<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0">

<channel>
	<title>Church Marketing Online</title>
	
	<link>http://churchmarketingonline.com</link>
	<description>Fishing with the 'Net</description>
	<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:43:06 +0000</pubDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1</generator>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
			<atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChurchMarketingOnline" type="application/rss+xml" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com" /><item>
		<title>Church Marketing Online From OurChurch.Com</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/7XOJ9VAcTes/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/church-marketing-online-from-ourchurchcom/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:18:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Internet evangelism]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Local search]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[search engines]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing online]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[online church marketing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[OurChurch.Com]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=250</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[People are searching for your church in the search engines.  Make sure you church is listed where people will find you...in the top results of Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  Church Marketing Services from OurChurch.Com get you top rankings, guaranteed.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>People Are Looking For a Church…<br />
Help Them Find You!</strong></span></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium"><em>You are looking for a church.  So, like most people, you go online and use the search engines to find a church near you. You find a church from the first few results in the search engines and visit their site…and then visit the church.</em></span></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: medium"><img title="Church Marketing for People Searching for a Church" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/marketing-couple-on-comp2.jpg" alt="Church Marketing for People Searching for a Church" width="250" height="192" align="right" />This is something people do everyday.  Maybe they are moving to a new town.  Maybe they are looking for answers.  They are on the web, looking for your church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium">If you don’t make sure your church’s website ranks well in the search engines, you will miss out on new visitors, new members, and being able to share the love of Christ with them.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large"><strong><span style="color: #000000;">Top Rankings in Google, Bing, and Yahoo…Guaranteed!!</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium"><strong>We guarantee at least 100 Top Ten Rankings!</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: medium">You’ll be listed in the Top Ten Rankings in Google, Bing, and Yahoo and local search engines, like Google Maps.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium">You will be listed in other places people look for churches, such as church directories, local review sites, and the Internet Yellow Pages.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium">We target your church’s city and surrounding cities.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium">Only $99/month (less than one new average tithing member)</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Special:</strong></span><br />
</span><span style="font-size: medium"><strong>Right now, get $200 off the setup fee!</strong><br />
with a one year commitment</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #000000;">It&#8217;s like getting <strong>Two Months</strong> <strong>FREE</strong>!!</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small"><a title="Church Marketing from OurChurch.Com" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_self">Learn more about OurChurch.Com&#8217;s Church Marketing…</a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><a href="http://www.ourchurch.com/view/?pageID=192007"><img class="aligncenter" title="Top Online Church Marketing Services from OurChurch.Com - Order Today!" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/Order-church-marketing-toda.gif" alt="" width="540" height="94" /></a></strong></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/church-marketing-online-from-ourchurchcom/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/church-marketing-online-from-ourchurchcom/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Church Marketing Online Update</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/SX5BugqQyCo/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/church-marketing-online-update/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:57:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing online]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=244</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With the completion of the “Is Your Church Social” article series, we have decided to post future articles related to church marketing to OurChurch.Com’s other blog, “Christian Web Trends”.  We’d love to help you with your church marketing.  Please visit the Top Church Search Rankings web page and contact us about how we can help you and your church.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><img title="Church Marketing" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/CMO-casual-business.jpg" alt="" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="250" height="223" align="right" />A change is coming for the CMO<br />
</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">The Church Marketing Online blog is a ministry of OurChurch.Com.  OurChurch.Com is a wonderful place to work for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons, however, is that we do not just think of ourselves as a company, but also a ministry.  This is reflected in our goals, services, and how we do business.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">A little over a year ago Paul Steinbrueck (CEO of OurChurch.Com) and I decided to create the Church Marketing Online blog as a free ministry resource.  We wanted to inform churches on ways to market themselves online and equip them with the knowledge to do it.  We’ve covered a lot of topics during our tenure and, hopefully, have made an impact in how people view church marketing and what they are doing to market their church and reach people online for Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">In addition to the Church Marketing Online blog, we also developed a church marketing service designed to help churches market themselves online.  We know that you have a lot of other things to do and some of these church marketing strategies can be a bit confusing.  We’d love to help you with your church marketing.  Please visit the <a title="Church Marketing Service - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings</a> web page and contact us about how we can help you and your church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><img title="OurChurch.Com Logo" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/CMO-OCC-logo.jpg" alt="OurChurch.Com Logo" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="219" height="132" align="right" />Church Marketing Articles Moving:<br />
