Media Outreach

First Impressions is facilitated through Guest Reflections. People are asked to pick a website from a church in their area at random and review it. These sites may or may not be powered by faithHighway.

Church Location: Marietta, GA

User Profile:

• Female
• 25 to 29 years old
• Caucasian
• Area Resident for 6 to 10 years
• Attends church 5 or more times per year

Final Grade: While this site had up-to-date content and excellent functionality, it lacked a map and/or directions and was designed very simply. The site visitor “gave a neutral rating because it did not stand out in regards to other sites, and it did not seem like a good site to attract new visitors.” ____________________________________________________________________________________

“Overall I found the site very easy to navigate, and I was able to find contact information (e-mail & phone), service times, the names of Pastors & other church leaders, information for parents on youth programs and Sunday School, as well as their beliefs and affiliations with other churches in the area and other states. The only issue I had with the site is that though there was was an address given, I could not find any area of the site that gave directions or a map. I think that this website definitely needs one, even if it is just a link that goes to Google maps or Mapquest.com. It does not seem that this church is very Internet saavy, but a map or directions is something, I believe, they still need.” Despite the site being fairly easy to navigate, the visitor ranked the site at a D- for navigation because she felt having a map and/or directions to the church is vital to having a site that will attract visitors.
“Their site was free of any typos or broken links, and the site promoted their church as an inviting place of worship, and made clear that anyone of any background or experience was welcome to come and worship God and Jesus Christ.”
“The information, besides the directions, however, seemed quite complete, especially in their “Beliefs” section. I also found that the information was current and updated appropriately. There were some expired events on their “Events” page, but they were only from that previous weekend, and they had events that were still upcoming.”
“I feel that this website was created by the church simply so that they could have one. The overall setup and style is very simple, which makes it not very visually appealing. I also did not like the entrance page with the photo background because it was hard to read. It did not seem like this church was using this site effectively to attract new visitors.”

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What is your overall first impression of this site?

“The opening page has a picture of the Church as the background and white lettering centered on it. It was very hard to read and to make out the link. When I clicked to enter the site, the layout there was easier to read. I would suggest that the website not have that entrance page setup the way it currently is though because it made me believe that the church was not interested in attracting new worshippers since it was not easy to read.”

What would make this site better?

“There are three things that would make this site better:

1. a map or directions to the location;
2. a better entrance page; and
3. some sort of interactive element to the site for the church’s community (blog, forum, podcast, etc).”

Would you visit this church based on the site?

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Pic by Randysonofrobert