Make these simple changes to your website to promote your Christmas church services.
Ah, Christmas. It’s the central focus of the end-of-year holidays and, for many, it's the most wonderful time of the year — with good reason, too. The heart and soul of the Christmas season is the celebration of the arrival of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the flesh.
The story of Jesus’ incarnation naturally makes the Christmas season an important part of any church’s calendar year. It’s an event that many ministries pour themselves into as they create pageants and plays, plan special services, and generally build on the excitement.
Of course, all of this takes a lot of effort — effort that you don’t want wasted.
Making the Most of Your Christmas Services
When you put a lot of work into Christmas services, the last thing that you want to have is a mediocre attendance on the day that you put everything into motion. On the contrary, with your ministry putting so much of your extra time and resources into the effort, you want to use the occasion as a way to pack everyone you can into the building.
One of the best ways to do this is through your church’s website. This unassuming yet critical piece of marketing collateral is one of the best ways to get the word out regarding your Christmas services.
Your church website provides you with a place to house important information. It also gives you a quick and easy way to share information on other marketing channels.
For instance, if you have a large, engaged social media following or email list, all you have to do is provide them with a brief description and then share a link to your Christmas service info on your website.
This saves you the need to regurgitate all of the same information on each platform. It also means you only need to update a single location online if anything changes as you approach the big celebration.
While your website is crucial, the way you use your website matters, as well. Here are three critical things that you want to have in place when promoting your Christmas service.
1. A Separate Landing Page
It’s a lot of work to ask your IT team (or if you’re a smaller church, yourself) to overhaul your entire website on a seasonal basis. You don’t want to change backgrounds, wording, headers, and text for a few weeks only to revert everything back to normal after the new year.
Instead, it’s wise to create a separate landing page that is focused on your Christmas service. Many church website builders like this one from Ministry Designs come with a page like this built right into their native programming, making it quick and easy to set up. This gives you a place where you can let all of the holiday fun loose. Choose those reds and greens, utilize over-the-top holiday photos, and go deep into the Christmasy jargon.
By building a separate page devoted to your Christmas activities, you can be as thorough as you need to be (more on that further down) without making any significant changes to the rest of your site’s carefully curated pages.
That said, there are a couple of things that you may want to do outside of this landing page. For instance, you should add a link on your homepage that clearly directs newcomers to your Christmas landing page. You can even include a pop-up window or hero banner out of the side of the screen to let people know about the existence of the seasonal part of your site.
However you go about it, make sure that your site visitors can find your landing page easily.
Related: 5 Ways To Involve Kids In Christmas Outreach
2. A “Plan Your Visit” Button
Most churches have a “Plan Your Visit” button at this point. This is a crucial element of good church marketing. It gives visitors a welcoming call to action that can jumpstart their first visit to your church.
When it comes to your Christmas services, it’s particularly important to have this button in place. There are few times of year that attract more visitors to a church than Christmas and Easter. That pair of holidays are centered on two of the greatest moments in the history of humanity, and they naturally attract a crowd.
If you know that you’re going to be attracting a lot of visitors, it’s important to put out the digital welcome mat for them. A good plan-your-visit button (which also goes by names like “I’m New” or “New Here”) is the perfect way to do so.
When clicked, a button of this nature should redirect a visitor to a portion of your website that is devoted to equipping them with all of the information they might be looking for, such as:
- Kid ministry info: What will happen to their children if they visit? Do you have a full-blown children’s church? A daycare? Nothing?
- Your dress code: No one wants to stand out like a sore thumb. What should they wear? A t-shirt and jeans? A prom dress or tux? Something in between?
- Sermon style and beliefs: What are your theological beliefs? What about your worship song selection, style, and volume?
- Directions: Where is your church? Is parking complicated? What else do visitors need to know once they’re on the premises?
A good ‘Plan Your Visit’ button isn’t just a nice flourish. It gives visitors that extra boost of confidence to pay your ministry a visit. It answers important questions and helps them go into the experience as informed as possible.
Still considering a plan-your-visit section on your website? It will give visitors that extra boost of confidence to pay your ministry a visit. Click To Tweet3. Information on What To Expect
The last bit of info that you want to have on your website is what people can expect at your Christmas Service. We kind of touched on this with the Plan Your Visit button, but the truth is, those are basic pieces of information that any visitor will want to have. Your congregants already know that stuff like the back of their hand.
When it comes to your Christmas Service, though, chances are there are new elements for all and sundry. There are essential pieces of information that members and visitors alike should know before they come to church around the holidays.
We’re talking about things like if the service starts or ends at a different time than normal. In addition, many Christmas Services seriously deviate from the normal order of business. Will you still have a typical service structure, like a time of worship before a sermon, or is the whole thing being replaced with a larger Christmas program? Will people need to remain seated as if attending a play or will you want them to participate? Will there be different services for them to choose from or one single event?
Think through the critical info that everyone should know and then place this “what to expect” content on your service page. If it isn’t too much trouble, you can even alter your Plan Your Visit page to reflect any helpful Christmas Service details for a few weeks, as well.
Promoting Christmas Services the Right Way
There are many things that go into putting on a good Christmas Service. While your efforts probably are focused on the event itself — and rightfully so — don’t forget the importance of promoting it, too.
Your website should serve as ground zero for this effort. Set up a separate landing page dedicated to the event. Make sure you have a “Plan Your Visit” section ready to go, as well. Finally, review your various site pages and make sure that they have the right information to set everyone’s expectations for this particular event.
If you can do that, your site will be able to function as a well-oiled marketing tool, ensuring that everyone is aware of your Christmas services this coming holiday season.
Take another step to prep for the holidays when you Get Your Church Ready For Christmas With 3 Smart Questions.