</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">With the completion of the “Is Your Church Social” article series, we have decided to post future articles related to church marketing to OurChurch.Com’s other blog, “Christian Web Trends”.  I will still be posting articles about church marketing, but we will be consolidating the articles with the other <a title="Christian Web Trends Blog" href="http://blog.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian web trend</a> articles.  If you have been receiving the Church Marketing Online RSS feed, I encourage you to sign up for the <a title="Christian Web Trends Blog RSS Feed" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChristianWebTrends" target="_blank">Christian Web Trends RSS feed</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>The Future of CMO:<br />
</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">Church Marketing Online will remain…online, as we believe it can still be a great resource for churches looking for information about church marketing.  However, we will no longer be updating the site with new articles.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Thank you.<br />
</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">I would like to thank all you who have been following the Church Marketing Online blog over the past year and pray that the Lord will bless you in your ministries.</span></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/church-marketing-online-update/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/church-marketing-online-update/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 30 – Social Bookmarks – Tips For Social Bookmarking</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/1RfZzmaM8So/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-30-social-bookmarks-tips-for-social-bookmarking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:59:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social bookmarking]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Social bookmarking can be a powerful way to attract visitors to your church website.  It’s also one of the easiest ways to market your church and a way to get everyone in your church involved.  How can you use social bookmarking most effectively with your church’s website?  Here are seven tips for using social bookmarking most effectively:]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img title="Church Marketing with Social Bookmarks" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/CMO-social-bookmark1.jpg" alt="Church Marketing with Social Bookmarks" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="250" height="130" align="left" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Social bookmarking can be a powerful way to attract visitors to your church website.  It’s also one of the easiest ways to market your church and a way to get everyone in your church involved.  How can you use social bookmarking most effectively with your church’s website?  Here are seven tips for using social bookmarking most effectively:</span><span id="more-223"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>1. Encourage your congregation to bookmark the church’s pages.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Social bookmarking is one of the easiest things a church can do.  If you are even moderately proficient on the Internet, you can social bookmark.  That means just about everyone in your congregation can do this.  It’s an easy and quick way they can help promote their church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>2. Encourage everyone else to bookmark your church’s pages.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Give people the opportunity to easily bookmark every page of your church’s website by adding social bookmark tools to each page.  Most social bookmark sites have a link you can add to your website, but the easier way is to use a tool like “AddThis” that has several social bookmark sites all in one tool.  Add the tool to your church’s pages and don’t be afraid to ask visitors to bookmark the pages.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>3. Write articles about popular or current topics.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> If you have a church blog (or blogs), write some articles about popular or current topics.  By addressing these issues you can attract visitors to your church website who might not otherwise have ever found it.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>4. Write interesting or controversial articles.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Simply put, controversy gets attention.  Most churches tend to stay away from things that may offend people, but sometimes being a little offensive can get a lot of traffic.  Of course, this is a double edged sword.  You don’t want to offend people so badly that they want nothing to do with your church or that you give your church a bad name.  The trick is to be controversial enough to get people’s attention, but not so offensive that you turn people off.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>5. Use attention getting titles.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Social bookmark sites allow you to setup a title for the bookmark whether the page is an article or just a regular web page.  The title “An Exegetic Examination of the Romans 3:9-20” is not as attention grabbing as “So, You Think You’re Righteous?” or “Is Your Mouth An Open Grave?”  You need to title to still be relevant to what the page is about, but you can be creative your titles to get people attention.  The title doesn’t have to be the same as your web page’s title.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><img title="Use multiple social bookmark sites for Church Marketing" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/CMO-social-bookmark2.jpg" alt="Use multiple social bookmark sites for Church Marketing" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="264" height="277" align="right" />6. Use multiple Social Bookmark sites.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Digg is the most popular social bookmark site (right now), but there are several other sites that are very popular as well.  Don’t limit yourself to focusing on just one or two social bookmark sites.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>7. Bookmark Everything.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Bookmark every page.  Some pages will become more popular than others, but it doesn’t hurt to have any page bookmarked, and it can help.  Remember, bookmarking creates a link back to that page that can help with your church’s search engine rankings.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Social bookmarking is one of the easiest church marketing strategies.  It’s low hanging fruit.  So, why not?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-30-social-bookmarks-tips-for-social-bookmarking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-30-social-bookmarks-tips-for-social-bookmarking/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 29 – Social Bookmarks – A Powerful Tool</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/8jRUULOjPHs/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-29-social-bookmarks-a-powerful-tool/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:45:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social bookmarking]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=218</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Social bookmarking is a little different than the rest of the social web. With social bookmarking you have a way to market your church through some of the most powerful marketing tools there has ever been…not social bookmarking per se…but simply the power of recommendations and the desire for people to fit in.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
