4 things that should be on your church’s home page

We live in a world that is more connected than ever. A recent IDC Research study shows that 80% of smartphone owners are interacting online within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning - before brushing their teeth. Most churches choose to either advertise or interact with their community via a website.

Regardless of the specific purpose for your church website, you need to provide some things right on the first page of your website In order to make your website worthwhile, and to have a chance at visitors staying to see the rest of your website. If visitors do not find this information quickly, they will “bounce” or leave and go look at someone else’s website. You have about 8 seconds to accomplish this. Most visitors are looking for these 4 things:

1. The Church’s Location (Including the church’s name and a picture of the church)
   It might be surprising how many church websites are missing location information. This needs to be very prevalent on the home page. Even if your design or layout won’t allow you to put a picture of the church right on the front page, it should only be one click away. For instance, you could put “Anytown Baptist Church is located at 123 Any Street in Anytown, Anystate 12345” with a button that takes a visitor to a page that has a picture of the church and a Google map so that he can easily find the church.
2. Contact Information (Including the Pastor’s Name)
   Don’t forget to put the phone number near the top of the page, and a link to a contact page. At the contact page, you can include a form where visitors can email you, links to social media that you use, and maybe individual staff contacts if applicable.
3. Service Times
   Visitors are often at your website to find out what time services are. Include a summary of this information on your home page. You could then have button that takes you to more information about the services or Sunday School classes, or maybe a current calendar.
4. What the Church is About
   Make your website personal. Include a brief overview of your doctrinal statement. Perhaps you could also let people know what to expect when they come to your church. This is an opportunity to diffuse uncertainty in your visitors, and also to engage them in the other parts of your website.

If you can keep your visitors on your home page for at least 30-50 seconds, you will be more likely to get them to visit the rest of your website, and perhaps feed them some Biblical knowledge on its pages that could change their lives!