Oh yeah, you're right on here Jim....I can't tell you how many sites I visit for potential clients and the first thing I think is: "What state are they in?". I search and search, sometimes finding the city, and still can't find out where they are.

This is one of my big pet peeves on a church site...it shows that they're probably fairly 'inward focused' (since they never bothered to ask "what would a visitor think of our site?"). I always make sure the location is on the homepage (or at least an obvious link to it) as well as often in the sidebar.

Great point to bring up here.

Amen! This is totally one of my pet peeves. Yes, your church has a local congregation. Yes, your website is targeting people in your local community. But this is the WORLD WIDE WEB people. Not to mention that if someone - even in your local area - wants to send you something by snail mail (yeah, they still exist, apparently) they might want your zip code.

For churches, schedule of services, location and driving directions should be the easiest things to find on your site. Without them, the site is basically useless.

Micah

It is an interesting thing when I consider other churches. If they make the location so hard to find then how do they rank for churches in their area in search engines?

One of my main goals is to be #1 in search engines for "Key West Church" and variations on that. Here's a statistic - we don't get a ton of visitors every week but this is a tourism town and we get what's probably considered a lot for a small-ish church. Everyone that has been asked "How did you come to choose us to visit today" has said "We found you on the web." The only exception is the guy staying at the camper park 1 block down the street and that was convenience.

We even have 2 members who have been with us for years that were US Military stationed in Germany getting their orders changed to Key West. They looked and there were, at the time, only 2 churches on the web and one is big into end-time prophesy and King James only so they thought they'd find a better fit at ours. (Blessings to all who put the emphasis there too. Like my Pastor says, "I'll bless anyone preaching the Gospel of the true Jesus Christ whether I agree with them on all issues or not.")

Do you think the lack of directions, location, etc is a subconscious fear of coming across like bragging? It's irrational, of course, but I think a lot of times the political correctness thing slips into our churches too.

I don't think it's about that... I think it's about design, more than anything. Too often we let design dictate functionality, rather than the other way around.

I'll do my best to make this anecdote fit the thread, but I have a funny story about a church in Key West, Jim, that I just have to tell you. Anyone who knows anything about Key West understands why location makes this story even more hysterical.

My best friend Terrence's dad lived there in the 90s, so he and I went to visit there, and decided to go to the Assemblies of God Church while we were there. We arrived early, and asked about Sunday School for young adults, and were directed to a class room.

We thought we followed the directions well (this is why greeters should WALK people to classrooms rather than DIRECT them lol), and that thought was reinforced when we looked around and saw all people our age in the room. So, we found some seats around the table, when we noticed everyone was kind of looking at us uncomfortably.

The group leader introduced himself and asked us who we were, and we started a little conversation. No one else talked. Then he asked us what brought us here (I assumed he meant Key West), so I told him my friend's Dad lived here, and we were visiting him, and decided to come to church this morning. He looked pretty uncomfortable, then asked me, 'So, are you guys... together?'

At that point, Terrence and I looked around the room and realized that the distribution of the room was pretty evenly spread out between male and female. Terrence got a horrified look on his face, let out an 'Oh, ****!' and fled from the room as bright red as I'd ever seen him!

I looked back at the leader, my mouth just hanging wide-open. The leader asked me 'So, you weren't aware that this was a premarital class, I take it?'

I said no, and that we weren't 'together,' and we were looking for the young adult Sunday School class, which he gave us (better) directions to. I collected my friend from the bathroom (where he was hiding like a pile of mortified jelly) and we proceeded to the proper class.

So, consider this a cautionary tale about what a lack of directions, whether on your website or elsewhere, can do to people visiting your church.

LOL (This story is completely true, in it's entirety)

Blessings,

That is hillarious, Anthony! I used to go to that church before being called to the one I attend now and can see how easy it is to get the wrong room. The building is just laid out that way.

For those who are unfamiliar, Key West has a reputation for being a huge gay-friendly place. In truth it's not near the reputation. You don't see same-sex hand holding (or more) in public hardly at all and the gay nightclub recently closed so the perception doesn't necessarily match the reality.

This brings me to the thought of a visitor's perception of our websites. Even if you tell your visitors your location in perfect clarity, how do they perceive it? More importantly, how can we improve it?

Is it enough to put and address on a page? Is it sufficient to create one page deep within your site with directions? Is it overkill to put a link on every page to "How to find us?" Shouldn't we link to Google Maps (or similar) so they can not only see where we are but also enter in their address and get driving directions? Do we also flag nearby restaurants for after-service lunch? How much is too much and how much is not enough?

I'll leave this open to comment. In reviewing our church's website to write this I just, embarrassingly, realized that a recent change left us totally without directions so I'll be busy for awhile. *blush*