Does your church website answer questions for potential visitors?

This question came across my twitter feed (@EvangelismCoach) this past Sunday:

“It’s 2nd Sunday .. I’m visiting a new church .. Heels or Tennis shoes ? I never know how to dress when I’m a visitor”

This brings up the point:

Can potential first time church visitors find out the information they need on your church website landing page?

Where is the church?
What does the building look like so I can recognize it?
Would I fit in with these people?
Who is the pastor?

Church websites lead people to your door.

I once visited a church website and couldn’t find an address, so I didn’t even know what state or country it was in.

Then it took me several pages to discover what time was their meeting.

I visited another church website and couldn’t find the time of their Christmas Eve services, so we didn’t go.

That shouldn’t be.

How is your church represented on your church website?

Here are some quick questions a potential church visitor might want to know:

What are these people like?
What is appropriate to wear?
Will I understand the message? (Do you have your sermons easily online for people to hear examples of what they might hear at a service?)
Where is this church located?
What does the building look like so I will recognize it?
What is done for my children?

You can fix some of these issues quickly by:

Sharing photos of church life, of some worship settings
An frequently asked questions page for church vistors
Address and service times on every page.
Real life photos of pastors vs formal studio photos

Do you need help with your church website?

Look into Clover for your church website. This is an affiliate link which will benefit our ministry work in Latin America.

I subscribe to a email list of church administrators and this one has been highly recommended in that list.

We just switched to Clover Church Websites Sites last month. Our Youth Pastor maintains it and loves it. They even have a live person that answers the phone if there are any questions!
We compared Clover to Bridge Elements which had a cheaper upfront cost, however the Clover Church Site was much easier to work with and edit. They are also going to be rolling out an on-line giving platform we may also switch to.

We use Clover Church Websites for the exact same reasons that you mention and absolutely love it. I have been responsible for many different websites over the years from designing them from scratch to taking over other people’s designs and Clover has made web site administration a joy again for me.
Very easy to use. I have several different staff who have no web experience updating various content. I mainly make sure that it stays within our graphic standards and make changes to structure when necessary.
Very good support from Clover. Extremely helpful and friendly and responsive. But I’ve had very little to call them about everything just works.
Definite limitations due to the fact that they’ve designed it for easy use by non-web designers but the benefits, in my opinion, far outweigh the limitations. We haven’t been backed into a corner by any of the limitations. Most have an easy work around.