Will you target your site towards purely nominal Christians or completely unchurched people? Nominal Christians know and believe the basics of Christianity. "These may be church members who have been inactive, or people who have just never understood the need for personal commitment," but they are very open to the church.8 Completely unchurched people are often quite unaware of the gospel. "Instead, they are steeped in secular or non-Christian beliefs." Some have developed a distorted concept of Christianity based on what little they have heard of the gospel. "Others might be receptive to the Good News of Christ, but they have not encountered vital Christianity."9
In evangelizing a city, it is important to "break the city into subgroups" and target just one or two of them.10 With the Internet, it should be no different. Certainly, some groups we find in society as a whole will seem strangely absent from the Internet. Homeless people and others who live in poverty generally do not have access. Only a small number of single parents have access, as indicated by the small percentage of Internet users who are divorced (5%).11
Other groups will be quite large. Most colleges and universities, for example, make the Internet available to their students and faculty. A large number (37%) of users have never been married. Given an even larger number of married Internet users (46%), it makes sense that many may also be parents, or expectant parents.12 A church may wish to target a more specific group such as recovering alcoholics or abuse victims, especially if their church already operates such a ministry.
A church should target their web site toward people who are similar to those they are already reaching with their existing ministries. It would be helpful for a church to examine its current ministries to determine what subgroup the web site should target. A strong children's ministry in a church, for example, would suggest a family emphasis in the web site. The presence of strong ministry to those in recovery would suggest a similar target audience for the site. If singles or college outreach is a strong ministry focus at present, the church should target the same audience online.
It is essential for a church to choose its target audience wisely in preparing to reach out to them through a web site. "While the high-impact church desires to reach as many subcultures as possible, to be effective it must begin by targeting a primary subculture and design a culturally relevant strategy for that group."13 The same principle applies to a church's web site.