<p><img title="Church Marketing with Social Bookmarking" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/CMO-social-bookmark3.jpg" alt="Church Marketing with Social Bookmarking" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="250" height="205" align="right" /><span style="font-size: small;">There are millions of people online at any given time. How many of those millions will ever hear about your church’s website? There are many ways for people to find out about your website and we’ve discussed many of those ways right here on the Church Marketing Online blog. Lately we’ve been looking at the social web and how your church can engage members and visitors online through interactive website features, social networking, etc., but social bookmarking is a little different. With social bookmarking you have a way to market your church through some of the most powerful marketing tools there has ever been…not social bookmarking per se…but simply the power of recommendations and the desire for people to fit in.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Does your church use this tool?<span id="more-218"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>The Power Of Recommendations:</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">You want to buy a new camera, but you’re not sure which camera you should get. So, like many people, you fire up your web browser and start searching for information about cameras. You may look at some professional reviews, like consumer reports, but most people end up looking at the reviews that regular folks have posted about products they have purchased. They don’t know these people, none-the-less they look to them for a recommendation of which camera to buy. We’re social creatures and we tend to trust the recommendations of others, even if we don’t know them.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Social bookmarking is basically way to recommend a web page. By bookmarking the page(s) publicly you are telling everyone, “Check out this page. I like it.” Lot’s of people recommend articles, product pages, videos, and other interesting pages, why not recommend your church’s website?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>We Want To Fit In:</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’ve been reading a book recently, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Neuro Web Design – What Makes Them Click</span>. It looks at website behavior from a psychological viewpoint. One of the points they made was how people, in general, want to fit in. This is something hardwired into us at a subconscious level. It changes our behavior and effects our decisions. We’ve all heard of peer pressure. That’s a more obvious example of how our desire to fit in will affect our decision making. The same thing happens on the web. That subconscious desire to fit in causes us to buy products, watch videos, and visit websites. On a conscious level we may think, “Why is everyone so interested in this? I should check it out too.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Social bookmarking is not limited to one person. Everyone can do it. Some people even have multiple accounts with social bookmark sites. The more people who do it, the more popular a page is, the more it can cause people who find the bookmarks to want to visit the site too.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Social bookmarking can be a powerful tool, especially if you can get high involvement with your congregation. It can tap into people’s natural desire to want to fit in and to follow the recommendations of others. In addition, the links back to your church’s website can help with your church’s rankings in the search engines. A nice added bonus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Does your church use social bookmarking?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-29-social-bookmarks-a-powerful-tool/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-29-social-bookmarks-a-powerful-tool/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 28 – Blogs – 12 Ways To Promote Your Church Blog</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/_RLWaXteNxI/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-28-blogs-12-ways-to-promote-your-church-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:12:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[blogs]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Alright, so you’ve decided that your church should have a blog and you’ve chosen who will manage the blog (or blogs) and what the blog will be about. But your job isn’t over yet. Now you need to get people to read the blog. So, how to do you distribute and promote your blog to make it successful not only within your church, but also as a church marketing tool?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
<p><img title="Church Blog Distribution" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/cmo-blog-distribution.jpg" alt="Church Blog Distribution" hspace="25" vspace="5" width="250" height="178" align="left" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Alright, so you’ve decided that your church should have a blog and you’ve chosen who will manage the blog (or blogs) and what the blog will be about. But your job isn’t over yet. Now you need to get people to read the blog. So, how to do you distribute and promote your blog to make it successful not only within your church, but also as a church marketing tool?</span><span id="more-210"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>1. Blog Directories –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> These are just like website directories except they are for blogs. Some of the more popular blog directories are Blogarama, BlogCatalog, and Bloggernity. If your blog is separate from your church website, you can also submit it to regular website directories. If it’s part of your church’s website, most directories will only except the church site and not the subsection that is your blog.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>2. Blog Rolls –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> A blog roll is a feature on a website that lists blogs that the webmaster either recommends or subscribes to. There are a lot of websites, especially blogs, that have blog rolls. Do a search for blogs that are related to your church’s blog topic or just related to church blogs and ask them to add you to their blog roll if they have one. You can offer to add them to your church’s blog roll as well if you want.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>3. Comment On Other Blogs –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> This is one of the more important things you can do. Engage other bloggers who are blogging about topics related to your blog. This can get you involved in the conversations on other blogs that already have readers interested in what you are blogging about. Be sure to include a link to your blog in your comments.