Many churches are taking advantage of the digital tools available these days to broadcast what they believe, to the world!

Social media has also helped to make information so accessible across the web.

A church website removes anonymity for the church and helps it get recognition by the community in which the church serves.

Many churches have great youth groups, inspiring and uplifting Sunday services and community events that they host on a regular basis. However, without spreading the word effectively about the church, these activities may go unnoticed and there’d be very little participation from the members or community.

When people plant a new church, the survival of the church often depends on how well the church founders can introduce their church to residents in the area and to other churches.

When church founders get a website for their church and begin putting helpful and relevant information on the website, they’ll quickly see how much impact they can make to the public. It would show that the church is taking great measures to reach out to new members.

More and more charities, businesses and small churches are using websites as a tool to inform people of what they have to offer.

 

Related: Reasons for a Church Website

 

Impact Your Community

Church websites can consist of photos, articles, videos and podcasts. These things allow the website visitors to learn more about the church in an interactive manner and will help to increase interest in the services and events.

By listening to videos or podcasts of sermons and worship posted by the church online, the public get to know more about what the church founders believe and what it is based on.

By sharing the message of Jesus Christ and what He did for them, potential members are drawn to the services, making the church tangible to the local residents.

Video testimonies are a great tool on a church website. A letter from the main pastor, information about prayer meetings, church camps, social functions, family outreach programs and children’s events are all significant information that people commonly search for on church websites.

By providing these kinds of information, you stand a good chance of generating more interest for your church services.

No church wants to put forth a lot of time and effort, only to have no one sitting in the seats during the Sunday services or attending events sponsored by the church.

In order to avoid this happening, consider getting a unique, informative and elegant website that encourages people in your community to visit your church and see what it offers. The website doesn’t have to be expensive, but it has to be effective and get results.

In the early 1990s, the “Internet”, as it was called, was rapidly growing as a revolutionary form of communication. This new media has surpassed radio and TV in attracting millions of users worldwide. And the technology is still growing!

The Internet is now a global town, where the ‘population’ gathers to share and exchange ideas.

Just as radio and TV provided the Christian community with a platform to share the Gospel, the Internet is now presenting a remarkable opportunity to evangelize the world. Online technology is providing a ‘go-to’ place to find the world’s population, a global community.

The church website should have its presence there!

Does your church have an online presence?

If you need assistance with creating a website for your church, contact us here.

Get your website and yourself working together to grow your business or ministry

It takes more than just setting up a website to make it work successfully for you. It takes good planning. Most small business or small church websites don’t live up to their potential. They don’t convert visitors to customers or translate into that goal that is so eagerly craved.

A few factors that affect how a website distracts visitors or potential customers are: poor design, poor images, poor content and poor layout. There are specific principles on how to properly design a professional website.

Improving these areas in the website design and including what your target audience wants and needs, will greatly make your website serve its purpose.

So how does a website live up to it’s potential?

Your website should enable potential customers find you. It should serve as an extension of your offline services, online. It should help your target audience grow more confident to deal with you.

A professional website can live up to it’s potential by considering the following:

1. What is the purpose of your website?

Is it to gain visibility, sell products or services, champion a cause or provide more information to potential customers? Knowing what you plan to do with your website is very important.

It is also important to define your target audience. What goals do you want to achieve with your website? How many newsletter or membership sign-ups or sales do you want to achieve within a specific time? It is helpful to develop SMART goals for your website, which are in line with your business or ministry goals and needs.

2. Make your website aesthetically pleasing and engaging

The importance of a good professionally designed website cannot be overemphasized. Branding includes your logo, your website and your messaging. Keep your styles and colours consistent throughout. Make your website copy clear and concise, so that it quickly tells your potential customers what you offer.

Use a blog to keep your website content fresh and to engage your potential customers.

3. Stand-out from your competition

A good strategy that could set you apart from your competition is to offer your potential customers a lead product. One that addresses a specific challenge for them or solves a problem.

The idea is to attract and engage your ideal customer. Your website should aim to connect your business or ministry with the right people, so make it all about them.

