Your Website is More Important Than You Think

Do you remember what you were reading a month ago? Neither do I! Surely though, you memorized my post: Spark generosity: Treat your visitors with heart. A new post by Resurrection Church (aka Share Church, Church of the Resurrection) came out this week that nicely dovetails with it – Guest Experience: Why Standards Matter. Here’s a nugget from the article:
 
Guests form a first impression of our church within 30 seconds, and they decide quickly whether they’ll return – often within the first 7-10 minutes of their visit.

Yikes! Time to get a stopwatch out and focus on how your congregation warmly welcomes visitors. 

Shout out: For almost 13 years, I’ve had a desk in the Cascadia District Office (located in the MICAH Building at Salem First UMC). That’s how long I’ve been writing Inspiring Generosity. For all those years, District Administrator Linda Grund-Clampit has been my trusted friend and editor of this blog. She retires this Tuesday. I’m happy for her and bereft for me. She has saved you from far too many commas, overly complicated sentences, and weird misspellings. Thank you doesn’t quite say it all, but in this case simplicity will have to do…thank you, Linda. You’re the best. I’ll find a new desk, but another editor and friend? Those are tough shoes to fill. 

In prepping for Rally Sunday (and thinking about potential visitors), here’s one from the Vault:
 
You know what TED Talks are, right? Just in case you don’t, they’re short messages – a bit like modern day sermons – to promote “ideas worth spreading.” All TED Talks are not equal in their amazingness. The other day, I downloaded a boatload of them to listen to while I was putzing around in my car. I listened to about four meh (a hip word substitute for “O.K.”) talks when this speech grabbed my attention:
 
We've Stopped Trusting Institutions and Started Trusting Strangers
 
Well now, ain’t that the truth?
 
Rachel Botsman is a “trust researcher” (coolest job title ever). To show how people are trusting technology and strangers in more ways than they ever have, she uses examples like Airbnb, Tinder (!), and Bla Bla Car, a French company that matches drivers who are taking long trips with passengers. I can relate.
 
When we took our trip to Rome last fall, I happily booked a room with Airbnb – instead of a well-known hotel (BTW, our experience with Sergio was great). Now that I look back on it, that might have been considered risky – but I trusted. And my first ride with Uber – instead of a cab company – could have been chancy too. But I believed Uber was a good bet because of what I’d seen on the Internet and what I had heard from my friends. And it did not disappoint.
 
Botsman calls this the “trust leap” that people are taking with technology.
 
“A trust leap happens when we take the risk to do something new or different from the way we’ve always done it.”
 
Because technology is so present and easy to maneuver, people turn there first to make connections and often trust it more. A website is now equivalent to a first impression and if it’s not attractive and current, people will go elsewhere.
 
So, your website.
 
If it’s true (and it is) that your website is the “front door” for new people, what’s it saying about you?
 
Does your website inspire trust when someone knocks at Your Internet Door?
 
I know, I know. Getting your website up and off the ground was a major accomplishment. And that’s awesome. But unfortunately, it cannot be static. Your website is not something that you can check off your list as having “completed” because…it’s never done. I’ve been on some websites that have such old information that I wonder if the place is still in business. Those websites, I’m sorry to say, do not instill trust.
 
If you were going to judge you by your website, what would you think?
 
It’s hard and time consuming and (probably) few people in your sphere have the skills to manage a website. But just know that for new people, your website is important. Figure out a way to update it on a regular basis. For some of you that’s going to be weekly and for others that’s going to be at least once a month. Your website needs to post information that’s up to date. See it as a way to begin building trust.
 
I agree. It might not seem fair. But this is the way of the world. You can either adapt and embrace it or dig in your heels and look the other way. From everything I know about you, my awesome readers, there’s no way you’d want to be anything less than inviting and welcoming to the new (technology-driven) stranger in your midst. Actually, that’s pretty exciting. Hallelujah!
 
Originally posted, April 19, 2017
Photo credit: cottonbro studio @ pexels.coms
 
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Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a Stewardship Consultant for the OR-ID Annual Conference. She is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship – helping with capital campaigns and encouraging more generosity. For 25 years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has helped raise over three million dollars for numerous churches and non-profit organizations.
 
You can reach Cesie at inspiringgeneorsity@gmail.com, at CesieScheuermann.com, or at cesieds@horizons.net. Want to schedule a meeting? She’s got you covered. Click on the link below. Cesie suggests for an uplifting time you watch Apple TV’s Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical (listen to this super catchy tune). Let’s hear it for camp!
 
Schedule a meeting now.
 
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