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>4. Article Distribution –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> There are several websites that publish and distribute articles. Some of the more popular article distribution sites are EzineArticles, Isnare, and ArticleBase. These sites have thousands of publishers who have signed up to receive articles about certain topics or genres. The articles include a bio about the author, in this case your church. These publishers can then publish those articles and your church’s bio is listed on their website. The one drawback to article distribution is other websites will be able to freely post your articles on their site. So, if you want to keep the articles solely on your church’s website, article distribution is not something you should do. An added benefit, however, is one-way inbound links that are helpful with the search engines.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>5. Tweet It –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Twitter even has an way to automatically have your blog posts tweeted in your Twitter account. You can not only tweet the articles on your church Twitter account (if you have one) but church members can all tweet about the articles as well to reach all the people that are following them.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>6. Facebook Blog Feed –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> As with Twitter, Facebook also has a blog feed feature that will automatically post your church’s blog feed. This is good to setup with your church’s Facebook Page, but again, ask your members to do this in their Facebook accounts as well.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>7. Announce It –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> I assume that as a church you have church services and that you members attend. Announce the blog. Then announce it again and again. Put it in the bulletin and the church newsletter. Make a special announcement on the homepage of your church website.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>8. Tell Others –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Talk about the blog with friends and co-workers. Encourage your members to do the same.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>9. Ask Members With Websites To Link To The Blog –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Chances are that many of your church members have a website. Ask them to link to the church’s blog (and the church’s website). This helps with the search engines by providing links and can provide visitors you would not normally reach.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>10. Have Your Denomination Headquarters Link To The Blog –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Assuming your Denominational or Association headquarters has a website, ask them to link to your church’s blog. Since blogging is still a relatively new thing for churches, you may even be able to get the denomination/association to write an article for the whole denomination about how your church is blogging.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>11. Auto Feeds On Websites –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Some websites have an automated blog feed on the website. It’s like an RSS feedreader you may use personally, except it’s displayed on a website. Basically, the title and excerpt from a blog (or possibly even the entire article) are displayed on the page of website. Usually all the blog entries are related to a specific topic (e.g. “news of the day” or “church marketing articles”). It’s a way to have fresh content added automatically to a page.?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Some blog sites are solely auto feed blogs automatically posting articles from other blogs and not actually add any of their own original content. I don’t recommend getting added to these types of sites, but some websites provide a page with an auto feed as a resource page for their visitors. If you can find sites with auto feed resource pages like this. Ask them to add your church’s blog. You may even want to check with your denominational headquarters to see if they have a auto feed page for member church’s blogs. If they don’t suggest they add one. If you have more than one blog for your church, add an auto feed page on your church’s website for the various church blogs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>12. RSS –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> While RSS doesn’t really promote your blog in the sense of getting new readers, it does promote it with your existing readers. It’s always easier to get a visitor to return then it is to get a new person to visit. The RSS feed delivers the blog posts directly to the people who subscribe both notifying them about the post and inviting them to return to the blog.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">What other ways do you promote your church blog?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-28-blogs-12-ways-to-promote-your-church-blog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-28-blogs-12-ways-to-promote-your-church-blog/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 27 – Blogs – 10 Church Blog Ideas</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/8df8xNXhACQ/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-27-blogs-10-church-blog-ideas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:38:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church websites]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[blogs]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=198</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the biggest questions churches have when considering having a blog is what they should blog about.  It’s not only a common question, but a very important question as it will give your church blog focus.  So, what should you blog about?  Well, that will really be up to you.  What do you want to blog about?  If you’re having trouble coming up with a blog idea, here are 10 ideas for church blog topics.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p>
<p><img title="Church Blog Ideas" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/cmo-blog-icon2.jpg" alt="Church Blog" hspace="20" vspace="5" width="205" height="186" align="right" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">One of the biggest questions churches have when considering having a blog is what they should blog about.  It’s not only a common question, but a very important question as it will give your church blog focus.  So, what should you blog about?  Well, that will really be up to you.  What do you want to blog about?  It&#8217;s always best to blog about something you are interested in as it will make the posts more interesting and you are more likely to keep it going and be consistant.  If you’re having trouble coming up with a blog idea, here are 10 ideas for church blog topics:<span id="more-198"></span></span></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Sermon Blog –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> A sermon blog can be done in several different ways.  This may simply be blogging on Sunday afternoon about the topic of the sermon and expanding on some of the main points.  It could also be done as a daily blog post where the pastor gets deeper into the various points of the sermon through out the week.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Daily Devotion –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> A great way to engage church members throughout the week and help church members to be in the Word everyday.  