4. Transform your website visitors

The website user’s journey is integrated into the design of a professional website, starting from how they discover your website, how your content addresses their challenges or struggles, putting into consideration their emotional mind-set and how you present the solution to them.

Your website should help them interact with your content and give them a positive user experience. They are more likely to buy your product or service as a result.

Takeaway

Don’t underestimate how your business or ministry is taken seriously with a professionally designed website. That is your chance to make a good first impression online.

No matter how small your business or ministry, your website has the potential to provide information and inspiration to your visitors. You can project the image of a larger establishment.

With your website as the hub of your online presence, you can engage in online marketing campaigns or any online outreach. Your website is a very important part of your business or ministry and can speak volumes, so take it seriously.

 

Contact me to get more tips on growing your business or ministry online.

E-commerce is basically about making transactions online and if you have a brick-and-mortar (off-line) business or a home business, then it is time to extend that aspect of your business onto the internet.

Do you have a successful business and a good website that is serving your customers well?

Are you getting more enquiries from your customers about how they would like to purchase your goods or services online?

Does your website need an E-commerce update?

There are many aspects to an E-commerce website. It isn’t just about adding a PayPal button to an already successful business website to pay for a product or service. Adding an E-commerce strategy for your online business can save you and your customers time and also give you more sales revenue.

Developing an effective E-commerce aspect for your website would depend on your general business model. Things like if you sell products or services and if you sell to wholesalers or directly to consumers.

Doing business online would help you understand your customers better and create an experience that exceeds their expectations.

Your online business website should help you attract more customers who are already shopping online. It should help you grow your online presence and help you measure online success.

If you have an unprofessional-looking website, some damage might be done to your website users’ experience and to your online branding. So get a professional website created.

Remember not to take risks with your online reputation. If you have a really good website and an excellent E-commerce strategy in place, then you’re going to be a cut above your competitors!

Becoming successful online involves understanding how to put this crucial part into your business plan. Your online business will benefit from a 24-hour accessibility, gain more customers and potentially increase your profits.

 

What do you need?

The first thing is to either create an E-commerce website or add the capability to your website. Then decide which products or services to sell online, how to accept payments and the delivery methods for the goods.

Then you would need an effective online marketing strategy to get the customers coming back for repeat sales.

 

Conclusion

When a simple but successful E-commerce plan is put in place for your online business, you would wonder why you hadn’t started before now. You wouldn’t become an overnight success, as online customers sometimes need to build trust in your online presence and website, but sticking with it will definitely give you long term success.

Another thing is that online shopping is continuing to grow year after year and most businesses expect the majority of their online sales to come from mobile phones these days, so developing a mobile-friendly online business strategy is important.

Contact me for information on how to create an E-commerce website for your business. It doesn’t stop there, as I give full support, advice and on-going maintenance help if needed.

Dr Adedayo Stoney Adegbulu is very successful at blogging about our Lord Jesus Christ online. Read about what has kept him going and get his books from Amazon.

1. Short testimony on how you came to know Jesus Christ.

I used to dislike born again Christians most of my early adult life, and I did all I could to snub them, and make being around me very unpleasant for them.

A lot of born again Christians though, tried to convert me at various times, but I rebuffed them, until I met my wife (she was born again when I met her), who through utter patience, understanding, and courage, got me to listen to issues concerning her faith. Still, I kept my distance from the whole born again concept.

One Sunday morning, I went out for my usual road work, and along the line, I saw some Christians going to Church in their posh car, and I wondered aloud why they allowed themselves to be brainwashed into a concept that is totally alien to our culture.  I also saw a family dressed in tattered clothes, going to the same church, and I became really angry with them, and I really wanted to give them a piece of my mind.

Suddenly, I found out that I could not walk again; then I had this strange urge to go to a particular Pentecostal church in town, and fellowship with them.  I felt that was a silly thing to do, so, I ignored it, and tried to continue my road walk.  I quickly realized that the more I tried to move, the more frustrated I became.  Eventually, I gave up, and turned back, only to find out that I could walk perfectly again.  So, I ran all the way back to my house, had a quick shower, dressed up smartly, and rushed to the said church.

