Heal Your Church WebSite

Tag: content management

  • 5 Things that heal your church website

    Last Friday I posed the question “what actually heals a church website?” Now it’s Tuesday and I’d like to talk about this in light of the many excellent comments received.5 remedies to heal your church website

    But first a BIG THANKS to all who participated in this dialog – this was both good and healthy and it is much appreciated.

    1. If it’s broke, please fix it

    “The medicine that heals depends on the illness — if you’ve got a spinning gold cross, removing it becomes job #1” – Mickey

    It’s such a simple point, yet a very salient one. There are some very obvious maladies that afflict our church websites. When we see them, we should fix them.

    For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, I prescribe my post entitled:

    Even if you do know what I’m talking about, it’s a fun read … don’t worry, we’ll be here when you get back.

    2. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

    “I fixed up my church’s website with WordPress and a user-friendly, inviting design. Within months they’d wrecked the colors, changed pictures of people to pictures of furniture, and otherwise mucked it up.” – Jeremy

    Okay, I’m not trying to be a wise-guy here, but I’ve seen this happen all to often. Usually this occurs when an individual has an agenda that it outside the scope of what the church website is trying to accomplish. Two that come to mind are:

    1. On the job training or skills advertising
    2. An ego that can’t share nice things

    Often, I find it’s a combination of the both. My post “Mr. Zeldman meet Mike Boyink, one of ‘The New Samaritans’” comes to mind.

    3. Content is King

    “Even if it has to be black Times New Roman on a stark white background, I’d say job one is relevant content. When, where, what, who, and how, and for good measure, don’t forget why.” – lemon

    I’m thinking ‘lemon’ pretty much summed it all up rather nicely with his/her enumeration of the basics that help us avoid the “Seven deadly sins of web writing.”

    4. Identify your target audience

    There are really (at least) two distinct audiences for a church website:

    1. People not part of your normal congregation, seeking information about your church …
    2. People in the congregation who want to know what’s on this week …

    Since the introduction of this  blog back on May 17, 2002 I’ve been preaching the importance of identifying the purpose and personality of your church website – and then aiming all content, controls and/or contrivances at seekers and members alike.

    Put another way, “A church website that fails to convey the purpose and personality of the congregation and staff will also fail to bring new members into the door.” – Empty Parking Lot Tabernacle

    5. Identify your process & work-flow

    “Unfortunately I think its a people problem, the site is just a symptom. People need to see it as a communication medium and commit to its use. I’m surprised at how poorly email is used by churches, let alone websites.” – David J

    Unfortunately, I think the master of the B2Blog has offered a diagnosis that is as incisive as it it accurate. David accurately points out that unless we understand the work-flow that defines how we:

    • identify things that need fixed;
    • identify things that work;
    • identify what makes compelling content; and
    • identify the target audience of your church’s purpose and personality …

    … then a church website is likely never to get healed no matter what content management system it employs, …

    … no matter how much Flash animation the site does or does not have, …

    … no matter how many social networks the church-geek API’s into the site.

    In short, unless church doesn’t have well defined processes for how to effectively get the right information out to your target audiences, then you’re efforts are like the person Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 as aimlessly batting at the air.

    At least that’s my take. What about you?

  • 5 tips for blogging sermons effectively

    Just publishing your sermon notes to your church’s blog is not enough – not if you want anyone to actually read them. Here are five simple things you can do to make your sermon notes more visible to more readers through more search engines.

    Why this is important:

    Ah sermons … the holy grail of any church website … not only because they provide church webmasters with a source of dynamic and (hopefully) compelling content, but because the (hopefully) compelling content serves seekers and members alike.

    Problem is, many sermons online go unread because they’re posted “as-is” rather than following these five simple steps that will (hopefully) increase their visibility on various search engines – especially Google:

    1. Put your key content on top

      Search engines index by title, so if you have some key words that represent your key points, put them in the title of your post – even if it is slightly different than the title of last Sunday’s sermon.

      Search engines display excerpts after the title – so help your readers out by putting your key points in those first 128 words or so.

    2. Lose the church-speak

      Don’t compel those not familiar with the vernacular of your congregation to have to learn a dialect of ancient Greek just to figure out what you’re saying.

      Likewise, avoid kitschy clichés and internal acronyms – they’re lost on first time visitors.

    3. Focus on what benefits the reader

      Rather than beating the faithful, make sure your titles and excerpts provide a “what’s in it for me” moment – so that the seeker is encourage to read the rest of the sermon, rather than click on over to CNN.
      For example, instead of:

      • title: Seven Deadly Sins
        excerpt: Seven reasons the World is going to hell in a hand basket

      Try:

      • title: The Wisdom of Proverb 6
        excerpt: 7 things you can control to life better now and hereafter.

    4. Write inviting titles

      Write titles that make people hunger for more.
      For example, instead of:

      • This sermon will discuss the fruits of the spirit, how they effect you, and what you should do.

      Try:

      • 9 yummy fruits of the spirit to nourish your walk

    5. Enjoy the art of the subtitle

      For example, instead of simply:

      • Daniel 3:1-30

      Try:

      • Daniel 3: Nebuchadnezzar’s epiphany at the fiery furnace door

    Here’s the best part of the above – while I demonstrated changes in titles – I did so without compromising on the content. Same can go for you.

    And how will you know if and when you’re effectively re-factoring your sermon titles and excerpts? Simple – begin using tools such as Google’s Analytics to track not only how many visitors hit your site, but what key words they use to get there and how long they stay there when they visit.

    Such analysis will quickly provide you with the information you need to gauge just how well you’re doing when you post your sermons online – especially those of you using blogs at inexpensive content management systems for your church and/or charity organization.