The feedback needs to come from the people you intend to view your web site, which may, or may not be your congregation. Clear definitions of your visitors and goals for your site will provide you with good yardstick for measuring your performance.

Trying to serve your congregation? How many visits come from search engines or referrals, as opposed to direct visits? If the number of visits from search results is higher than direct visits, I'd say you're not even reaching your congregation.

I think the episode on politics and your church website addressed this in part - your church website needs to be tailored for the people that use it and not just to fit what a leader or committee thinks it should be or look like. Having a clear understanding of the purpose of your site is essential.

Peace!

Thanks for the reply.

In fact, the episode on Church politics is what really got me thinking about this. Who is this site for? Who am I serving? Who should it be for?

Our Church is small enough (for now) for me to solicit feedback from people directly. Obviously, that's the preferred way to go.

I've heard about this concept of "goals" that can be built into Google analytics. Can someone explain this to me further?

I think goals of a website are good. You should know why you have it? What do are your goals that people get out of it?

I wouldn't use Google Analytics goals. They are targeted around making money. But, you might be able to adapt them.

I don't think the goals in Google are necessarily based on money, but dollar values can be assigned to them. Think of goals in GA as 'desired outcomes' and you'll be closer to how I understand them.

For example, if you have a goal to get people who visit your website to connect with you, you would define a goal in GA for your contact form. Or, more specifically, the page the contact form sends you to after the form is submitted.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if the "Goals" in Google Analytics were the same as the "Goals" talked about in the User-Aware episode. That's why I was confused.

Thanks for clarifying!