The first article, which has some church website user survey results and church web analytics research, is titled The Truth About Church Websites and Social Networking, and was written by Drew Goodmanson, pastor of Kaleo Church in San Diego, and the CEO of Monk Development, designer of a premier church content management system, Ekklesia360.

An excerpt from this introductory church website and social networking  article published by Christian Computing Magazine is included below.

‘We have all heard about the importance of a church website, the growth of social networking and the need for pastors to blog.  But how effective are these strategies for outreach, making disciples and gathering people?  In spring 2009, Monk Development began a study that over one hundred churches participated in representing 30,000+ members.  This study includes over 1,200 survey responses and nearly fifty years worth of combined Google Analytics data to help us understand what happens on a church website and the experience of online visitors. All of this market research seeks to answer the question, “What are churches doing on the Internet that are best practices for effective online ministry?”’

We are also including an exceprt of an introduction to private church community networks and Christian social networking sites as below:

“Last, we studied the effectiveness of private church community networks and Christian social networking sites for the purpose of building community and discipleship. We are gathering data on usage, experiences, satisfaction, behavior, preferences, perceptions, and demographics. We are going beyond traditional metrics in order determine how these tools promote activities that are central to being Christian and being the church.”

And finally, here is some of the selected Church Website Guide church website survey and web analytics data that was published:
General Internet Use of Respondents
• 88.0% use the Internet daily.
• 32.8% visit social networking sites daily, 18.3% 2-6 times a week and 8.8% weekly.
• 5.6% visit their church website daily.
• 5.9% visit another church or ministry website daily.

Respondents’ Relationship to Church Website
• 17.1% said the website was the first place they learned about their current church prior to attending.
• 12.2% said they found the church website through a search engine.
• 36.1% of respondents said the website played an important role in their decision to attend the church.

35 Years of Analytics

Over one hundred churches representing 20,000 members have participated in our study, and we have over 1,100 survey responses and thirty-five years worth of combined Google Analytics data to help us understand not only what the average church website user experiences, but what individual members experience.  We are beginning to see what works, and what does not work.

Conveying Your Message

Our research is exciting and revealing, telling us everything from how churches are using Social Media, to identifying the content most frequently accessed.  Ultimately, we wanted to know what brings more people to your website, and what aspects breed user engagement so you can convey your message!

Sample Wide Benchmarks

Although the research cannot measure precisely how many hearts were changed, nor how many souls were won, we are definitely going to be able to measure performance through the sample-wide benchmarks on web usage.  Here are just a few of the topics our research will cover:

• What kind of content do users most frequently access?
• What features and functionality are members seeking from a website?
• How much traffic should come from search engines and referrals and what can I do about it?
• What’s a low bounce rate (people leaving the website immediately) for a church website?  How do I keep people longer?
• What are the best practices of attracting more online visitors?
• What’s Twitter and does it really make a difference?
• What kind of results can I expect from getting my church on Facebook?

Making an Impact in Your Web Traffic

It’s with great excitement that we present church leaders, designers and developers, really anyone with a passion for church growth on the internet with this research. As we roll out findings over the next few weeks and months, our hope is that anyone involved in growing the Church at large will be able to use our findings to make lasting impact in their ministry’s web traffic.

Next Time: Why your Church Needs to Run Google Analytics

Our first article will look at what Google Analytics, why churches are using web analytics, how many months of analytics the average church has at their disposal, what percentage of churches use Google Analytics as their primary analytics tool, and why your church needs to be running Google Analytics (or another comparable web analytics tool).  We’re looking forward to sharing our results with you!