At the present, there is no consensus on how to determine a web site's effectiveness in reaching non-Christians. Many churches can find out how many "hits" their site receives (how many times people have tried to look at things on their web site), but this information is not sufficient to determine how many non-Christians are looking at the web site. Even evaluating the data for a particular page which is specifically directed toward non-Christians is not sufficient, because there is no way of knowing if Christians or non-Christians have looked at it.
At the very least, a site needs to include information on how to contact the church easily-the church's postal address and e-mail address, and possibly also a response form for user comments or a form for submitting prayer requests. Once users contact your church, it becomes much easier to discover how many responses come from non-Christians.
For example, in response to a testimony I posted on my web site,22 I recently received an e-mail message from a Jewish man, in which he asked serious questions about God's sovereignty and the presence of suffering. Several months ago, I received an e-mail from another "Joe & Jenn" couple who had found my site. Upon reading the e-mail, it was quite apparent to me that the writer was not a Christian, although she was aware from my site that I was. Messages like these help me to know that non-Christians are finding and being affected by my web site.
Another way to know if your site is effectively reaching non-Christians is to examine the interactive components of your web site. If you have a guestbook on your site, look at who has signed it and what their comments have been. Follow up especially with those who have signed it but appear to be non-Christians. Look at the messages that people have posted on your bulletin board page, if you have one. Make sure that non-Christians receive timely answers to their questions through direct e-mail when possible. Visit your site's chat room and stay around for awhile to see if any non-Christians show up. Performing this kind of spot-check will help you to determine how effective the interactive aspects of your site are in facilitating conversation between Christians and non-Christians, and how effective your site as a whole is in reaching non-Christians.
Many churches would like to measure their web site's effectiveness by examining the number of church visits they receive as a direct result of their site. At present, however, few churches are equipped to determine how many of these visitors found them through the Internet. It is sometimes tempting to proclaim success immediately when someone who is already a Christian shows up on your church's doorstep, thankfully clutching the map you provided on your web site.23 Such a situation is a wonderful success if your goal is to help Christians find your church, but if your goal is to help non-Christians find Jesus, then keep on working at it.