Update your Church Website for Your Christmas Visitors

Many people check out a church’s website or Facebook page prior to visiting your church at Christmas.

If you are having special events at Christmas to attract new church visitors, ask yourself these questions while at your church website:

• What time is your Christmas Eve Service?
• What should I expect on Christmas Eve?
• Is there childcare at the Christmas musical?
• Are there photos of congregational life that show people?
• Is there quick access to directions to your facility? (How many clicks to get directions?)
• What does the building look like so I can recognize it?
• Would I fit in with these people?
• Who is the pastor?

Example of our attempt to find a Christmas Eve service

Over Christmas one year, my family visited relatives.

We wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service in a near by church.

Our friends in the area recommended a Presbyterian church about 5 miles from where we were staying.

Step 1.  We Googled the full name of the Church.

Funny thing is, they didn’t show up #1, even though their name is somewhat unique.

They showed up #3.

For their exact name, a similar but different name church showed up #1.

This is an easy fix.

In their webpage, they didn’t include the name of the church in their meta tags for description or keywords.  They used generic words like “church, christian, fellowship, worship, worship services, praise and worship.”

They could have used their church name, as well as their tribe, and town in these descriptions.

Their name is unique enough that they could have used their church name as their domain name.

Use can use your church name as alternate descriptions in some of your photos as well.

Step 2.  We looked at the home page for Christmas Eve Services.

When we found the website, it was 2pm on Christmas eve.

We wanted to attend their Christmas eve service.

We couldn’t find the schedule of Christmas eve services on their home page.

We dug around various pages, including the “upcoming events” page.

In fact, we couldn’t find any information on Christmas Eve services at all.

They post the church calendar on line, but information on the Christmas Eve service wasn’t there.

The rest of the website seemed to have current information, but this critical information for potential church visitors was missing.

(FYI, this church does have a Christmas Eve service.  We attended a year later. . . )

Step 3.  We stayed home for dinner.

We didn’t bother calling the church office.

We didn’t bother emailing the pastor.

We gave up.

We stayed home for dinner, and missed Christmas eve services for the 2nd year in a row.

Don’t make it hard for church visitors at Christmas

Update your home page to include the critical information, with links to detail pages.  The [Read More . . ] links come in handy.

Include social book marking tools on such pages so that your members can invite their networks and promote your activities.

If your church has a facebook page, update it with related information about your Christmas activities.

Don’t make it hard.