On getting there, I saw people singing, dancing, and worshipping God, and I was sincerely touched.  I subsequently followed the entire service with rapt attention. Afterwards, all of us, visitors, were taken to a room to meet the pastor in charge for a chat, and some refreshments. The refreshments given to us were not a big deal to me, but, I concluded that since they found it expedient to feed others, then they were good people, which I wouldn’t mind to associate myself with.  I later gave my life to Jesus Christ shortly after on February 4, 1991.

2. Why you started a blog about your faith?

I started a blog to fulfil my earlier pledge to use my gift of writing to honour God, and spread the good news regarding His Kingdom.

3. What’s been easy about blogging?

I have no problems with materials to be used, as I have loads of them!  In addition, I found it easy to join many groups, and connect with other bloggers worldwide.  This has helped to widen my horizon considerably.  Also, a lot of people took it upon themselves to promote my blog, and divert attention to what I am doing.  For these, I am most grateful!

4. What’s been difficult about blogging?

Time is a major constraint I have to deal with! It is not easy to combine blogging with my professional activities.   It has also been very difficult for me to deal with people who use my posts to popularize their nefarious activities.

5. What’s kept you going?

The grace of God, the joy of doing something for Him, the sizeable number of people that are being blessed by my activities all over the world, and the assurance of good rewards (earthly and eternal) from God, kept me going!

6. What advice for someone starting out to blog about their faith?

Initially, people may not visit your site, and this could be quite frustrating.  Some people may even run you down; a couple of people ran me down and told me off at the outset. My advice is that you should not give in to man-made obstacles; just push on!

7. How you hope to expand the online ministry?

By networking with other bloggers; joining more Christian groups; talking to people about my online activities, and advertising in reputable online media outfits.

 

Books by Dr Adedayo Stoney Adegbulu

   

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Adedayo Stoney

Medical Doctor & Blogger at Mind of Christ

 

This is a short video showing how to create simply amazing images for your website or social media posts, using Canva. It makes designing professional images simple for everyone.

The video shows you how to easily edit your photos. Canva is a free online design service and it has beautiful designs that you can work with, as well as upload your own custom images. There are other paid aspects to the service as well.

If you are struggling to find creative images for your blog or social media posts, then it is time to explore what this free online service has for you! The more you use it, the more you get the hang of it.

Create your Canva account now and start designing great images for your business, ministry blog posts or your social media account profiles.

Watch the video above and play around with using Canva and if you’re still finding it hard to grasp, then contact me for assistance.

Happy exploring!

 

 

People create websites for different purposes; be it for profit, entertainment or to share the Good News of Jesus Christ online.

Websites have become a necessity for every business, Christian ministry and even for an individual to blog. If your business or ministry website has had the same design since 2009, perhaps it is high-time to do a website redesign.

You don’t want to redesign your website just for the sake of it, but if you are wondering if it is the right time to do a redesign of the layout, then consider these facts.

 

Responsive Websites

People always want to follow the latest trends, be it in fashion, sports or hair styles. In the world of the internet and websites, the latest trend are Responsive websites. A responsive website is one that works everywhere – smartphones, tablets and laptops, giving your visitors a uniform experience.

Your business or ministry website definitely needs a redesign if it isn’t responsive at this time. There is a massive amount of mobile users and that number is increasing every day.

Every small business or church needs to make sure that their products or services are easily found on mobile devices by mobile searches performed by consumers.

 

Website Goal

Remember that a website design should serve a specific purpose. So if you do a redesign of your business, church or personal website, make sure that you don’t lose that specific goal.

Think about how your website is presently being used by your visitors or how you would want it used in the future.

With a new design, you’d want your visitors to take a look at your content and not leave your site because the design isn’t professional or good-looking.

There are a lot of factors to consider when doing a website redesign. Redesigning your website is like performing plastic surgery on it. The overall strategy is to know how you will meet your visitors’ needs.

