New Church Website Guide Survey and Analytics Research is Published Monthly at Christian Computing Magazine: The Truth About Church Websites and Social Networking.

Data gleaned from church website surveys and church website analytics from Church Website Guide are being cited and published in Christian Computing Magazine starting July of 2009.

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.