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How To Make the Best First Impression for Your Church

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Photo by Sonia Dauer on Unsplash

Now more than ever, people are looking for spiritual connections everywhere, especially online at the convenience of their fingertips. Understanding how people are discovering new church communities is key to attracting new members and growing your ministry.

97% of consumers search for local organizations online. In other words, when community members are looking for a church, they aren’t attending your service—they’re checking out your website. 

With this evolution in how people practice their faith, strengthening your website, social media, and online presence has never been more important. In today’s digital world, churches not only have to minister to in-person attendees, but also have the opportunity to reach millions of people online. In fact, 17 million Americans who don’t even attend in-person worship services on a regular basis visit church websites. 

In a post-pandemic world, your online presence is your saving grace for creating a resilient spiritual community. 

The Experience Your Church Delivers Online Is More Important Than Ever To Reach and Engage Visitors

Your church only has one opportunity to make a first impression and that impression is no longer limited to the sights, sounds, and ambience of your sanctuary. In fact, the majority of people visiting your church are coming through your digital front door, meaning your website, social media, and other resources they find online.

This became especially true during the pandemic. Determined to continue worship at a time when people felt isolated, church leaders pivoted to ensure their members could still engage with their community from the safety of their homes. Churches faced the challenges head on and these statistics indicate how faith communities endured through it all:

These two years of how churches incorporated online experiences with their in-person worship services demonstrate a new method for how churches can be effective in changing times. In an announcement introducing YouVersion for Churches, Life.church Innovation Pastor Bobby Gruenewald commented on the emergence of a hybrid church model:

“We really believe that the future is going to be a hybrid church model, where it's both physical and digital […] We’ve already begun to see that in churches. Some return physically; they want to reclaim those physical experiences they had before the pandemic and are excited to do that. But they want to keep the best of what they experienced with those digital tools as well.”

Online worship will continue to increase as a normal part of how more people express their faith and connect with God, especially for the next generations. Here’s what the numbers say: 

These numbers show that having an engaging online experience is just as important as the in-person experience. Actually, the online experience is even more important for churches, because if people don’t have a good experience and good first impression of your church online, most people will not be motivated to visit your church physically.

The Very First Impression Your Church Makes

Before people visit your church website or your church, they have to decide whether or not to click on a web address that goes to your church website. What do people see when they’re browsing the search engine results, or prompted with a web address? That is the very first impression your church makes—your domain name. The most important thing to make a great first impression is to ensure that your domain name is instantly recognizable. 

Here’s an example: If these three domain names show up in search results, which one do you think would be instantly recognizable as a church’s website?

  • cc.com
  • cc.org
  • cc.church

Which one do you think visitors will click on? If you guessed cc.church, you are correct. 

According to research from Microsoft, 25% people are more likely to click on exact match domains. Having your domain name that exactly matches your church name can mean getting 25% more traffic to your church’s website! 

With .church as your ministry’s digital front door, your church instantly and clearly invites people to click through to your website where they can find what they’re looking for. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, a .church domain warmly welcomes new visitors and helps people to engage with your church without friction. 

Make the most of every opportunity to make the best first impression of your church. Get your .church domain name today at the name.church or your favorite registrar. Make sure to include “church” in your search.

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DJ Chuang is an ambassador for .church domain names, a part of Identity Digital powering the most relevant domain names on the Internet. DJ also works as the Technical Registry Manager for the .BIBLE top-level domain (operated by American Bible Society). DJ is known as a thought leader who helps churches and nonprofits learn how to use the latest digital technologies.

This post is sponsored by Identity Digital

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More in-depth articles coming soon

How to Use Your Domain Name to Maximize Engagement

How to Get the Best Domain Name for Your Church

How .Church Brings Spiritual Communities To Life Online

How Your Church Can Grow In This Post-Pandemic Era

Why More Churches Are Branding With .Church Domain Names

5 Best Practices for Building a Great Online Presence

DJ Chuang
DJ Chuanghttps://djchuang.com
DJ Chuang is an ambassador for .church domain names, a part of Identity Digital powering the most relevant domain names on the Internet. DJ also works as the Technical Registry Manager for the .BIBLE top-level domain (operated by American Bible Society). DJ is known as a thought leader who helps churches and nonprofits learn how to use the latest digital technologies.  

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