Leveraging the Power of the Christian “Blog Site”
June 27th, 2008 Categories: Church Marketing
People often get wrapped around the axles when they consider utilizing a blog to replace or refreshen their existing web presence. The rub, in my humble opinion, is that people think of the traditional blog with all of it’s subtle limitations and decide that it’s just too scary to step away from the safety and security of those static pages. The problem, of course, is that in order to get a result that you’ve never had (ie, people reading your website) you’ve got to do something that you’ve never done before (like put interesting, frequently updated content on it).
Introducing the “Blog Site.” It’s not a new concept. In fact, it’s a very well tested concept developed by our good friends over at the Real Estate Tomato. Here’s the general idea of what a blog site is, and what it includes:
Unlimited Static Pages: You say that you need the cross-functionality of having a blog to draw traffic and having static pages to display products (for Christian businesses) or display Church meeting times, etc. Easy. We have developed the ability to create unlimited static pages around the blog template, so you can have the best of both worlds. You want to have people land on a static information or introduction page before going to the blog? Simple.
In addition, we’ve developed the ability to create post/page combinations in a truly unique and proprietary way that we call “Dyno Cats.” Nobody else in the world that we know of has this unique capability.
All the power of the blog: Totally optimized, web 2.0, SEO mojo at your complete disposal to do with as you please. Combining the static pages with the blog pages does nothing to diminish the SEO power of the blog as the only legitimate platform to result in total web domination for your sphere of influence. In fact, in some really weird but pretty awesome ways, it’s actually complements the power of the blog by providing a stability and resourcefulness that isn’t usually associated with the blog.
A One Time Expenditure: The product costs about the same amount of cash as having a website professionally designed, but it’s a one-time expenditure. Once we’re done building the blog and training you to use it, you will never have to pay another dime for design, content management, etc. The system is so intuitive that you will be able to upload your own content at the click of the mouse button. You’ll be totally self sufficient.
That being said, if you’re using our hosting services and tech support there will be a small fee for that. It’s the cost of doing business. And, if you get the itch to totally re-design your blog site once per year, you’ll have to pay the designer for the new skin. Designers, I’ve found, don’t like to work for free. But as long as you stay with the original design, you will never need to shell out another penny on your blog.
So, get a blog site. It’s a more cost-efficient way to create a lasting web presence that people care about. The end result of that endeavor, of course, will be online dominance and more butts in pews, more products sold, etc.
We Build Blogs
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Another Fabulous Kingdom 2.0 Blog Hits The Net
June 12th, 2008 Categories: Church Marketing, Positive Press
We wanted to officially launch the new Grace Community Fellowship blog and welcome the bloggers there to the Kingdom 2.0 team. This blog will serve as a primary example of how blogging can improve ministry, grow churches, and disciple people. I’d highly encourage you all to tune in to the weekly podcasts and see what the Lord is doing in Starke, FL. But then, it’s my church, so I have a biased opinion.
You’ll notice that the Grace site features our standard package of totally custom design, expert layout, and awesome training, so it should feature some pretty good articles as well.
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Church Marketing: Three Ways To Drive Traffic To The Blog
May 18th, 2008 Categories: Church Marketing
We’ve already established that a blog is a much better tool for getting people to make the leap from viewing your website to walking through your doors than an ordinary static website. Now, I’d like to discuss three outside-the-box ways to use traditional marketing techniques to drive traffic to your blog, which should result in more people walking through the doors:
1) Mass email campaign: Write an informative, provocative article about your church or something that the Lord is doing in your area, and then email it to every member of your church. Have your congregations forward the email to their entire address list. The result should be a sharp increase in blog traffic if you’ve done your job in writing an effective headline. If you haven’t done a great job of headline writing, you’ve still taken an opportunity to make contact with the members of your congregation and let them know that you’re thinking of them. It’s a win-win situation.
2) Print media. Are you still in the habit of running that same, dry, boring newspaper ad every week with the graphic of your church logo and the announcement of meeting times and addresses for your services? Do you think anybody actually reads that thing? Instead, try this:
Take that same newspaper space and write a compelling (but short) article about how God is moving in your worship service. Then, leave the blog address in the last line. Be sure to top it off with a great, provocative headline. The idea is to have the article look and feel like an editorial, and leave absolutely no trace of contact information other than the blog address. People will get curious about who wrote such an anointed article and, viola, your church grows.
3) Ahhh, the Billboard. Seems like in recent years all of the high-rolling churches have purchased ad space on billboards. I know of a church in the Tampa Bay area that has a billboard on every corner for five miles. They also have a weekly attendance of several thousand people, so it must be working to an extent. Still, it could always work better.
