Your church MUST have an effective website. What make a website effective? It makes church shoppers want to visit and it helps streamline communication with active participants. If a guest comes to your church it is either with a member or because they checked you out online and decided to give you a try. It is NOT an online brochure. It, along with other online components, should help you build new and better relationships.

1. Buy a URL that is easy to remember. Your URL is your web address. The shorter and more obvious, the better. You will have to pay an annual fee to own this address but shouldn't pay more than $10/year.
2. Find a host and platform that allows for WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editing. Sometimes the host and platform are seamlessly one (e.g., Clover, Squarespace, UM Communications, etc.). Other times you host your Wordpress (or other platform) on a host but even those can be integrated (e.g., A Small Orange with Weebly or Wordpress)
3. Pay attention to designing for those who do NOT yet attend your church. Follow a process of user-centered design, avoid the 11 mistakes, and get inspired by others.
4. Find a person who is dedicated to spending 1-3 hours a week updating content across your online channels. The site build out will take many more hours, but updates should be manageable until you choose to refresh the look of your site in the future.
5. Find a voice that speaks to those who aren't yet a part of your church. An effective website is an essential part of welcoming first time guests to your church! And keep it simple.
6. Understand that your website is a necessary but insufficient aspect of building your online presence. A church's online footprint is determined by how it shows up on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.), your website and other online places (Google, Chrome, YouTube, etc.). Here are some articles that might be helpful to you: Ten Tips for Your Church's Online Presence, How to Build a Total Online Church Presence, and/or Increase Your Church's Presence with Google Business.

For more help on how to grow your church online visit United Methodist Communications.