 

Website Traffic

One very important point is that SEO should form a part of the redesign process, as your traffic might drop off, if the risk isn’t mitigated properly.

Don’t allow your website to lose its current identity. Help your regular visitors to recognise your new design straight away. Don’t let them think they landed on the wrong website and risk losing them.

Make sure to keep characteristic features from your old layout, like the logo or brand colours.

 

Conclusion

So, having considered some points for a website redesign, do you actually NEED one? If you look at your current business or Christian ministry website and don’t feel 100% proud of it, then a change is definitely needed.

Think of your website as an investment and treat it as such. Having a responsive website would surely help boost sales or promote a positive up-to-date image of your business or ministry.

It would help you have more confidence in your online presence and your potential customers and visitors will see that you seriously plan to succeed online.

 

If you are still wondering if you need a responsive website as part of your online marketing strategy, contact me.

 

How would you define a successful website if you had a business or an online ministry?

Don’t be tempted that having a stylish layout and vibrant colours is the definition of a successful website. Those things might just impress your close friends and family. You’ve got to consider that what you really want from the website is actually to get the business outcomes you desire.

Many businesses want websites that would generate sales and revenue for them online.

If your website is an educational or inspirational hub or a virtual storefront, it should perform well at attracting visitors, educating or inspiring them and if it’s an ecommerce site, then getting them to buy from you.

A website isn’t successful if no one visits it. If it’s an online shop, it isn’t successful if potential buyers cannot complete their transactions online without involving a sales person.

I listed below a few strategies to include in your business or ministry website that can make them stand out.

 

1. Design Layout and Easy Navigation

A successful website must have a good design and offer a great user experience. When you succeed in getting visitors to your site, you want them to stay there and navigate to other pages or parts of the site and maybe even contact you.

Your website should make a good first impression about the business or ministry. The visitors should know they are in the right place and feel that your site is professional in the set up.

Make it look good with your brand colours and don’t make the colours brash.

It isn’t professional to use flash animated text or background music. Only use such media if it supports your content.

A clear and easy navigation structure is essential in a modern responsive (mobile-friendly) website and it helps make sure information flows in an organised way. Help your website visitors find what they are looking for on your website.

Remember that content is king and that is what your visitors are ultimately after.

 

2. Fast Load Time and Images

Website visitors abandon a site if it fails to load in time. After a few seconds, they are off even before they see what your website has to offer. Having a quick load time is very important.

When images aren’t optimized on a website, it can affect the load time and not deliver a good user experience. Optimizing an image on your website is about reducing the file size while not losing quality.

Many modern websites use large image sizes, so it is essential to compress the file size so that it wouldn’t slow down your website page-loading time.

There are many online photo-editor websites with free online services to help you compress your image sizes. An online one that you can use is Pixlr.com. You can also use photo-editing software like Photoshop.

A professional website needs great-looking images in order for it to stand out. Remember to use good quality photos for your website.

WordPress has handy alternatives for re-sizing images, if you can’t use any of the ones mentioned above.

 

 

3. Responsive Website

 

 

Having a responsive (commonly known as mobile-friendly) website design is the latest technology trend. A responsive website is one that adjusts its layout to the size of the screen which displays it – Laptops, Tablets and Smart-phones.

Since you’d want to deliver a uniform browsing experience for your website visitors, it is smart to make your website responsive.

As most businesses expect majority of their online sales to come from mobile phones these days, I thought it necessary to include this very important strategy too.

Online shopping is continuing to grow year after year. Recent news reports states that businesses were still struggling to develop effective ‘user-friendly’ mobile websites.

Remember that your customers are mobile, so develop a mobile strategy and don’t get left-behind, and don’t let your website bring your brand down either.

A successful website is one that delivers online, what your business or ministry goals are off-line and successfully converts your site visitors to paying customers.

 

If you would like to bring your website ideas to life and boost your business or online ministry to get better outcomes and make your online presence easier, contact me.

People are enticed into thinking that when one sets up a website, other people just happen to find it on the internet and that’s all that is needed.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a constant and consistent exercise, and any discussions about it brings on the realisation that more things need doing on the website itself, in order to increase traffic and conversions.

