Have you identified the four different types of church website visitors?
Does your church website help guide these visitors with the right calls to action?
Here is the anatomy of the perfect next steps page for your church website:
1. Identify Your Audience
Define “who” will be taking each step.
Have your audience front and center in your mind when you write your content. Try and put yourself in their shoes, think about the questions they’d have, think about the problems they are facing. If you don’t know answers to these questions, ask a few people in your church.
Don’t think that when someone visits your church website that they know anything about your church.
Four Church Website Visitor Personas
- New – I just googled your church and might visit.
- Regular – I’ve visited your site a few times and want to know more about community groups.
- Veteran – I serve at the church on the weekends, have been attending for a while and want to learn more about becoming a member.
- Disciple Maker – I’ve been a faithful member for a while and would like more information on leading in some capacity.
2. Define Each Step
Define the journey you want your visitor to take.
Write down every class, event, service, etc. Put each one in one of the four persona groups from step one. Do not have more than six steps, or multiple sub steps.
Sojourn – Join a Group, Be Baptized, Become a Member, Serve.
3. Make It Easy to Take a Step
The less friction you have for your visitor to take, the higher success rate you’ll have.
Use language that is explicitly action oriented. If you are trying to get community group signups, use something like “Join a Community Group”.
Don’t make it difficult to fill out forms, or confusing as to what info you need. Get the minimum amount of details you need and follow up later.
4. Make it Personal
Content is still King, so spend ample time writing your content well.
Use language that sounds like you. Don’t try and be somebody you’re not.
Don’t forget to proofread your content. Don’t just hit that publish button, make sure you have another set of eyeballs on it.
5. Visual Storytelling
Use great design to take the visitor on the right journey.
Use icons, illustrations, typography to visually guide the visitor along each of your next steps. Don’t use clip art, or stock images here. You want to be authentic.
Bonus:
Review your analytics monthly to see how your next steps page is performing. Are people finding it? Are they taking action? Are they leaving the page immediately? Commit to improving along the way.
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Blessing Mpofu says
great resource… definitely going to be using this!