The blog could be done by the pastor, but doesn’t have to be.  Perhaps one of the Deacons or Elders could write this blog.  The devotions could be based on a daily scripture or on different topics.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Spiritual Issues –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Often times church members have questions about spiritual issues that aren’t addressed in the weekly sermons.  A blog about various spiritual issues can be a way to address those questions.  This can also be a great outreach to non-members as you can deal with the struggles non-Christians face, help to answer their questions, and lead them to Christ.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Christian or Denominational Theology –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> If you are a denominational church you have certain doctrinal and theological beliefs.  If you are like most churches, your members don’t actually know much about those doctrinal and theological beliefs.  A blog can be a great way to teach members and non-members what your church believes and why.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Evangelism –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Evangelism is something that most Christians feel uncomfortable with.  Much of the discomfort is from a lack of training and ideas.  A blog can help you to convey ideas for how to evangelize or answer questions related to evangelism.  It can also help encourage members to go out there and do it, which is helpful since another big reason people feel uncomfortable with evangelism is lack of experience.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Church Events –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> The trap with this type of blog is to just become another newsletter.  This blog can (and should) be so much more.  Don’t just announce events, blog about them after the fact.  Have pictures and stories from the events.  These can be great blogs for interaction as many of the church members will have experienced the events and have their own stories and comments.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Church Ministries –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Not just all church ministries in general, but rather specific church ministries.  Start a youth ministry blog or a senior ministry blog.  The Sunday school could have a blog or even the church counsel.  We have a homeless feeding ministry at our church.  They could blog about what happens each week.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Community Happenings –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Your church is part of the community, so why not blog like it.  This can be helpful in getting your church members more involved with the community which can help with evangelism and church marketing.  Your church blog may also become a place where members of your community who are not members of your church can learn about upcoming events and read about past events, which can also help with church marketing.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Questions For The Pastor –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Why not let the members (or website visitors) determine the what each blog will be about.  Chances are the members of your church (and non-members) have a lot of questions that they never get around to asking the pastor.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>The Bible And Our Culture –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> The church is notorious for complaining about the degradation of our society.  Here’s you chance to do something about.  Inform people about what is happening in our culture and what the Bible has to say about it.  Equip people with the information and tools to fight bad trends and support the good trends.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">These are just a few ideas of what your church could do with a blog.  Remember, there is no rule that says your church can only have one blog.  So, you could do all ten of these blog ideas and more.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Does your church have a blog?  What kind of topics do you blog about?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-27-blogs-10-church-blog-ideas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/06/is-your-church-social-part-27-blogs-10-church-blog-ideas/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 26 – Blogs – Church Blog Tips</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/GZjTZAP8dlE/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-26-blogs-church-blog-tips/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2009 20:37:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church websites]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=188</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If your church is going have a blog, what should that blog be?  How should you go about doing the blog?  Who should manage the blog?  What should you blog about?  These are all good questions to ask yourself before you start a church blog.  In this post I’ll give some tips about the who’s, the what’s, and the how’s of church blogging.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img title="Church Blog" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/cmo-blog-letters.jpg" alt="Church Blog" hspace="20" vspace="5" width="250" height="166" align="left" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">If your church is going have a blog, what should that blog be?  How should you go about doing the blog?  Who should manage the blog?  What should you blog about?  These are all good questions to ask yourself before you start a church blog.  In this post I’ll give some tips about the who’s, the what’s, and the how’s of church blogging.<span id="more-188"></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Who Should Do The Blogging?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Anyone in the church can have a church blog.  One of the characteristics of blogging is that it is relatively casual.  This allows the church to be a little more relaxed about who blogs on the church website.  This is a great thing because you probably have several people in your church who would love to have a blog.  It allows different people in the church to become more engaged and may allow you to blog about a wider array of topics.  So, who should blog?</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Pastors –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> I know, it’s just one more thing for the pastor to do, but this is something a lot of pastors would love to do.  It can allow them to engage in casual discussions of a variety of topics, allow them to expand upon ideas from their sermons, and it can make them a “real person” instead of just the pastor.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Church Leadership –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> If your church is like my church you have several groups within the church to help lead the church in various ministries.  Blogging is a great way for the leaders of these groups to make the church aware of what they are doing and engage members in their area of ministry.  Imagine the leader of the Sunday school blogging about Sunday school activities or someone leading Evangelism in the church blogging about ways members can share their faith.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Church Members –</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Like I said, anyone can blog.  