I use a website (and its accompanying RSS feed) called Threadwatch to monitor various message boards related to search engine optimization. I probably miss some things by relying on Threadwatch to choose the most interesting conversations, but on the other hand, I don’t have to spend countless hours monitoring several message boards.
Recently, I noticed a post on Threadwatch about a conversation taking place at cre8teasiteforums.com about the ability (or lack thereof) of photographs of real people (rather than stock images) to create credibility in a website visitor’s mind. Since this is an issue that churches often struggle with when developing their websites, I thought I would check out the conversation.
But when I took a look at one of the links which was referenced in the conversation (The Web Credibility Project from Stanford University), I found myself considering the broader issue of credibility in general and specifically how credibility might relate to a church’s website.
A church's website needs to have credibility if it is to reach unbelievers. The believers who visit our church websites probably give us a free pass on credibility, at least to some extent. But unbelievers will not give us the same benefit of the doubt.
With that in mind, what do website visitors look for when considering whether a source is credible or not. Here is what The Web Credibility Project folks discovered (this is from their summary of findings). In order of importance, the following facets of a website determine its credibility in a visitor's mind:
- Design Look (46.1%)
- Information Design/Structure (28.5%)
- Information Focus (25.1%)
- Company Motive (15.5%)
- Information Usefulness (14.8%)
- Information Accuracy (14.3%)
- Name Recognition and Reputation (14.1%)
- Advertising (13.8%)
- Information Bias (11.6%)
- Writing Tone (9.0%)
- Identity of Site Operator (8.8%)
- Site Functionality (8.6%)
- Customer Service (6.4%)
- Past Experience with Site (4.6%)
- Information Clarity (3.7%)
- Performance on Test by User (3.6%)
- Readability (3.6%)
- Affiliations (3.4%)
These are important factors which a church website team should keep in mind when developing their site. Initial appearance, navigation, compelling content - these are things which an unbeliever will consider (consciously or subconsciously) when determining the credibility of a church's website (or any evangelistic site, for that matter).
I believe that the internet provides today's church with a historic opportunity .... to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love in ways which could only have been imagined in times past. The objective of this website is to explore the various ways in which today's technology can be used to spread the gospel around the world.
