Your website is your ministry’s new front door. Think of it as your online curb appeal.
It tells people that you’re either open for business or that nobody’s home.
It tells people that you’re either worth checking out or a waste of time.
It tells people either “Welcome!” or “Get lost!”
And it says all that in about five seconds or less. It doesn’t matter if the interior of your ministry is divinely designed if you can’t get anyone to step inside the front door.
Here are seven signs that it could be time to enhance your website’s curb appeal:
1. You log on to your site and hear crickets chirping.
2. You apologize to people when you give them your web address.
3. Your website is a maintenance money pit.
4. Even though it’s an inanimate object, you literally hate its guts.
5. You spend evenings curled up with your dashboard instead of your wife.
6. You didn’t even know your ministry had a website. (Now that burns.)
7. The people around you tell you it’s time to remodel.
If you place little value on your ministry’s web presence, then you might want to think again. First impressions are about more than turning heads, because in ministry you have two options — resonate or die.
If you don’t resonate with those you are trying to reach (and those you’re already reaching), your ministry will die. It may not happen immediately, but it will happen.
Your website is a key tool for resonating with your audience — for communicating what you’re about and what you do. So when you tell people that your site is a “work in progress,” you’re telling them that your ministry is too. Ouch.
Overhauling your site is more than giving your ministry a face-lift (although those can be nice too). Just like enhancing a home’s curb appeal, revamping your ministry’s online presence is about adding value to your brand.
What’s the biggest turn-off when you ‘drive by’ someone’s site? What keeps you coming back?
