Thousands of people are looking for churches where they live—there are around 823,000 monthly searches for “churches near me.” How your church shows up in the search results is extremely important to grow your ministry. If someone sees you in the search results, but doesn’t click then that is a lost opportunity. Read on to see how to increase your search results’ click-through rate by 25%.
What can your church do to connect with more people? Here are five best practices that will deliver a more engaging online experience and increase your search results’ click-through rate:
1. A great web address
Location is everything, but your church’s web address is even more important than its physical address—and it will reach more people than your on-site location ever will. A strong web address should match your church’s name, avoid unnecessary clutter like hyphens or numbers, and is short (1-2 words) so it’s memorable and stands out in search results.
When people are scrolling through the search results, they are 25% more likely to click on exact match .church domains. Having your domain name that exactly matches your church name can mean getting 25% more traffic! Many of the largest churches are using a .church domain to reach people, including Life.church, Menlo.church, and Freshlife.church.
2. Effective website builder
Your church website builder should be reliable, easy-to-use, and fast when it comes to loading. Also be sure it has features that allow for integrations with online giving for churches, video, and audio capabilities so collecting donations and live-streaming sermons is a seamless process. Some effective church website builders include the Digital Church Platform (Launchsites.church) and TheChurchCo that also offer .church domains.
3. Compelling web design
Remember, your online presence is your only opportunity to make a first impression. People are visual first, verbal second—they want to be inspired and then informed. According to Google, you have less than 50 milliseconds to make an impression, so be selective about how you draw people in with a simple, dramatic, or minimalist design. Some examples of well-executed church websites on the top 100 list of best church websites are Highpoint.church, Oaks.church, and Ccv.church.
4. High performance
53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load. For this reason, your church website has to be fast and high-performing to keep users engaged. And ensure you take steps to rank well on Google.
5. Excellent, relevant content
There’s nothing worse than visiting a website for the first time and feeling confused. In a study consisting of over 1,000 church websites, 61.7% of users reported that they did not have easily accessible new visitor information. It’s important that content is upfront and simple to navigate for new and repeat visitors.
Proclaim Your Message Today with a .church Domain Name
Equipped with a memorable, inviting domain name, you’re ready to bolster your online presence with a church website, too. The following website builders make it easy to build a website using your .church domain:
Launchsites.church
TheChurchCo
Ministry Designs
Ready to create a great online presence—beginning with a .church domain? You don’t need to look any further. .church domains are sold by virtually every domain name retailer—and there’s even a limited-time, low-price offer from name.church. Get your .church domain today.
