As time goes by, churches ask Parish Giving the same thing: what should we include on our website? Well, we thought after a while, why not make a blog about it? Since our goal is to attract traffic to your website, we thought that these are the best items and links to have on your church’s website.

Traffic on your website increases community involvement, more interest in the church, and most importantly donations. We have noticed that when one of our parishes do small changes, they add up to something really big. At the end of the day we all want our church to be a part of the community, and the way into the communities heart is through its website.

News from your Archdiocese or Diocese

With things constantly changing in our post-COVID vaccine world, you need to keep your parishioners up to date with the latest information from your Archdiocese or Diocese. Some Dispensations are being lifted, social distancing is being relaxed, and masks are starting to disappear. Keep your parishioners up to date with news from your Archdiocese or Diocese.

Volunteer Opportunities

Many parishes offer different organizations and groups to volunteer with to meet new people. Some are Knights of Columbus, the Columbiettes, your church choir, or perhaps a St. Vincent de Paul society. They are always looking for volunteers and eager to expand their groups.

Information about your church

All churches should have an About Us section. Parishioners like to know more about their Pastor, Deacons, those who work in the office and so much more. Being able to put a face to a name on a website is a great help too!

Your weekly bulletin with up-to-date ads!

Your parishes weekly bulletin is what keeps parishioners in the loop each week. They take it home, read the articles and feel a part of a community. Do not forget the advertisers either. Without them, there would be no bulletin. Make sure to have the most up-to-date ads with your online bulletin. If you are unsure of how to do this, contact your bulletin publishing company and they’ll provide a link that is updated each week.

Events

If you have inserts in your bulletins, make sure to include them on your website as well. Once the event is over, or sold out, make sure to mark it on your website.

Social Media accounts

Are you on Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? YouTube? Why not inform your parishioners of this and have the links on your website? This way they can follow you and be up to date with everything going on at the parish.

Also with your Social Media site, offer a QR code to direct you to your online giving site. And parishioners often wonder what does the parish do with my offering? You can show stories in your social media accounts what your parish does with weekly offerings. Show them the progress of the new roof, show them the freshly painted rooms, show them the new carpet, etc. When someone sees where their money is going, they often support the parish more.

School Website

If you have a school associated with your parish, place a link on your website for them. This will attract more attention to the school and perhaps more parishioners will sign their children up for parochial school.

Online Giving

We always recommend our churches place our logo in a prominent area on your website with a direct link to the churches online giving page. This way parishioners can leave the envelope at home and pay before mass, after mass, or have it set up to be automatically debited from the account. Donations are often up when the parishioner knows who the parish wants to use as a donation site.

Another good idea is placing your Live Stream Mass link under or above your online giving link. This way if your parishioner is unable to attend Mass in person (sick, vacation, etc.) they can still see the reminder to give.

We also want to stress KEEP YOUR WEBPAGE UP TO DATE! We know it can be a tiresome job but seeing events that took place over a year ago does not encourage traffic on your website. Instead, it may have parishioners visit the website less, and not participate in activities. Ask parishioners if they would like to volunteer to keep your webpage up to date. More people are willing to help than you would expect.

We hope these suggestions help improve your parishes website!