As we approach the 4th of July, I was thinking about freedom. Freedom is a great blessing, one that many people do not have. But we can offer freedom? Read more…

If optimizing a website is like giving your car a tune up, link building is like putting in a bigger engine. Simply put, there are going to be keywords that are out of your reach if all you do is on-page optimization, especially if your church is in a large city. Link building is needed to bring those keywords into your grasp. Links are like votes for your website. The more votes your website gets, the more important the search engines think your site is. That causes then to move you up in the search results for the keywords you are targeting and can get you ranking well for keywords you can’t currently rank well for. So, what is link building and how do you do it? Read on my friend. Read more…

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.

Read more…

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?

Read more…

James Dalman at Church Communications Pro posted an interesting blog article asking Is church marketing dead?  He concludes that it is:

Church marketing is dying. Throwing a slick advertising piece or website at the public isn’t going to cut it much longer. The church of tomorrow will require more than a campaign. It will require investing personally and hanging out in people’s jacked up lives.

My thoughts…

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Church Marketing Sucks posted an interesting story about Kinetic Church in Charlotte, NC.  Kinetic church holds its Sunday service in a movie theater and so they keep all their gear in a trailer.  About a month ago theives stole the trailer.  In response, Kinetic Church launched an outreach effort with donated billboard space and a coordinated online outreach effort.  They even put this video on YouTube reaching out to the person or people who stole the trailer offering them forgiveness and asking for the opportunity to take them out to dinner.

Chris Forbes of Ministry Marketing Coach has published a new 31 page e-book called Facebook for Pastors which can be downloaded for free.  The summary on the website says it covers:

• How to make the most of your profile information
• Tips for Networking with People in Facebook
• All about groups, messages, poking, etc
• Brand Your Ministry
• Meet prospects for your church
• Learn more about the members in your church
• Fine tune your communication skills

I haven’t had a chance to read it myself yet, but I plan to.

Relevant Church in Tampa (only a short drive from OCC Central Command) made headlines earlier this year with their 30 Day Sex Challenge.  They’ve got a Real Men of Genius video online which is pretty funny.  Thanks to Kem Meyer for the heads up.

EDIT: The video is actually from a year ago. In addition to being funny, the cool thing from a marketing perspective is that they posted the video series on YouTube where they’ve been viewed about 20,000 times.