Paul Steinbrueck | Church Marketing Online

10 Things Church Website Visitors Need to Know

Most of the focus of our Church Marketing Online University articles to this point has been on things you can do to bring people who are looking for a church to your church website. But once a person comes to your church website for the first time, what happens next?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote 10 Things Church Website Visitors Need to See, which describe the design elements important to making a visitors experience on your church website a good one. In this article, we look at the information first-time visitors to your church website are looking for.

church website visitors Most of the focus of our Church Marketing Online University articles to this point has been on things you can do to bring people who are looking for a church to your church website. But once a person comes to your church website for the first time, what happens next? Do they quickly click away in horror? Or does the design of your website make them feel welcome to look around and possibly attend a church service?

In this article we look at 10 church website design tips – 10 things the design of your church website should have to make a person’s experience on your website a good one.

Apple Tree At a small college a group of incoming freshmen marketing majors gathered for their first class. As the wise, old Professor of Search Engine Marketing made his way to the front of the room, one of the students asked him, “Professor, what is SEO?”

The professor looked over the classroom full of young students and replied, “Let me tell you a story…” Read More

Church Marketing Lessons from a Vending Machine

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.

How Do Search Engines Work?

(Updated on 3/2/2011)

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.

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.

Is Marketing Evil?

Is marketing evil?
(Updated on 2/24/2011)

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?

According to a new study published today by The Barna Group, churches continue to lag behind in their use of Internet technology.

Author - Paul Steinbrueck

10 Things Church Website Visitors Need to Know

10 Things Church Website Visitors Need to See

The 5 Apple Pickers – A Search Engine Marketing Parable

Church Marketing Lessons from a Vending Machine

How Do Search Engines Work?

Church Press Release Killed by Christianese

Is Marketing Evil?