Why this matters
By the end of this you'll have a plan-a-visit page that answers a first-time guest's real questions before they ever get in the car: where to park, what happens to their kids, how long the service runs, what to wear, where to sit, and who's preaching. Six answers, one page, about thirty minutes of writing.
What blocks most churches isn't effort, it's that the page gets written from the inside. The people who build it already know where to park and who the pastor is, so those answers quietly get left off. A guest doesn't know any of it, and the gaps are exactly where a Sunday-morning decision gets made.
At a glance
- Plan on about 30 minutes to draft the page if you already know your answers.
- Six items belong on it: parking, kids, service length, what to wear, where to sit, and the pastor.
- In our 2026 State of Small Church Websites study, an audit of 2,000 church websites, 56.9% of judged sites had plan-a-visit or what-to-expect content, so this page is still a real differentiator.
- Write every section as the answer to a question a guest would ask, not as a church announcement.
What you need before you start
- A page or section on your site you can edit (the "Plan a Visit" or "New Here" page, or create one).
- Your real service start time and roughly how long the service runs.
- The name of whoever preaches most Sundays, and a photo if you have one.
- Ten minutes to walk your own parking lot and front door with fresh eyes, or ask someone who's new.
How to build the page
Step 1: Write the parking and arrival answer first
Start with where to park and which door to use, because that's the first worry a first-time guest carries in. Name the lot, name the entrance, and say whether a greeter will be there. If parking is tight on Sunday, say so and give the overflow option. If your lot splits across two streets, a guest won't know that, so spell it out. End with the one door you actually want them to walk through.
Step 2: Answer the kids question plainly
Say what happens to children during the service. Give the age range you care for, where check-in happens, and how a parent gets reached if needed. Parents of young kids often decide to visit or skip on this one answer alone. Say a family pulls in at 10:20 with a four-year-old; if the page already told them where check-in is and that they'll get a text if their child needs them, they walk in calm instead of hunting for a volunteer. Keep it concrete.
Step 3: State service length and what the hour looks like
Tell guests when it starts, how long it runs, and what the time actually holds. A guest who knows the service lasts about an hour, with music and then a message, can plan the rest of their morning. A common belief is that mystery builds interest; in practice, not knowing how long they'll be stuck is a reason to stay home. Remove the mystery and you remove a reason to skip.
Step 4: Settle what to wear and where to sit
Tell guests how people actually dress, from jeans to a jacket, so they're not standing in their closet guessing. Then answer where to sit: anywhere is fine, or a greeter will help them find a spot. These two worries are small and silent, and they keep people in the parking lot. Naming them out loud makes the front door feel open.
Step 5: Introduce the pastor by name
Name who preaches and add a sentence about them, with a photo if you can. A guest wants a face and a name before they commit a Sunday. In our 2026 study, 50.6% of judged sites name the pastor anywhere on the site, so about half don't. This is a cheap, human fix, and the plan-a-visit page is the right place for it.
Step 6: Add one clear next action
Close with a single step. Either a short form so you can have a greeter ready, or a plain line like "just show up, we'll be watching for you." One action beats five. Keep whatever you choose easy to tap on a phone, since that's where most guests will read this.
Quick audit checklist
- The parking and entrance answer is in the first screen, not buried below.
- A parent can find the kids answer without scrolling past three paragraphs.
- Service start time and rough length are both stated.
- There's a plain sentence on what people wear.
- The pastor is named, ideally with a photo.
- There's exactly one next action, and it's tappable on a phone.
- You read the whole page on your own phone and nothing was cut off or tiny.
- Someone who has never been to your church read it and had no leftover questions.
Where this stops working
If your homepage doesn't load fast on a phone or your service time is wrong or stale, don't start here. A polished plan-a-visit page can't rescue a site a guest can't load or trust. Fix the broken basics first, then write this page.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a form on the plan-a-visit page?
Not always. A short "let us know you're coming" form helps you prepare a greeter, but it can also add friction. If you use one, keep it to a name and a Sunday date. If filling it out feels like work, replace it with a plain "just show up, we'll be watching for you."
How much should we say about what to wear?
Enough to stop a guest from guessing. One or two sentences describing how people actually dress, from jeans to a jacket, does the job. The goal is to remove a worry, not to set a rule.
Where should the plan-a-visit link go on the site?
In the main menu and near the top of the homepage, where a first-time guest looks first. In our 2026 study, 56.9% of judged sites had plan-a-visit or what-to-expect content, so a clear link already puts you ahead of many.
Where this connects in our work
- A homepage review for a plain look at whether a first-time guest can find and use this page.
- See examples for how other church sites lay out a plan-a-visit page.
- Our 2026 research for the share of sites with plan-a-visit content and how the pastor is named.
Next step
Send the draft to whoever updates your site and have them read it on a phone before it goes live.