SUMMARY: If your church wants to maintain a dynamic, interactive and user-friendly Web ministry, use these top ten best practices.#1. Develop a Web ministry team. Don’t go it alone. Share the excitement and responsibility of working together in ministry using the tools of the Internet. Learn more about all aspects of Web ministry.
#2. Know your target audience groups and develop ways to reach them. Continually request feedback and adjust your Web ministry to keep people engaged. To learn more about using polls or surveys to get feedback, visit here.
#3. Design seeker-specific experiences through your church’s Web presence, and enlist church members to meet seekers when the online experience leads to offline participation. Start this aspect of Web ministry by updating your church’s profile. Get the details here at the online CME Church Directory.
#4. Review the Guidelines for Connectional Web sites.
#5. Employ the user-centered design process for your Web ministry. You will save time and money when you get it right the first time. Learn more about the user-centered design process here
#6. Select Web and Internet technology tools and resources to meet your specific purposes and goals and reach target audiences. Make sure the tools and resources you select are appropriate and the best method for delivering your key messages to your audience groups.
#7. Keep all of your Web content up-to-date and relevant. Nothing is more unappealing than a Web site with out-of-date content. Use a content-management system and RSS to schedule new content. Learn more about writing for the Web here. Discover how to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in your Web ministry here
#8. Adopt clear policies and terms of use, privacy, safety and copyright guidelines for your church’s online presence. Create and follow the procedures and protocols you develop for a safe and appropriate online experience for your members and visitors. Learn more here
#9. Promote and display your online presence in the offline world and your offline presence in the online world. Put your church’s physical address and contact information on all websites, blogs and social networking sites, and put your website address and other Internet locations on your printed materials. Learn more about promoting your Web presence.
#10. Keep up-to-date with technology trends, new tools, resources and training. As quickly as things change in cyberspace, it is easy to get behind and out of touch.