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Last week I wrote about how important it is for church websites to show up near the top of the search results when people in the community search online for a church.  That’s the first step.  Once a person sees your church’s website, will they want to visit your church?

Unfortunately, most church websites seem to be created to inform the existing members of the church rather than to reach out to people in the community.  With Internet Evangelism Day only 3 days away I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone of some tips to help your website connect better with unbelievers.  This could serve as a good topic of conversation for an IED meeting of your church leaders or web team.

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Most Christian websites are written purely for Christians.  Only a small percentage of Christian websites are evangelistic - written primarily to address the questions and concerns of non-Christians, but even they can only help the small percentage of people who are actively seeking God.  What about the rest of the world?  One way to effectively reach unbelievers who are not spiritually seeking is through a “bridge site.�

What’s a bridge site?

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At first glance the title may seem over-hyped, but I literally quadrupled the number of new visitors to my personal blog, Live Intentionally, using images.  Recent changes in Google have made images a website traffic goldmine, and surprisingly few people are capitalizing on this opportunity.  Here’s how I did it.

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When someone visits a website for the first time, they make a quick, intuitive decision whether to continue reading the site or move on to another site.  I believe that decision is based on 3 questions the visitor is looking to the website to answer:  “Can I trust you?�  “Am I welcome here?� and “Can you meet my needs?�

Because this is a largely an intuitive decision, images can play a significant role in it.  Today we look at how images can help to positively answer the third question “Can you meet my needs?�

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Someone clicks through to your website - maybe from a site that links to yours maybe from a search engine.  Within 15-60 seconds that person will decide whether move on to another site or continue looking into what you have to offer.  Either at the forefront or back of their mind, that person is scanning your site for the answer to three questions.  “Can I trust you?�  “Am I welcome here?�  “Can you meet my needs?�

This is an intuitive decision based on information, appearance, and emotion.  The images on your website play a large roll in that decision.  In part 3 of this series, we look at the way the images on your site answer the question…

Am I welcome here?

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Last week I started a series of blog articles about the importance pictures have in helping new visitors make the gut-level decision to stay on your website more than 15 seconds.  I believe that every person who visits a website for the very first time arrives with the same three questions.  Sometimes a person is consciously looking for the answers, but often the questions lie just under the surface in the subconscious.  Today I’m going to speak to the first question…

Can I trust you?

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I believe that every person who visits a website for the very first time arrives with the same three questions.  And the strategic use of pictures on a website can go along way towards giving visitors the answers they’re looking for.

It doesn’t matter what kind of site it is – an e-commerce site for a clockmaker in Switzerland, a site for a small church in Howie in the Hills, FL, or a health site covering the topic of back hair.  It doesn’t matter who the person is – man or woman, old or young, white, black, brown or green.  Sometimes a person is consciously looking for the answers, but often the questions lie just under the surface in the subconscious.

So, what are the three questions?

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All of us have our own talents, personality traits, mannerisms, and sense of style. This makes us one of a kind, and usually, we like that. So, why not apply that same thought to a website? This week, we’re talking about why it is important for your website to be unique.
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In the past couple of weeks, we’ve talked about the use of graphics, images and Flash technology to add interest and movement to your site. Today, I’m going to talk a little about how you can use text to spice up your website as well.
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Flash technology has really enhanced the way websites can be designed. Not only can you build entire websites in Flash, but you can also use Flash objects within a regular web page. We’re going to discuss how adding a Flash animation to your site can change the entire look and feel of a site.
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