{"id":29528,"date":"2019-08-13T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/?p=29528"},"modified":"2019-08-14T10:19:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T14:19:13","slug":"how-to-evaluate-and-improve-your-church-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/how-to-evaluate-and-improve-your-church-website\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Evaluate and Improve Your Church Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever visited a church website that just made you cringe a little? Maybe the content was out-of-date, the homepage was confusing and jumbled, or maybe it just looked old. Whatever the reason, you probably took a quick look, made that cringy face, and then quickly hit the red \u2018X\u2019 at the top of your browser. Don\u2019t be that church website!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the very first moment someone visits your church website, they are going to get an idea of what to expect at your church and what your church is about. It\u2019s important to make sure the message you are conveying is the one you want to convey. This is done by taking the time to regularly evaluate and improve your church website.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve put together a list of ways that you can evaluate and improve your church website so you can be sure that nobody makes the cringy face when they land on your homepage.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Find Out What People Are Saying About Your Site<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Your church website exists to help and to serve real people. Not personas or target groups, but actual people. Because of this, the first and best way to evaluate your church website is to hear the truth from people who visit. There are a few ways that you can do this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Send Out a Survey<\/span><\/h3>\n

A survey is a great way to get a feel for people\u2019s thoughts about your site. In the survey ask questions about how easy things are to find, what the overall feel of the site is, and if they would direct a visitor to your site. This can be telling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ask Around\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Another way to get a feel about how people feel about your site is by simply asking around. Ask different groups of people from different demographics to get a more accurate response. If you really want to pursue this route, consider recruiting some people to ask around. Keep in mind that if people know that you are involved in creating and maintaining the church website, you might get a biased response, so recruit people that are removed from the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Include a Place for Feedback on Your Site<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lastly, consider creating a page on your church website designed just for feedback. Integrate a form with your <\/span>church management software<\/span><\/a>, and let people fill it out with things that they would like to see improved or different on your site. This is a great and easy way to capture people\u2019s thoughts toward your site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steps For Improvement<\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019ve gathered input and opinions from people, be sure to put a plan in place to actually execute on the feedback received. It\u2019s one thing to hear from people, but it\u2019s a whole other thing to actually listen to them and take action based on what you hear. Consider compiling a list of all the feedback and then meeting with your website team to plan how to implement the list. Prioritize the feedback based on urgency.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Take a Look at the Stats<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The next way that you can evaluate your church website is to take a look at the website statistics. The best way to gather website statistics is by <\/span>connecting Google Analytics<\/span><\/a> to your website, or by using the reporting feature from your content management system. Looking at Google Analytics can be overwhelming, so here are a few key stats to focus on.<\/span><\/p>\n