In addition to church topics members can blog about, allowing church members to blog can enable your church to blog about topics not directly related to the church.  Maybe a member is involved in fitness and weight loss and can blog about that or perhaps one of your members is very involved in the community and can blog about what’s going on in the community.  You could even have a blog about political matters, but be cautious with that.  I’m a very politically minded person, but I tend to hold back a bit at church because I don’t want my political views to become a barrier to how I can minister to people at the church.  So, be careful with it.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>How Should You Blog?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">There are several things you can do to help your blog to be successful.  Here are a few tips:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Blog about what you are passionate about.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Readers can usually tell the difference between someone writing about something they care about and something they don’t care about.  When you’re passionate about something, you tend to know more about the subject and what you write tends to be more interesting.  Additionally, it will be it’s own incentive to keep blogging.  You’ll just enjoy blogging more.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Have a goal or topic for your blog.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that in order to reach more people, you should blog about a wide variety of topics.  In practice, however, the opposite tends to happen.  Instead of attracting a variety of people with content they are interested in, you end up boring everyone with content they are not interested in.  So, choose a topic or goal and stick to it.  If you have several topics you want to cover, create several blogs.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Tell stories.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  People like stories.  It will make your posts more interesting and allow readers to get to know you better.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Write about something useful.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  Not every article has to be useful, but people do tend to like to read information that will be useful to them.  This can help keep the blog interesting.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Monitor the blog.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;">  There are two reasons to monitor the blogs.  First, it’s important to respond to comments and do so in a timely fashion.  So, check the blog at least once or twice a day to see if there are any new comments.  Secondly, if you have members posting blog articles, it’s good to have the church leadership keeping an eye on the blog.  This can both prevent any issues stemming from what is being posted and it can allow the leadership of the church to participate in the blog and show support for the blog.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Do you have any additional tips for having a successful church blog?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-26-blogs-church-blog-tips/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-26-blogs-church-blog-tips/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 25 – Blogs – How Do I Get A Church Blog?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/BXZYtwTPBR0/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-25%e2%80%93blogs%e2%80%93how-do-i-get-a-church-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2009 15:36:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church websites]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=179</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If your church is going to have a blog or several blogs, you will have to choose between putting your blog on the church webiste or off site.  We'll look at these two options so you can decide which option is best for your church.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> <img title="Church Marketing Blogging" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/cmo-blog-rss.jpg" alt="Church Marketing Blogging" hspace="10" width="250" height="229" align="right" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">There two main ways to get a blog.</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Start a blog on an external blog site, like blogger.com</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Install a blog within your church website</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">There are benefits and draw-backs to both options as I will look at below.</span><span id="more-179"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Off-Site Blog:</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">One of the benefits of an off-site blog is that it is free and easy. You can setup a blog within a matter of minutes and updating the blog is relatively easy. If you setup your church blog on a large blog hosting site, like Blogger.com or BlogSpot.com, you also get the benefit of being in a searchable blogging community that may allow people to just stumble across the blog. I wouldn’t count of a lot of people stumbling across the site, but it is possible.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">One of the downsides of an off-site blog is that the blog is not customizable. Your blog pretty much looks like everyone else’s. Another problem is that some free blog sites put ads on the blogs they host. You have no control over these ads and they could be advertising something you would not want advertised on your church’s website. The last negative for off-site blogging is that the blog isn’t on your church’s website (obviously). This means that it is more difficult to get visitors to see your church’s website because you have to convince them to go to a different website. It also means that any time someone links to the blog or an article in the blog, that link only helps the blog, not the church’s website.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>On-Site Blog:</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The most common blog software and the software I recommend is WordPress. It’s free, it’s not too difficult to install, and the maintenance of the blog is pretty simple. One of the benefits of an on-site blog is that they are customizable. How customizable will depend on whether the church has someone adept at web design, but even non-web designers can customize an on-site blog to some extent. You are also able to control the features of the blog and install “add-ons” that can add additional functionality.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Another benefit of an on-site blog is that they tend to look more professional. Free off-site blogs look like…well…free sites. Even a basic WordPress installation usually looks more professional and having the blog on your church website makes it seem more professional. The last benefit I’ll mention is that because the blog is on your church website, your church website links can be right there on the blog making it easier for visitors to move from your blog to the rest of the church’s website. Also, every link to the blog or a blog article is a link to your church’s website which helps both the blog and the church’s website in the search engines.