As a church communicator, you know without a doubt that your church needs a new website. The only problem is, you don't think your staff feels the same way. "What's wrong with the one we have?" has become an all-too common phrase. As much as it pains you to use a church website that looks like it's stuck in the 90s, you know you need to convince your staff that it really is time for a new website.
So how exactly do you go about making the buy-in process for a new church website actually happen? This is usually the hard part, but to make it a little easier, we've come up with a formula to help you create your own professional and persuasive presentation.
Psssst. We also have a free, editable presentation for you to have included in our Buyer's Guide Kit.
Talk About Results
Remember, one of your best friends during this process is analytics. Not only does your staff love them, but using facts, figures, and all that other data is a great way to make your case.
One guaranteed way to do this is to prove your current website isn't performing well. If you have heatmap software, you'll want to use this information to get your performance message across. Chances are, you also have access to Google Analytics, which tells you the following types of information:
- How many visitors your website gets.
- How many views each website is getting.
- Your church website's bounce rate.
- What kinds of information visitors are searching for once they find your website.
These are important numbers to know, and they will provide the proof you need to show that your church really does need a new website.
Talk About Money
It might not be the most comfortable thing to talk about, but you will have to talk about money. If you want to be effective during the money part of the presentation, don't just throw a bunch of numbers out there regarding the costs of a new website. Apart from talking about the total cost, you'll also want to cover why they need to spend that amount. Maybe they have no idea what the going rates for new websites are these days. They also might not realize the different factors that affect the price of a website, things such as:
- The number of webpages.
- Type of design (templates or custom-built).
- The level of database integration.
- CMS (basic or advanced).
And just when you think you have enough information on money, put more information in—it's guaranteed that this will be the prime part of the presentation for most of the people in the room.
Talk about Details of the Work
During your presentation, you'll want to be clear about who's doing what with the church website. Your staff will want to know things like, who is expected to come up with content for the website, and who will be in charge of keeping it up-to-date.
They will also want to know what the time-frame will be. How long is it going to take to get a new website in place? Weeks? Months? Is there a set deadline? And speaking of time, just how time-consuming is this project going to be? It would be great, not to mention very helpful, to have the answers to some of these questions in some sort of timeline.
Include Visuals
Did you know that 67 percent of people are more persuaded when they see visuals during a presentation? This means you are absolutely going to need some type of visuals. They don't have to be anything fancy, but they should be relevant to your presentation while complementing the information you’re presenting.
*call-out* In fact, we’ve already started a presentation for you that you can download in our Buyer’s Guide Kit.
One great way to include visuals it to show screenshots of websites that you're inspired by and explain why you like their site better. And remember that data we talked about earlier? Go ahead and turn it into a pie chart or bar graph. Sometimes people need to actually see the data in order to make sense out of it, plus it makes the information easier to remember (just in case they have to think about it later).
Be Prepared for These Common Questions
There is a really good chance that some members of your church staff are going to have questions, which means you should be prepared to answer the following:
- “Why do we need a new or different church website? We already have one.”
- “Do people really visit the website?”
- “Why is it worth investing in a new website?”
- “How will this website help visitors, members, and staff?”
- “Why is having a website even necessary?”
Also, don't be surprised if there are more questions about money, so be prepared.
