Google announced they are attempting reach further into the social networking arena with the launch of their new +1 feature.  So, what is this +1 feature and how does it effect churches? Read more…

Every website should be optimized.  Especially church websites.  People use the search engines to find churches and find answers…answers churches have.  Not optimizing your church website is like building a church and then not bothering to put up a sign or tell anyone.

So, what is on-page optimization and how do you do it? Read more…

Social media, especially Facebook, is fantastic opportunity for churches and Pastors to connect with church members and members of their community.  But, like most things, Facebooking as a Pastor can cause more harm than good if not done right. Read more…

Search engine optimization is something that should simply be a part of any and every website design.  After all, aren’t you building the website so people will find it and use it?  Good SEO can be the difference between a website succeeding in it’s mission or failing.

Here are a few final thoughts on SEO… Read more…

Warning!!!

“Danger Will Robinson!  Danger!!”

There are certain practices that the search engines tell us they do not approve of. This is generally known in the SEO world as “Black Hat” SEO. The search engines warn that they will punish website that employ these tactics and possibly ban the site.  Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of do-it-yourselfers use use these tactics simply out of ignorance.  They heard using keywords in their text was good, so they just started sticking a bunch of keywords in the text without realizing that’s keyword stuffing and could hurt their site.

So, to be very clear.  I’m telling you about these things so that you DO NOT do them.  There are plenty of legitimate ways of ranking well in the search engines.  There is no need to go to the dark side.

Here are a few of the more common “Black Hat” practices: Read more…

Want to rank well for a certain keyword?  Just tell the search engines what keywords you want to rank well for.  By optimizing certain parts of your web pages, you can greatly effect your church’s website’s search rankings.

As the search engines look at each page of your website, they read the various parts of the page to try to figure out what the page is about and, thus, for what search terms to rank the page.  By using your targeted keywords throughout the various parts of your web pages, you can get the search engines to list your church’s website for specific keywords.  Here are…

7 places on your web pages to use your keywords: Read more…

If you put a group of people together in a room, do you have real community?  What if none of them know each other?  What if some of them do know each other, but don’t like each other?  How do you create real community? Read more…

Kent Shaffer over at Church Relevance has posted his top 200 church blogs.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make the cut…this year.  Of course we only restarted a little over a month ago .  There are some great blogs listed that I thought you might want to check out.

http://churchrelevance.com/resources/top-church-blogs/

What church or marketing related blogs do you read?

Theory about keyword research is great (well, not really), but how about some practical info about how to do keyword research? Read more…

I’m sure your church has had a barbecue or pot-luck dinner. You may have had conferences or workshops. Surely every church has had a worship service. What do all these have in common? They are all live events that bring people together. It’s great! These events allow people to meet each other, strengthen social bonds, provide the means for discussions and group learning, create a sense of belonging, and much more. There is a reason the Bible tells us not to forsake the assembling of the believers. Community it important.  But what about online? Read more…