SEO and attracting visitors to a website are major challenges to small business owners. If you are a one-man-band for your online business or ministry, then doing SEO might be difficult, as it involves a whole lot of processes.

SEO for a website involves adding keywords in specific places, how to get traffic to the website and online marketing strategies, to mention just a few things.

So learning to implement simple strategies into your online business website, that you can keep up with, is a good start.

There are straightforward things to do on an on-going basis, if you are some-what ‘technically-challenged’.

 

1.    First thing to do is to get your website designed on a WordPress platform. This will ensure a clean, uncluttered and professional look.

WordPress software design is great for SEO and there are also great WordPress SEO Plugins.

2.    Regularly update your blog with fresh content (keyword optimised). That is to include in your website content, keyword terms that people are likely to search for.

Write and post articles that are relevant to what your website visitors need.

3.    Regularly submit your website URL to Search Engines, especially Google. List your website with relevant high-quality Online Directories. There are local directories, directories in your specific industry and well-established directories.

4.    Build links from other reputable blogs which are discussing topics related to your blog’s subject matter, by leaving comments on those blogs that are of value to the readers.

5.    Your interaction with Social Media networks will ultimately help with your website SEO. So get connected with people online and join in with discussions relevant to your industry or interests.

Make your website content easy to share. The most effective social networks at the moment are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

 

Develop a strategy for your SEO efforts and don’t let it get in the way of the success of your online business or ministry goals.

I hope these tips have been valuable to you? To get more information about blogging and digital marketing, contact me.

“I find the internet overwhelming. How can my website become popular and make money? I see other websites and wonder how my website idea can also get that much popularity?!”

This was a discussion I had with someone recently and it was a little challenging to explain technical terms to a ‘non-techy’ person, but I tried to answer all of her questions.

One of our discussion topics was about not knowing the difference between a website and a blog. She had heard so much about blogging.

I personally love using WordPress, so I started my explanation from there.
I explained what was the main difference between a website and a blog, primarily from the aspect of the layout.

A blog is only a part of a website. That part is designed like a diary (figuratively) and should be understood as such. Categories are like the months of the year and the posts are like the days in that month. Simple enough?

WordPress software is fully structured as a blog. The beauty of it is that it can also be set up as a website, because it has static pages (imagine a page in a book – holding text and images).

These pages are the same as other websites you see on the Internet. So a WordPress website is a combination of these two features – a website and a blog.

So why use any other software to create your business or ministry website? WordPress is used to power popular blogs like New York Times. If it is good for them, then it is good for you too!

 

I hope the information shared also simplifies things for you? Contact me or join our mailing list, if you have questions about the Internet.

Twitter contains information you will find valuable. Many users find it enjoyable and exciting to contribute their own subject matter to Twitter (this is called “tweeting”).

Whoever is interested in what you have to say may follow you and they will also see all the tweets you share with them on their homepage.

Tweets from people you choose to follow will show up on your homepage for you to read, when you are logged in.

You can discover news and useful information in real-time, learn more about topics that are important to you and you can get the inside scoop.

Twitter is now used by millions of people all over the world and they are discovering how easy it is to use. The trend is catching on quickly, so don’t get left behind.

 

Twitter for Christians

Using Twitter is particularly good for Christians seeking an evangelistic opportunity online. You may decide to tweet a joke a day, a proverb or something you have learned from the Bible.

Lots of people seeking to know the Lord, subscribe to a Bible verse-a-day on Twitter or Facebook.

For a ministry that operates online, there are great opportunities to help hurting people on Twitter. You can tweet about spiritual topics to address personal problems that people face.

Churches or ministries can find other tweets on Twitter from areas close to them, asking questions about spiritual matters.
When people go through difficult times, they often turn to faith.

Having a Twitter conversation with people might end up with them coming to your Church service or visiting your website. Use Twitter to engage, interact with people and have a “social” relationship with them.

They can often spot when you are being genuine and want to help. You can tweet that you are praying for them in whatever situations they are going through. Don’t tweet ‘Christianese’ to them, but be clear and show them you care.