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">One of the downsides of on-site blogging is that it does take some setup. If you do not have anyone with some website experience able to help, then it may be too difficult. I wouldn’t consider it difficult, but it is probably above the ability of a novice. Another downside is that because the blog isn’t hosting in a large blogging community, it won’t be searchable in those blogging communities. That said, it will be searchable within the major search engines and there are several popular blog listing directories in which you could list the blog.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Recommendation</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">If at all possible, I recommend installing the blog in your church website. I think the benefits far out-weigh the negatives. If nothing else, the benefit of getting new links to your church’s website is worth a little extra setup. If you can’t install a blog in your church, website, I’d still encourage you to start a blog.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Do you have a preference between off-site and on-site blogs?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-25%e2%80%93blogs%e2%80%93how-do-i-get-a-church-blog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-25%e2%80%93blogs%e2%80%93how-do-i-get-a-church-blog/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Social - Part 24 – Blogs – What Is A Blog</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/Va6Yp5pSNM8/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-24%e2%80%93blogs%e2%80%93what-is-a-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 21:06:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[church marketing ideas]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church websites]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[blogs]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=175</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What is a blog and why should a church have a blog?  How does that blog help with church marketing?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img title="Blog Icon" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/cmo-blog-icon.jpg" alt="Blog Icon" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="252" height="252" align="right" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Over the last several months we have been looking at ways of using the social web for church marketing.  We’ve discussed:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Video sharing</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Facebook</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Twitter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Podcasts</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Now I’d like to move on to blogging.  Blogging can be a very powerful way to engage members, attract visitors, and gain links (which helps with search engine marketing).  It’s also a great way to add fresh, original content to your church website.  So, what is a blog?</span><span id="more-175"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>You’re Reading One</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">That’s right.  You’re reading a blog right now.  Short for “web log”, a blog is basically a website or section of a website where a person can post thoughts, articles, and media (graphics and video).  Posts are typically added frequently (at least once a week) and are displayed in reverse chronological order.  Sure you can do that on any web page, but what makes a blog unique and social is the “Comments” feature and the RSS feed.</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Comments:</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Once you post a blog article, visitors can leave comments which can facilitate online conversations.  It’s important to keep up with the comments and respond so visitors know their comments matter and to allow for those blog conversations.  If you are concerned about the comments, don’t be.  You can control the level of freedom for visitor comments by allowing all comments to be posted, requiring that you approve comments, or not allowing comments at all.  The more freedom you give visitors to comment the more comments you will get.  So, I recommend allowing all comments to be posted immediately.  You can always delete them after the fact.  Also, just so your expectations are realistic.  You should know that for the average blog, only 5% of readers will ever comment and most blogs don’t get a comment for several months.  So, don’t be discouraged if you don’t get comments for a while.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>RSS:</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> The RSS feed allows visitors to subscribe to your blog and automatically receive updates and notices of new posts.  This is huge because instead of you having to rely on visitors to return to your blog to see new posts, the posts are delivered to them.  This both shows them the new posts and reminds them to visit your website again.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Why Should Our Church Have A Blog?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">People have a lot of questions and churches have a lot to say.  Here are a few reasons your church may do well to have a blog (or multiple blogs):</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A blog is a way to address issues outside the format of a church service.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">It is a way to engage church members throughout the week.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A blog also gives pastors a chance to become a “real person” in the eyes of the congregation instead of just a pastor.  This is especially true for larger churches.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A blog gives other church staff or church members a way to speak on various subjects.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">It is an opportunity to interact with members in a more casual setting on the topics of their choice.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A blog can allow your church to comment on current issues both for the benefit of your members and your community.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">A blog can be a fun and simple way to increase interaction between church staff and church members as well as providing fresh content for your church’s website.  It doesn’t have to take a long time to maintain a blog either.  An hour or two a week could allow you to post new messages and respond to comments.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Does your church have a blog?  If so, share that blog with us.</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-24%e2%80%93blogs%e2%80%93what-is-a-blog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-social-part-24%e2%80%93blogs%e2%80%93what-is-a-blog/</feedburner:origLink></item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Your Church Putting Money Before God?</title>
		<link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChurchMarketingOnline/~3/Iq7GoWytT5E/</link>
