As you start to delve into the world of online marketing, it is important to be able to understand the terminology being used. We always try to limit the “tech talk” when possible and use terms normal folks use; however, there are times when there simply isn’t another word to use. You may also be reading though other resources and run into confusing terminology. So, we have created the Church Marketing Online Search Marketing Glossary.

We encourage you to look over this dictionary of search marketing terms before you begin reading through the rest of the articles. We also encourage you to bookmark this page so you can visit the page if you ever run into a word or acronym you are not familiar with. If it’s search marketing related, you should find it here. If not, post a comment to request a definition.

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Perhaps as you’ve searched around the Internet and Church Marketing Online you’ve seen the term SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is simply setting up your website to best allow search engines to read your website and understand what your website is about. Search engines aren’t very good guessers, so SEO is done to tell the search engines specifically what they need to know or what you want them to know.

The goal of SEO is to increase your website’s rankings in the search engines and bring more visitors to your website. An optimized website can bring 2 times, 3 times, or even 10 times the visitors than an un-optimized website. So, understanding SEO and its importance can make or break a website.

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Dean Peters posted an excellent article over at Heal Your Church Website today – lessons derived from his office vending machine - about the importance of using website analytics with a church website.  Website analytics are statistics that tell you all sorts of useful information including which pages are most popular, what search phrases people used to find your website, and more.

Most web hosting packages provide some sort of statistics, but a great way to get very detailed analytics for free is with Google Analytics.

The bottom line is… when it comes to websites and snack machines – it’s important to give people what’s important to them rather than offering what’s important to you. 

One of the biggest reasons why many organizations are not doing even simple things to help people find their websites in search engines is they simply don’t understand how search engines work.  This article is intended to explain the basics of how search engines work and in the course of doing so shatter some search engine myths and help you understand what you can do to help people find your website in search engines.

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Chris Walker at EvangelismCoach.org posted a good article about a church that issued a press release that was practically useless because it included so much flowery language and Christian lingo (aka Christianese).

Local newspapers will often run church press releases (or exerpts from them) in their religion section (both print and online), so it’s great to see a church using a press release to communicate with people in their community, but you’ve got to write them in a way that unchurched people can understand.  Read the critique: Flowery Church “Insider” Language confuses Press Release.

Some people believe the church can be more effective by utilizing processes most commonly and effectively used in business today, including marketing.  In fact there are companies that specifically help churches develop a logo, a slogan, a website, brochures, and a multi-faceted marketing campaign much the same way other companies develop these elements to launch a new business.

On the other hand, some people abhor these practices and think the church should stay as far away from them as possible.  They believe marketing is deceptive, manipulative, superficial, worldly, and yes – evil.

And then there’s the middle ground where I think most of us find ourselves.  We want our churches to reach more people in our communities.  We want to express the passion and love we have for God and people.  If people would just come to a Sunday service, we know God would show up and touch their hearts and show them the amazing life they could have with Him in it.  We want to let people know about the opportunities God has for them, but it’s so hard to get people’s attention in this media-saturated culture.  We want to reach out, but we don’t want resort to hype, gimmicks, or starkly corporate tactics.

Is marketing the way to do that, or is marketing evil?

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