What is your church doing to appeal to visitors?
The truth is, a healthy church is a growing church. However, growth often doesn’t happen organically. Instead, growth requires strategy, intentionality, and an outward focus at every level.
In our current church culture, first impressions matter, and they often start long before someone walks in the door of your church building. Your church website, social media pages, and digital outreach efforts are often the first thing people see about your church. Because of this, it’s essential to evaluate them and reframe your impressions to be visitor-focused.
Drawing new visitors to your church is a crucial element in keeping your congregation healthy, thriving, and focused on your mission. Here are 6 simple ways you can improve your outreach strategy (both in-person and online) to get more people to visit your church.
1. Keep Your Website Fresh
Your church website serves as your digital front door so it’s important to keep it clean, informative, and up-to-date. Here are a few areas on your website to evaluate and update.
- Make sure your service times and locations are visible and clear.
- Promote upcoming events and ensure past events are quickly removed once they’re over.
- Consider creating a “New Here?” or “First-Time Visitor” page. This page should include:
- Your address
- Parking details
- Registration information (especially for children)
- Times of services, small groups, and weekly events
- A “what to expect” section with information on the feel of your services and even what most people at your church typically wear
- Staff contact information
- Lastly, make sure the “feel” of your website reflects the “feel” of your church. The last thing someone wants is to be misled.
2. Stream Your Services Live
A livestream allows potential visitors to “attend” online first. Live streaming removes barriers for newcomers and lets them check you out before coming in person.
As you think through your live stream, here are a few best practices to implement:
- Ensure you have high-quality audio and video
- Ask a staff member to monitor the feed and reply to comments as they come in
- Encourage your pastor to address those watching online and offer a next step (ex. let us know your email address in the comments or invite them to attend an upcoming event)
- Set up your livestream page to include information about how guests can connect with your church.
3. Use Social Media To Engage Your Community
Another simple way to attract visitors to your church is to use social media to engage your community. This is a great opportunity to meet people where they already are.
However, because social media is full of content, it’s important to be strategic and make your posts stand out. An easy way to do this is to use Amplify Media’s graphics to boost your social media presence and engage with a wider audience. Don’t be afraid to get creative and try posting different images, reels, and copy. You never know what might appeal to a potential visitor!
4. Create a Friendly First-Time Experience
As a church, your goal should be to make visitors feel at home from the moment they arrive. It doesn’t take long for someone to decide if they’re coming back or not, and a lot of that depends on how welcome they feel.
To ensure nobody slips through the cracks, work to recruit greeters for every entryway who are friendly and ready to help. Also, consider having a visitor center or information desk where visitors can get information or ask questions. That’s also a good place to gather contact information using a QR code or guest form. Follow-up communication can make all the difference.
5. Team Up with Local Events
Next, a simple but creative way to draw visitors to your church is to get involved in community events such as charity drives or picnics. It’s a relaxed way to introduce people to your church and helps you go to them instead of expecting them to come to you.
At these local events, take information cards about your church and give out freebies to people who might be interested. This can help to create a positive impression from the start.
6. Encourage Personal Invitations
Lastly, nothing beats a personal invite! Encourage your members to regularly invite and bring friends, family, and coworkers to your church. A personal touch me be all it takes for someone to say “yes” to visiting.
Next Steps
Making visitors feel welcome both online and in person is important to the overall health and growth of your church. This not only increases numbers, but it improves your mission and ministry to those around you.
Remember, little changes can make a big impact when it comes to drawing in visitors.
If you’re looking for software to help simplify the digital side of attracting visitors, Ministry Brands Amplify was created to do just that. Because it’s created specifically for churches, it truly does serve as a one-platform solution to help you engage visitors, track their interest, and follow up as needed. Try a free demo today!