		<comments>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-putting-money-before-god/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2009 19:18:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kurt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[church marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://churchmarketingonline.com/?p=162</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Does your church let money make your decisions?  Does your church let money determine what kind and how much outreach you do?  Really?]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img title="Is the Church putting money before God?" src="http://churchmarketingonline.com/images/cmo-Bible-wallet.jpg" alt="Is the Church putting money before God?" hspace="10" vspace="5" width="250" height="166" align="left" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Does your church let money make your decisions?  Does your church let money determine what kind and how much outreach you do?  Really?</span></p>
<p><span id="more-162"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Alright, Just Say It</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There are three things that tend to keep churches from marketing themselves online:</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>They don’t see a need or don’t think it will work.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> If you’re reading this post, then this probably doesn’t describe you. If it does describe you and you happen to be reading this, then take a few minutes to read some of the other posts in this blog and perhaps you’ll reconsider.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>They think church marketing is evil.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> Well, maybe not evil, but misleading or deceptive. Read: “<a title="Is Church Marketing Evil?" href="http://churchmarketingonline.com/2008/05/is-marketing-evil/" target="_self">Is Church Marketing Evil</a>”.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>They don’t want to spend the money.</strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"> “It won’t fit into the budget” or “That money could be used for a ministry.”</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>One Of The Most Feared Words In The Church</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I think I’ve already addressed the first two issues listed above in various ways throughout this blog, so I’m not going to address them here.  That leaves us with <strong>money</strong> - one of the most feared words in the church. Interestingly enough, most churches are afraid to ask for money or do things that would make money, but then in the board meetings it’s money that often determines what is or (more often) isn’t done, especially when it comes to church marketing.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>The Stark Truth</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Money buys land, builds sanctuaries, provides music and audio/video equipment, and helps your pastor feed his family. Most churches get most of their money from tithes. Tithes come from church members. So…more church members usually equates to more money. Church marketing (done right) leads to more church members.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Do The Math</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So, if one of the most common causes of churches deciding not to do church marketing is money, yet church marketing brings in more members (and thus more tithes), you can see how these two things contradict one another. Let’s crunch some numbers:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">The average American family has a house hold income is just over $50,000 per year according to the US census department. A ten percent tithe would be $5000 per year which would be $416 a month.</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Even if you know nothing about search engine optimization (SEO) your church can get its website optimized for less than $100 a month.  I’m not trying to promote my company’s SEO services, but if you need proof it can be this affordably here it is (<a href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>)  Optimized, your church site comes up in the first results when people search for churches in your area and you got one new tithing family to join the church, that family would not only tithe enough to pay for the SEO service, but you would have $316 more each month than if you had not gotten the service and that family had not joined your church. That’s one family.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">If your church creates an Adwords account and bids on church related keywords for the church’s city and surrounding areas. Most of the time the cost of the Adwords account will be around $50 a month. In this case, that one tithing family pays for the Adwords and there is $366 left over.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">If you do both services, that one family’s tithes pay for both services and there is $266 left over that can go towards the other ministries of the church. This is based on only 1 family coming to the church over the course a full year. Of course, if more families find your church and become members, then all their tithes are able to be solely devoted to other various ministries of the church.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>It’s The Opposite Of What You May Be Thinking</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So, despite the fact that it may look like the church can’t afford marketing, I would argue that the church can&#8217;t afford NOT to do this kind of marketing (sorry about the double negative:). By properly marketing the church, it will bring in more people to the church which will more than pay for the marketing and allow your church to do more.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Final Thoughts Before The Hate Mail</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Before you go nuts telling me how I’m too money focused, let me say one more thing. I don’t care about the money. I attend a church where one of our stated tenants is that we do not run the church by the budget. We believe if the Lord wants us to do something, then He will also provide the means. And in ten years, He hasn’t failed us (He never will). I also believe that church marketing is a ministry. It’s an outreach to the unchurched and service to help people find a church. I think the excuse of not having the money in the budget is a faulty excuse. And I believe not marketing the church is missing out on a ministry opportunity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">Let the hate mail ensue…What do you think?</span></p>
<hr /><span style="font-size: small;">Kurt Steinbrueck is a Deacon at his church and has been Director of Marketing Services with Ourchurch.Com for over 5 years providing <a title="Christian Search Engine Optimization Services" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/" target="_blank">Christian search engine optimization services</a> including a service specific for church marketing, the <a title="Church Marketing - Church SEO" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-church-marketing-services.php" target="_blank">Top Church Search Rankings service</a>, a church search engine optimization service. Please <a title="Search Marketing Consultation" href="http://marketing.ourchurch.com/marketing-consultation.php" target="_blank">contact Kurt</a> at OurChurch.Com if you would be interested in getting better rankings for your church in the search engines.</span></p>
<hr />
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-putting-money-before-god/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<feedburner:origLink>http://churchmarketingonline.com/2009/05/is-your-church-putting-money-before-god/</feedburner:origLink></item>
	</channel>
</rss>
