It is important to consider the various users of the church website, so that the website can be tailored to their needs.
- Current church attendees/members: This group is probably the easiest to analyse (because we are in this group). They look to the church website for information on events that are occuring, they want up-to-date information and they want to see a website that they can be proud of and show to their friends, such as …
- People moving into the vicinity of the church: If a christian family moves into a new area, they will have to begin the process of looking for a fellowship to attend, and this could start on the web. Finding the church’s site could lead to them coming through the door. Of course, they would also look at friends’ recommendations and other factors, but without a web presence, they might not even try the church. And finally …
- People who are not Christian, but are curious: Maybe they have received a leaflet through the door or otherwise come into contact with the church and want to find out more. A website is an easy (and anonymous) way of finding out more.
Each of these groups are important and their needs must be incorporated into the website, so that it fulfils its purpose.
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24 January 2007 at 12:34 am
Timothy Fish
One of the things that I have noticed is that our church website has a bigger audience than the people that at listed here. Yes, I might like to focus all of my attention on these people, but we have people from other states who come to the South Park Baptist Church website. Some of them are looking for information about the association we are in. Others are looking for information about how they can know for sure that they are saved. I wouldn’t dare turn these people away and yet I know that they will never come through the door of the church. The one redeeming factor is that I know that increased website popularity in general means that there is increased popularity at a local level as well.
24 January 2007 at 6:59 am
David
Sure, other people use the site. But they can always contact the church if they have a specific need.
For instance, you example of people from other areas looking to see what association the church belongs to, why would they need to do this? Anyway, a simple statement on the website would suffice. But that still does not put them in the target audience.
Also, why would people look at a church website to find assurance of faith, rather than at their own church?
The three groups of people above are the target audience. For a church with 40 members, serving the spiritual needs of Christians in other countries is a step too far. There are plenty of better on-line resources.
So long as there is a contact form and telephone number, if anyone has specific requests they can get in contact.