Case Study (Part 5) - kings-medway.co.uk

It has been nearly two months since I wrote the last part of my series of case studies looking at the project I am currently working on for King’s Church Medway. I’m pleased to say that those two months have not been wasted. We have the skeletal bones of the websites and creative ideas in place, we have a launch date in mind and all hands are on deck adding gloss to make sure that the final products are something that I and more importantly the church can be proud of. With that in mind, I thought that now would be the ideal opportunity to talk about copy.

A website generally has many levels of engagement. You have the ‘bouncer’s’; those visitors who have hit your website by mistake and immediately leave. You have those who arrive at the correct destination, but leave shortly afterwards as the site on first view just doesn’t do it for them. There are people who then arrive to be nosey, looking around the website, looking at the pictures and videos with no real aim in getting something from it - the website content is hopefully interesting enough to keep them amused before they leave and return at some point possibly in the future.

You then have people who have a genuine interest, in something specific. They know about your business, but need to get an answer to one of their questions. Depending upon how long it takes them to find what it is they are looking for you have their attention, before they leave and return again sometime in the future for a similar purpose.

Finally, you have those users who have come across your website with an open mind and sit, read, digest everything before making an informed decision upon whether or not to take that engagement further.

The list above is by no means exhaustive, afterall, we are all individual and all have different needs. We all use the internet in a way that suits us and the information garnered is uniquely digested.

For the three sites that we are currently building we already have a definitive user base that doesn’t fit into any of the types above; that of the church congregation which will use the websites for an entirely different purpose.

In an agency environment we have a highly skilled and knowledgeable team of planners, who look at the makeup of any potential visitor and create a series of persona’s which build up an idea of the type of character who is going to visit the website. The design, user experience and copy is aimed at those people and success is measured by levels of engagement - how long have people stayed on the site for, how many interactions have they made, how many transactions have they completed and so on.

As an organisation King’s Church Medway doesn’t have those resources, so a lot of what we are doing is educated guesswork. I’m working alongside Joel Buckland, a Media Content Producer so together our experience is being used collaboratively for guidance. How we envisage the websites working are as online brochures that show the respective strengths of the three key areas and tell people who don’t yet know about them who they are and most importantly share the good work that they do.

By adding a social layer on top of that, the church congregation can get involved with the respective areas that they have interest in via Twitter, via YouTube and the blossoming community pages of Facebook.

Taking each site in turn, I’d like to look at the style of copy required, the potential areas in which stories can be told via the medium of blog posts and how to use copy to make the website universal to all that come across each site - irrespective of what they arrive originally looking for, or background, in order to help drive engagement.

Kings Church Medway

The main role of the King’s Church Website is to inform people within Medway of what happens inside the four walls of their church building on any given Sunday. Why are they there, what do they do and more importantly, why as a visitor would I want to visit and ultimately give my life to God?

How do you sell that idea and whilst still getting the message across?

By showing!

Interesting video content, relevant imagery and text that is welcoming and friendly. Using King’s Church Medway in the collective sense “we do this, we are, we have, we believe and we feel this way” in a manner that isn’t too scripture oriented and forceful will enforce that feeling of community and belonging.

Fundamentally we are working with a place of worship, with those people in attendance having a strong belief and understanding of biblical text and scripture. A careful balance has to be taken into consideration when writing copy for the website. Too much scripture and forceful evangelism can be detrimental if the visitors to the site are curious and looking to take their first steps into Christianity. But on the reverse of that, by omitting it altogether, fully educated Christians looking for a church in the area will notice a definite lacking in spiritual atmosphere.

On the homepage we have a warm welcoming message from the Pastor, with a brief introduction and the visitors as they make their way through the site are guided into the various aspects of church life. The About Us page, the Locations and Times page and all those that provide visitor information need to contain just that - Information. The what, the when and how. Nothing else is needed. Whereas the areas describing worship, scripture, prayer and the all important introduction to Jesus for those who ask “who is he?” can be slightly more focussed with suitable references from the bible - but alongside a qualified explanation as to what the biblical text is saying.

