More Visible With Meta Tags

What are Meta Tags?

Calvary Church - Welcome
Calvary is a Bible-believing church that has faithfully served the Boston suburbs since 1974. Calvary offers diverse ministry for men, women, children, and students…

Grace Bible – Home – Grace Bible Church
Home – Ministries – Contact Us – FAQ – info@gracebible.net 123 Main St., Suburbs, MA 12345…

What Content Should I use in a Meta Tag?

• Title (book title): Summarize your ministry in a few short words. Obviously, you ministry name should come first. But adding two or three words after the ministry…
• Description (back cover summary): In a few short sentences, describe your ministry. This description will be displayed under your site's title in search results (like above) and is often called a "snippet." To read more about how to create more effective snippets, check out this article from Google.
• Keywords (subject, genre, author): List words and phrases that relate to your ministry. Like your location, your senior pastor or founder’s name, and even “church.” Google has decided to help you out with keyword development. Their Keyword Tool allows you to generate suggested keywords by entering in your website's URL.

How can I add Meta Tags to My iMinistries site?

1. Navigate to your Site Administration.
2. In your Site Controls, select Site Preferences.
3. On the General tab, click [Meta Tag Administration]
4. Click Add Tag
5. Name your tag (ex. “Description”), fill in the Content field, and save.

Use the Google Map Widget to Embed an Interactive Map on Your Church Website

Use Your About Us Page to Introduce Yourself to Visitors

When you first meet someone, you both ask questions to begin your interaction.

What do you do? Where are you from? What do you like to do?

The answers to these initial ice breakers often dictate how the exchange continues. If you both share common interests or personality traits, you could find yourself in a deep conversation. If not, it could end up just a brief chat.

When people visit your church website for the first time, they are seeking similar information about your ministry. They should be able to find these answers immediately, and all in one place, or the “conversation” may end before it begins. This is why a well thought out About Us section is vital to an effective website.

Next to the homepage, the About Us section of your website is the most visited by new users. It is more than just a place to list your history or address, but its goal should be to connect with visitors by taking steps to building a relationship with them.

The three main questions that should be answered in this section are:

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• Why should I trust you?

• Ministry History
• Basic Ministry Information
• Ministry List/What You Offer
• Beliefs/Values
• Contact Information
• Staff
• Extension Ministries/Partners
• Employment Opportunities
• Ministry Location, Directions, and Maps
• Frequently Asked Questions

The more information you provide, the more trust you earn from visitors, the more credibility you give to your ministry, and the better likelihood of engaging in a meaningful conversation.

Blog Sources/Further Reading