I looked at 1200 church websites; here's what I learned


I've been putting in hours on this tool over the past few weeks.

As a part of this project, I've visited a. lot. of church websites. Unless I can figure out how to automate this process, I'll be getting around to all 1,200. Maybe yours is next πŸ‘€

I've noticed: many, if not most, of the websites I've visited are relatively empty. There is usually a homepage with less than 25 words of basic info, a single sentence or graphic for an upcoming special event, and a Contact page.

I don't fault anyone for this. It's challenging to come up with a full website's worth of content on the spot. And once your site is live, it's tough to find time to go back and make additions.

If you're looking to beef up your website to give potential visitors a better idea of who you are, here's a full sitemap that won't take more than an afternoon to put together.


Above the website header: Create an announcement bar that highlights whatever is most time-sensitive. This is just a simple 75-pixel colored bar with a single line of text. (Ex: Christmas Eve Worship at 7 p.m. | Click for details)

​

Home

  • Mission statement
  • Welcome paragraph
  • Worship time(s)
  • Pastor Intro/invitation to visit from Pastor
  • Most recent sermon
  • Call-to-action: maybe a signup for emails or SMS, or "Plan a visit" that links to...

​

About

  • History: an abbreviated timeline with 3-5 notable years and a sentence or two about each
  • Team (Pastor, music leader, children's ministry leader, president, etc): just pictures, names, & titles
  • Beliefs: I like to break it down into the 4/5 Solas with a few descriptive sentences and a few supporting passages for each.

​

Worship & Study

  • What to expect: get granular β€”walk in a visitor's shoes from the parking lot to their seat for worship.
  • Most recent sermon (again)
  • Past studies: highlight the types of topics you cover
  • Upcoming studies: include the time & place for your next study

​

Events

  • Highlighted event near the top: give this a larger spread with full information and maybe an embedded registration tool (if applicable).
  • Regular events below

​

Contact

  • Worship time(s)
  • Phone/email/address
  • Form submission

​

404

​

Privacy/Terms

​

In the website footer: Call-to-action (usually: Sign up for emails/SMS)

​

In case you're going to use AI to help you along, paste this prompt before the content above:
"I'm writing content for my church's website. Here is the sitemap, along with a description of each of my desired sections. Before generating website copy, ask me 10 clarifying questions that will enable you to write accurate content with the correct tone, community context, and theological backing."

Any other sections on your current website that I should add to this structure? Let me know!

Until next week,

Grace Ungemach

I offer digital marketing education written with ministry in mind. Subscribe to my free, weekly newsletter to learn something new every Friday.

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