12 Steps to a Successful Website - OurChurch.Com

Why am I building this site?

The answer will drive every decision you make. Take some time to write down the purpose of your website. Be as specific as possible. Is the website primarily there to support people inside your organization or inform those outside of it? To build community, answer questions, or sell products?

If you have more than one purpose for your website, prioritize them. Or better yet, start with one purpose and add others later. Remember there are billions of web pages on the internet, and your website is competing with them for attention. Often only the top 5-10 websites with a certain focus will grab 90% of the visitors, so it is better to be great at one thing, than mediocre at several. You can always expand your website in the future.

Once you know the "why," it's time to turn your attention to the "who":

Who will visit this site?

Try to develop a demographic profile by considering characteristics such as:

• Age
• Gender - approximate expected percentage of males and females
• Family status - Single? Married? With kids? Empty nest?
• Cultural or ethnic backgrounds
• Interests
• Income bracket
• Occupation
• Internet experience - novice users or seasoned pros?

It's not that your website visitors will be of only one gender or only one age group or only one ethnic background. The goal is to estimate the type of people most likely to visit your website. Some of these criteria will not apply to your situation, but you may think of others that do. For instance, a sample demographic profile for a children's ministry leaders' site might look something like this:

My typical website visitor is predominantly female, 25-55 years of age, loves children and has children of her own, is family-centered.

Of course there will be people who do not meet the typical profile. Anyone can click onto a website. Your objective here is not to consider every possibility but to recognize probable factors that will be common to the majority of your expected website visitors. Then based on those common characteristics, you can tailor a website with the look, feel, and linguistic style that will appeal to that demographic profile.

Based on the example demographic profile shown above, we know we wouldn't want our website to be stark with a lot of plain text but rather warm with pictures of people on it. Additionally, we wouldn't use a lot of formal language (as for a business site) nor would we use hip-hop street slang (as with some teen or music sites), but rather a friendly, conversational writing style.

Now that you've thought about who will be visiting your website it's time to put yourself in their shoes and ask the most fundamental marketing question of all:

What's in it for them?

You need to give your visitors a reason to come to your website. Many websites are very self-centered. They are all about trying to get visitors to do what the webmaster wants or to see how clever the webmaster is with the site. Remember that what your intended visitors want may be completely different. Returning again to our website for children's ministry leaders, the webmaster could show off photos of children who participate in their ministry, promote their upcoming schedule, and ask for prayers and donations. That would be great if the target audience was the featured children and their parents. But if the target audience is other children's ministry leaders, then that is not what they are looking for. They are looking for ways to help their own ministries - not the webmaster's.

What might children's ministry leaders really want on a website? How about teaching tips, guidance for working with children, and ideas for group activities? Perhaps you would offer a community message board for people to share ideas. You would then determine long-range goals, which may be to grow your site by offering ministry-related products for sale. Since your site is a resource, people who come to your site for information may later become your customers. That's a win-win situation!

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