FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions - we've become accustomed to looking for them on web sites we visit. But, should we? If everyone is asking, why didn't we anticipate the questions? Here's a look at answering and anticipating the questions your visitors are probably asking.

FAQ sections are good signs your original content is bad.

People are bombarded with information - radio, television, magazines, newspapers, text messages, email and social media updates. Despite all the noise, people are still starved for good information. How do you get heard above the noise? Contribute to the noise? Quantity does not guarantee quality.

The biggest factor in getting heard is actually saying something on a regular basis. Not just anything, but something of value - timely and relevant. I will bet you have something of importance to share with people, but you haven't used your website to share it. Or, by the time you did post it, the timeliness or relevance was lost.

'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.' ~Aristotle

Print formats have fixed physical dimensions - 8.5" x 11", 4-page, 1/2-page folded - and the temptation is to fill every available square inch of space in an effort to get the most for your money. The web has no boundaries and pages are not limited by a fixed format, but the temptation still remains - publish everything, including the filler. The result? Lots of web content with little impact. We look at some of the consequences of continuing to follow the print mentality when publishing on the web.

1. Having a web presence is no longer a nicety, but a necessity
2. You have limitations, as do the various options for establishing your web presence
3. It's not that difficult or stressful to make a decision, once you know what your choices are

There are lots of ways to communicate online and there are a variety of costs - where should you focus your attention? Where should you start? Website? Facebook? Twitter? Google Sites? Blogspot? Tumblr? YouTube? MySpace?

Well, you get the idea - there are a lot of facets to your online presence and you might want to hear what others have to say about building your online identity and communicating your message.

This isn't a Top 10 list, or about comparing your site to another church website, or even to any kind of website. It's about applying some basic principles to your web presence to best represent your ministry online and connect with people. Point-and-click and drag-and-drop web publishing systems make make things seem easier, but that doesn't always (in fact, almost never) make those websites better. In this article, I survey the sites listed in our site showcase and share the results with you.

Having a web strategy for your church is really a part of having a communications strategy for you church - your website is just one aspect of all your communications media. Even your web strategy will be broken into several components - a website, possibly a Facebook page and a Twitter account, maybe other online channels like YouTube and MySpace.

There are many pieces to your web strategy, but just having all the pieces doesn't mean they all fit together - yet!

Just like shaking the box won't assemble the jigsaw puzzle for you, you need to have a picture of how it will all fit together and then take steps to make it all happen. Today, we'll look at the pieces and the steps in the context of an overall strategy.

A conversation consists of more than 2 people talking - it also involves listening by all parties involved. What does this have to do with your church website? Everything!

Are you using your website as another vehicle for broadcasting your message, or are you also using it to listen to what others are saying? A recent study by LifeWay Research indicates the majority of churches (even those with fewer than 50 in attendance each week) maintain websites for their church. Yet, of those, only about 40% are actually engaging their members and visitors in conversations on their websites through features such as prayer requests.

If you don't know where you're going, you'll never get lost. And, you'll see a lot of new places!

Setting goals is all about knowing where you're going and knowing when you arrive. We all have heard about S.M.A.R.T. goals - now is the time to put them work. Goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. Let's see how that applies to our church website and the strategy you are developing.

This addition to Church Websites 101 will step away from the technology for a bit, because this is actually more difficult to master than the technology.

3rd in a series introduced in Church Websites 101: Easy. Not Simple. Last time, we fixed the easy stuff - now you'll need a little tech savvy to take care of some of these things. If you've selected a good CMS, most of this will be easy. If you're having to edit the pages or configuration directly - not so easy.

If you've gotten this far, you are well ahead of the majority of non-profit organizations. You have overcome the hurdle of publishing online and have developed a discipline for regular updates. Now, you're getting into some of the finer details of effectively sharing content online. You may also find your choice of tools is helping or maybe it is limiting your efforts.

Introduced in Church Websites 101: Easy. Not Simple, we're now going to dig deeper into the strategies you can employ to build and maintain a more effective website for your church or ministry.

The easy fixes are things you have, or should have, direct control over - the content is yours. This is all about what you post online. Examine your topics, your schedule for posting and updating, the language you use and your presentation. Do it now and keep doing it - establish a discipline (be a disciple) for your ministry.