My message is - showcase that spirit, the atmosphere and sense of community that is prevalent whenever I enter the building. Those people who want to learn about Christianity and to worship alongside those that do will, in a suitable environment - namely Sundays sat in front of people who preach with passion and enthusiasm, something that is difficult to convey simply with the written word on a website. It is getting them comfortably into that environment in the first place which is the most crucial action to achieve.

If I may use an example, a recent FAQ that was written for inclusion into the site:

Q) Do you do Christenings?
A) No. As we are a Bible believing and following church we understand that as the Bible does not lend itself to Christening but to 'full immersion water baptism'.

The answer itself, is quite blunt and comes across in a matter of fact way. From that answer, you can immediately conjure up a string of alternative questions. “Hey, I was Christened as a child, does this mean it is invalid?”, “Why does the Church of England Christen people then?” or something along those lines.

I’ve actually edited the answer below, softening the tone slightly whilst trying to combat those responsive questions.

No, unfortunately we don’t. We use the Bible as our guide and follow the scripture contained. We understand as stated within the scripture that to be Baptised in Christ is to be 'fully immersed in water'. Learn more about baptism, and the biblical references which explain this in more detail here. (with a relevant link to the right area of the website).

Be friendly, be warm, be welcoming and be considerate to the fact that not everyone is on the same spiritual wavelength and could be fazed by facing an immediate onslaught of quoted references. Or worse still, be put off by blunt, inconsiderate responses.

Kings Church Medway, is a lot more than what happens on a Sunday. LOTS of things are happening on a daily basis, with many members of the congregation joining in, whether it be social activities or something a little more philanthropic - things that so far have gone unnoticed. What we have now is a platform which will allow those endeavours to ‘get out there’ and tell people just what it is that the church members are doing.

By adding blog content these stories can be created, shared and used as tools for subtle evangelism.

I may not have a deep religious understanding myself, but I have read books such as Run Baby Run by Nicky Cruz and The Cross and The Switchblade by David Wilkerson. Both of these are true accounts of how those authors found Christ and eventually ended up evangelizing the Word of God to people in rough and difficult environments. Neither of which contained much in the way of heavy scripture, but both were told with honesty and conviction that resonated with those who read them and have the power to change the minds of even the most stubborn.

Every member of the church has a story to tell. How they found God and how their life at King’s Church Medway has empowered them as Christians. The stories don’t need to be heavy, just reflective of the truth with honesty and conviction.

Likewise, the other blog that we have implemented is to cover all of the events that happen on a weekly or monthly basis. A Men’s Breakfast with a Guest Speaker for example. A blog will be posted with the times and the details, but follow up blogs can be added under the same stream. Who is the guest speaker, what will he be discussing, why has he been chosen? And afterwards, what was the reaction, how did it go, was his message relevant and did anything good come out of it?

It all adds to a sense of community, belonging to something and doing something great.

Slowly over time, a truer reflection of the church and its people will be built up fostering a greater relationship with the people of Medway and beyond. The work itself is great, but it is selling it out in a way that people can relate to and be inspired to become involved.

Caring Hands in the Community

Homelessness is a worldwide issue and is something that will never go away. But whilst people such as King’s Church Medway operate endeavours such as Caring Hands in the Community homeless people will always have a helping hand.

The role of the Caring Hands in the Community website is simple. To educate people in the issues that ANYONE can face, what it is doing to those who are facing it and what you as an individual or organization can do to help.

The question that is less simple; how is that message put across?

I had a conversation with a colleague in the pub on Friday night, he edits videos for the agency and so I thought he’d be interested in hearing about Joel’s work for the website I’ve been working on. I explained a little bit about the background and was really interested when I told him that it was for a homeless charity. He said himself that he does stuff in London for homeless people and it means something to him, but when I mentioned that it was a Christian endeavour he rolled his eyes and said “Oh, Christians!”.

