The Importance of Your Church Web-Site!

Agree that it is important ...it is the first place people look to find out if our church is in the city...it is the first place they get information about out church.  On guest cards people tell us that it is either the website or the church sign that first drew them to the church.
 
Love our churches website

And yes it is important.  Our church college offers media courses. 
 
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
 
Tarheel Baptist said:
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
Click to expand...

Ours does not...I still feel that is kind of tacky...but hey that's just me....guess I am not yet ready to enter the 21 century!
 
T-Bone said:
Tarheel Baptist said:
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
Click to expand...

Ours does not...I still feel that is kind of tacky...but hey that's just me....guess I am not yet ready to enter the 21 century!
Click to expand...

I feel the same way, but I think it's a 'generational quirk'.
We have been approached by many in our church to say that they do not write checks.
They use 'bill pay' and debit cards.
That seems to be the wave of the future and we are trying to paddle out to catch up to the wave.....
 
Tarheel Baptist said:
T-Bone said:
Tarheel Baptist said:
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
Click to expand...

Ours does not...I still feel that is kind of tacky...but hey that's just me....guess I am not yet ready to enter the 21 century!
Click to expand...

I feel the same way, but I think it's a 'generational quirk'.
We have been approached by many in our church to say that they do not write checks.
They use 'bill pay' and debit cards.
That seems to be the wave of the future and we are trying to paddle out to catch up to the wave.....
Click to expand...

We are looking into it.  We have a company that we are working with.  If we proceed (I think we will) I will try and let you know how well it works for us.
 
Tarheel Baptist said:
T-Bone said:
Tarheel Baptist said:
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
Click to expand...



Ours does not...I still feel that is kind of tacky...but hey that's just me....guess I am not yet ready to enter the 21 century!
Click to expand...


I feel the same way, but I think it's a 'generational quirk'.
We have been approached by many in our church to say that they do not write checks.
They use 'bill pay' and debit cards.
That seems to be the wave of the future and we are trying to paddle out to catch up to the wave.....
Click to expand...

I am waiting til everyone gets the "mark of the beast" on their hands and foreheads, then I am buying the machines to read them!!!! 8) ;)

 
For 10+ years we had various generations of in-house built websites.  They still did a good job for us.  In fact, for the past 5 years, "Web-Site" is the most common selection marked on visitor cards indicating how someone found our church. 

This past year, we made the jump to a professionally designed website, and are very pleased with the results.  Our analytics reveal a steady increase in visits, and our average visit length is 2:13 (up from :39 seconds with the old website).

I believe there are a couple keys to an effective web-presence:
* Clean, uncluttered front page
* Regularly updated content

One of the things that drives traffic to our website is Facebook and Twitter.  We always post a link to the website from our FB page or Twitter acct when a new article has been uploaded, or when promoting an event.  Nearly 20% of our weekly traffic link to us from FB or Twitter.

Also, we added Online Giving last year, and it has been pretty successful.  There are a couple specific demographics who gravitate to Online Giving:
* Younger, Computer savvy individuals who are active online (they really like the mobile app for online giving)
* Christians who are young in the faith and are just learning how to give have expressed that online giving really helps them. When they get paid, they can give right away, rather than trying to keep the money set aside until Sunday.

We also use our Online Giving company for registrations for events that have a cost attached, such as Youth Outings, Summer Camp, Banquets, etc. 

We utilize a Direct Email Marketing service for sending out weekly updates, teachers' memos and registrations for free events (Pastor's fellowships, VBS, etc). 
 
Tarheel Baptist said:
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
Click to expand...

My provider, Clover, is fixing to unroll that in the next couple of months. I could do it now but I'm going to wait for them to jump through the hoops for me, and to make it seamless. It will even allow us to register people for events and pay for them, etc. It is the next logical step, and needs done, IMHO.
 
I can see it now...ushers walking by the pews with credit card swipers instead of offering plates. What is this world coming to. :)
 
Bro Blue said:
I can see it now...ushers walking by the pews with credit card swipers instead of offering plates. What is this world coming to. :)
Click to expand...

That sounds ridiculous, but if the debit card trend continues (and it will), churches will have to respond.
I'm old, but the only regular checks I write are to the church...I use bill pay and debit cards for almost everything else.
 
Tarheel Baptist said:
Bro Blue said:
I can see it now...ushers walking by the pews with credit card swipers instead of offering plates. What is this world coming to. :)
Click to expand...

That sounds ridiculous, but if the debit card trend continues (and it will), churches will have to respond.
I'm old, but the only regular checks I write are to the church...I use bill pay and debit cards for almost everything else.
Click to expand...

Many people in the church I attend give online through EFT. I still like the act of worship called giving that I experience when I write the check and put it in the offering plate.
 
Tarheel Baptist said:
Does your website have a way for people to give on-line?
I have read (from a number of sources) that churches who do that greatly increase their giving.
As well as having a way for people to give via ATM/debit cards on sight.

We have neither, but are working toward both.
Wonder what some here might have experienced with your churches and or web-sites.
Click to expand...

I wish ours would. We are traveling for at least two to three years. Often it takes us three weeks to get to our mail or the post office.

Our church gave a Christmas gift to our pastor. I had to send money via Paypal to a deacon, who then received the money and wrote his check to make sure we could contribute in time.
 
Interesting. I'm part of a new church plant and we just got our website up. It's pretty barebones now, but our pastor wanted to start out simple before adding too much info.

We have service times, a map to our location, and a bit of an introduction up, but I wonder if I should make a catch-all visitor info page.
I've also wondered about online giving, but I wasn't sure if people would see that as more tacky than helpful.

 
I wouldn't be opposed to online giving. I just think that it would be fuel to the fire to those that already think church is a money hungry organization.
 
Raine said:
Interesting. I'm part of a new church plant and we just got our website up. It's pretty barebones now, but our pastor wanted to start out simple before adding too much info.

We have service times, a map to our location, and a bit of an introduction up, but I wonder if I should make a catch-all visitor info page.
I've also wondered about online giving, but I wasn't sure if people would see that as more tacky than helpful.
Click to expand...

I believe that a church should encourage giving only from its members. I would not find it at all tacky to give a hidden link or PayPal email address to those who want to donate via credit card.

There was a time that people only used coins for giving...
I wonder how the church responded to people using paper denominations...
Was there concern in the church about people writing checks?

I see digital giving as a totally innocuous way to give. It is 2012! :D
 
The idea of a hidden link is a good one. And don't make a habit of mentioning it too often.
 
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