 

Twitter for Business

As a business owner, use Twitter to promote your services and brand online. People are now connecting with businesses through Twitter.

We have all heard of dissatisfied customers who took to Twitter to make their views known. It isn’t all bad news though, as a customer’s positive/negative feedback can give you ideas on how to improve your services and product.

Twitter is a FREE digital marketing service, which can help you increase your sales and help you succeed in your business online.

If you don’t have the time to run the Twitter account, you can hire someone (Virtual Assistant) to do it for you. Using Twitter can be very time consuming. It isn’t called ‘Social’ media for nothing!

 

Is Twitter useful for you? Are you encouraged to create an account?

Let us know how you get on!

An online presence is important for any Christian business or ministry. If you have a website, even if you are the smallest church or business, it enables you to raise your profile and to communicate information about a topic, product, your achievements or needs to the world.

Having a website increases the potential to improve the effectiveness of your church or Christian business. You would have access to website visitors from anywhere in the world.

Many Christians in business and ministry are also designing websites and blogs to express their beliefs and to make a stand for righteousness and preach the Gospel, declaring the hope they have in Jesus Christ.

That is why choosing a good domain name for your website or blog would help to immediately connect your target audience and website visitors to the theme of your website, thereby making a lasting impression on them.

Get great tips on how to choose a really good domain name here.

I could write about why you’d need a website or why a website was so essential for your business or ministry, but I’d rather you read what other people are saying about how valuable a business or church website was to them…

Contact me if you need more information…

People drive past our church, they see our sign board and sometimes contact us by phone. We don’t have a website.

How wonderful it would be for us if people saw our website address and went online to find out more about us and the times for our services?

The website would help people make up their minds about attending our church. I truly believe that we are missing out on some opportunities.

 

I networked with someone years ago and she had mentioned her website. I went online recently and just randomly searched on Google using a keyword to checkout the website.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a well laid out and carefully crafted website that spoke volumes! I could see that she took her business seriously and had created a wonderful site for her customers!

I couldn’t wait to recommend it to my friends! I was also able to contact her and rekindle our friendship.

 

I am a Pastor. Our church website needs more than a facelift! The site only gives our address, phone number and times of service – it’s an old website!

People call me on the phone to find out more about our programmes and I then tell them about the special services and events. This information isn’t on our website.

We now want a website that would give all the information a prospective visitor to our church would want to know.

A website that would give information about our special services and family events. Getting that information out there would save me some time on having to tell each caller about these events…

I am just being real. 🙂

 

A friend gave me the name of a company that offered printing services.

I went online and was pleased to see on their website that the company had a local branch not too far from where I lived.

I gave them a call and although they couldn’t help me at the time, I now feel more confident to use them in the future.

The importance of an online presence in this day and age couldn’t be stressed enough. You will appreciate my point as you continue to read my blog posts.

Why is an online presence important to a business or ministry?

Your business or ministry will benefit immensely from having a website.
Not just an ordinary website, but a well-designed professional one.

Most businesses want a website to extend their services to more customers and sell more products without having to open another branch of their store.

Most churches or personal ministries need a website, no matter their size, as this always depicts a professional image where visitors can learn more about their services.

Having a website shows your customers that you are serious about your business or ministry. It gives you credibility as well as helps to build your brand online.

There are so many benefits to having a website, such as:

– Visitors can reach your services or product offerings 24 hours a day
– It gives your customers the needed information and helps with customer service
– A ministry website is always accessible, even globally
– It is less expensive than printed advertising material and lasts longer
– It enables you to target your market and reach your desired business goals

As I mentioned earlier, the gain for a small business or Christian ministry with a professional online presence is great.

Nowadays, it isn’t just about creating a website for your business or ministry, it’s also about marketing it online.

Digital marketing for a website has changed in the last few years with the arrival of Social Media. Every website now has to define its goals and target its audiences and measure its desired results.

The Church or business websites which respond quickly to these online trends will do very well.

Contact me if you want to know how to create a website for your business or ministry.