Instead of plastering your Pastor’s face on every billboard in a twenty mile radius, try asking a hard-core question that provokes though and response such as “If you died today, where would you go?” Then, paste the blog address on the bottom of the billboard. That’s it. No fancy graphics. No catchy phrases. Just a little good, old-fashioned self exploration. Just think of the money you’ll save on graphic design, and your blog traffic will still increase. It’s a beautiful thing.
Of course, the whole idea for writing a blog is to humanize your website, and show that your church has a personality and is more than pretty design and cold, web 1.0 functionality (meeting times, dates, address, phone number, and not much else). If you don’t have a blog, this has been a purely academic discussion for you. Click here and get a Christian blog now.
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3 Sneaky Ways to Grow Your Church With Meetups
May 3rd, 2008 Categories: Church Marketing
We’re always trying to think of new ways to get people in the doors of our church. First, we know that the Word of God never returns to us void and having had no effect, so the idea of getting as many people as possible exposed to the Word seems like a valid endeavor. Second, we believe that a percentage of people who come into our church will plug in, become radical, and go to the nations. Under those circumstances, the Kingdom advances and multiplies exponentially. So again, it’s a valid persuit.
I was recently pondering our evangelism strategy, and I came up with three cool ways that you can use a really cool website called meetup.com to get people through the doors:
1) Advertise your current church services. Only, don’t call them church services. People tend to think of church as….well, church. Call them “People Curious About Christianity,” and invite them to come and be a part of your “meeting.” When they get there, invite them to sit with you. Walk them through your service. Explain your faith. Advance the Kingdom. It’ll be great. You’ll be like a regular Billy Graham.
2) Plant a church. For instance, if you were eyeballing a community that had no spirit-filled churches, you might schedule a meetup in that area for believers interested in being part of such a church. In this way you could actually gauge interest in planting a church, and begin the process of developing a plant team. Church planting is one of the coolest endeavors ever. Let’s see if we can’t take it digital.
3) Reach out and touch somebody. We’re always griping about the lack of interconnectivity between Christian denominations. Here’s your chance to do something about it. If we rely upon our Pastors to forge the relationships that will eventually reconcile all denominations into a verified army, we’ll never move forward. Let’s have a lay-led, Holy Spirit get together and actually move forward together, rather than just talking about it.
There….three cool ideas for using meetup.com to advance the Kingdom and build your church, as promised. Anybody got any other obvious ideas for how to leverage this cool website?
We Build Blogs| Discussion: 2 Comments »
3 Reasons Why Wordpress Makes A Great Church Website
April 24th, 2008 Categories: Church Marketing
Wordpress is awesome. It’s one of the most customizable, widely accepted blogging platforms on the planet. And, for the most part, if you can check your email and compose a message you are already equipped to be a wordpress blogger. If you’re toiling away at some time consuming church content management software, or worse yet, paying somebody else to upload content for you, this blog is for you.
Here are three cool reasons why a Wordpress blog makes a great church website:
1) You can do practically anything in wordpress you can do on a static web page: By “static” web page, I mean one that doesn’t update automatically the way that wordpress does when you publish new content. And, by “practically anything,” I mean anything. For instance, you can create both posts and pages in wordpress, so you can still have an “About” page, an “Upcoming Events” page, and whatever else you like. But, the added benefit is that you can also have fresh, daily updates on your front page. It’s cool like that.
2) You get the added google mojo of a blog: Listen, I’m no computer scientist. I just know that blogging works for SEO purposes. For some reason it just happens. You write cool church articles and plug them into awesome categories, and all of a sudden you’re number one in google for this and that search term. It’s cool like that.
3) Build and Blog and get people involved: Warning. If you put your new church website on a Wordpress blog, you just might encourage people to *gasp* participate. I know. It’s a weird concept. But your congregation has something to share. Give them the opportunity by putting your old website to death and getting on with the business of blogging.
If you want a wordpress blog custom designed with everything that your little heart desires, made to order, chopped to perfection, and built to suit….click here. You’ll be taken to a page where you can contact Jonathan Greene of the Kingdom 2.0. He’ll call you. He will be wearing a blue shirt. He has a pleasant voice. He’ll ask you exactly what you want out of your website, and you’ll tell him. He’ll release his team of Church Blog Design Ninjas and they will create the perfect blog for your church. You’ll pay him for this service, but it will seem like nothing compared to the joy you get from your new blog. How’s that for a call to action?
We Build Blogs| Discussion: 3 Comments »