Whether that response is a measure of general Christian persecution I really couldn’t tell you - but it is a response that is not helpful. Considering the work that the people at Caring Hands in the Community do, I find it rather unfair that people’s spiritual beliefs should take precedence.

The Caring Hands in the Community copy was always going to be very different to the church in any case. A more formal, a more structured tone of voice is required. Consideration needs to be made for the issues that people face, with a sympathetic and understanding tone that isn’t judgemental or based on political opinion. By being neutral in the causes and effects of the problems people face, the website will hopefully reach out to anyone who wishes to help regardless of faith, of political persuasion and social background.

The about us page should emphasis the background of the charity, the links to the church and that the management team are full time members of King’s Church Medway which actively guides the ethos of the organisation - but remind visitors that help and assistance is welcome from anyone regardless of faith. Afterall, it is the people that need help that will benefit the most from a positively engaged website.

All the other pages should detail in facts, cover the information that people are interested in. How they can help and what it is that Caring Hands in the Community do each day. Scripture shouldn’t necessarily be required - if people want to understand the motivation behind the organisation, send them off to the church website which should cover all of that and much more besides.

Finally, as with the King’s Church Medway Blog, the Caring Hands in the Community website will be provided with a communication platform that allows stories to be told. Whilst much of the blog content will be more formal; a review of day to day happenings, a journalistic style report of Police, or outside organisation visits and outcomes from those meetings, which will act as a nice contrast to the stories of clients that have visited and shared with members of the team.

Some stories will be sad, in fact they will be damn right depressing. But what is more depressing than a story left untold? If one person reads it and makes a donation or volunteers to help off the back of it then it will be all worthwhile. Other stories may well be uplifting and will possibly restore people’s faith in humanity let alone God - again making that investment all the more worthwhile - and justifiable.

Light the Way

The Light the Way website, although smaller in anticipated user base has probably the widest target demographic. When King’s Church Medway go overseas on one of their missions, they “Light the Way” and have done for the past few years via the Philippines, India and have already scheduled Guyana for sometime next year.

It is for those very reasons that we can expect people from all over the world to visit the Light the Way website.

Just as homelessness is an issue that blights society, some of the projects that the Light the Way team have been involved in have changed lives for people who miss the things that we take for granted.

Working with specific charities, it is an opportunity to celebrate those partnerships. Who have we worked with? How did they help us, how did we help them? There is no shortage of achievement to be proud of and to shout about - such as the installation of solar panels, rebuilding school classrooms, installation of fresh drinking water facilities. Just a few of the achievements that the team have listed to date!

As a visitor to the website you’ll also want to know to where they have been, how they got there, what did they do when they arrived and how was their involvement measured in terms of legacy for the people they left behind.

Most importantly, how can I help next time around - better still, can I take part?

Whilst there are elements of the website that need to be written respectively, just like the site above when discussing the issues that people face, there is a chance for a spot of light heartedness. Organisation of these trips takes time and effort and a sense of humour is occasionally needed, but the team that go, go with a sense of camaraderie and companionship with the knowledge that they are going to better the lives of many.

Let people know that they are more than welcome to join in, take part, make a change themselves, but in the full knowledge that they are going on a Christian sponsored ministry and with that comes certain responsibilities, even if that faith isn’t quite shared.

Just like Caring Hands in the Community there are stories that need to be told surrounding peoples circumstances, but there are also stories to tell as tourists, such as finding yourself in Manila, or India and not understanding the language and how that barrier was overcome. Lost bags, misunderstandings and even drive-by robberies, all things that can happen to tourists irrelevant of the reason behind their visits.

The main thing again is honesty and showing a true reflection of the work that is being done and what it means to be a part of a worthwhile cause. Inspire someone to take part as these opportunities don’t come along often, or are often exclusive - whereas “Light the Way” is open to all.